Wallace Ruin (5MT6970) Site Summary

Map

Wallace Ruin is a multi-storied, Ancestral Pueblo site near Cortez, Colorado. Research has been conducted at the site since 1969 by Dr. Bruce Bradley. Approximately 20% of the rooms have been carefully excavated. Although Wallace Ruin is a distinct building, it was part of a much larger community that included two other large buildings, a reservoir, a great kiva, possible ceremonial landscaping, and numerous small habitations. Excavations have revealed a complex construction and use history for Wallace Ruin and indicate that it served as a special function (ritual) "great house" as early as A.D. 1060. There is also ample evidence in the form of architecture and artifacts, that Wallace Ruin was associated with, and probably an integral part of, the developments centered in Chaco Canyon in Northwestern New Mexico, especially between 1060 and 1130. The last use of the site, in the 13th Century, was related to the final occupation of the northern Colorado Plateau and may have been part of a cultural revitalization (cult movement) that incorporated the entire Mesa Verde region. Research is on-going.

These maps and artifacts exhibit the different construction and use phases that have been identified at Wallace Ruin. The earliest are described first, progressing to the latest. The rooms constructed in each building phase are indicated by numbers with the earlier rooms left unnumbered. Please note that it was common for earlier rooms to be reused during later time periods. Shaded lines across rooms indicate where major beams were located between the first and second stories, shaded circles indicate fire hearths or campfire spots, and the small rectangles indicate hatchways between the first and second stories. Hatched lines indicate inferred walls or features. Lines, solid and hatched, in walls indicate doorways and vent holes.

Vessels from Wallace Ruin

a,g- Cortez/Mancos B/W; b-e,h- mancos B/W; f- Mesa Verde Corrugated; i-l- McElmo B/W; m-n,q-t,w- Mesa Verde B/W; o,p- Mummy Lake Gray; u- Chaco B/W; and v- Chaco/McElmo B/W

Building Phase 1- circa A.D. 1060

Four rooms have been excavated from the first construction. All were made from single width spalled slab masonry and constructed on trenched footers. Rooms 14 and 15were at least two stories and Rooms 3 and 25 were three stories high. All but Room 15 were probably back rooms used mainly for storage. The expected front rooms and kiva have probably been covered by later construction. This is the earliest evidence of a "great house" in Colorado.

Building Phase 2- circa A.D. 1090

To date, only one two-story room from this time period has been identified. It is unclear how it was used, but it is associated with large percentages of pottery made in Chaco Canyon. There are also a number of other artifacts that probably were made in or inspired by the Chaco culture, some types of which have only been found in Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon and Wallace Ruin.

Building Phase 3- circa A.D. 1120

The majority of the building known as Wallace Ruin was constructed as a single effort. This massive undertaking mostly used a rare type of sandstone (Mancos Formation) whose nearest source is almost a mile away. . It is also the same type of stone that was used to construct many of the "great houses" in Chaco Canyon. Masonry is compound, extremely well laid and used very little mortar and it was constructed on trenched footers It was at this time that Wallace Ruin took on a dual-division floor plan. This construction probably related to the shift of Chacoan Culture from Chaco Canyon to the area around Aztec, New Mexico. Bradley asserts that this construction was part of the religious inclusion of the Mesa Verde area by Chacoan missionaries. Only the front suite of rooms seems to have been lived in. The remaining rooms were probably used for storage.

Building Phase 4- circa A.D. 1250-1275

The final use of Wallace Ruin seems to have occurred after the building had stood empty for about 100 years. The reuse consisted exclusively of short-term reoccupation of a few of the second story rooms, use of many of the first story rooms as a mausoleum, and the construction of small kivas into second story rooms. This same pattern of reuse has been documented at Aztec and Salmon in northern New Mexico. Bradley has theorized that Chacoan "great houses" were being reused for ritual purposes in relation to a cultural revitalization (cult movement) that occurred in the Mesa Verde Region between around A.D. 1240 and 1265. Masonry is a mix of the earlier styles (reused stones) with the addition of large blocks. There is no evidence of footers. There are also several instances where holes were knocked through walls into earlier rooms. It is unclear when this occurred, but there is also evidence of human disturbance and probably looting of burials during this time period.

More detail can be found in an article published in Southwestern Lore June 1988. Click here Article to go to an electronic reproduction of the report.

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