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The Creeping Dune Irrigation Site in Glen Canyon, Utah

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Floyd W. Sharrock ,
David S. Dibble  and
Keith M. Anderson
Floyd W. Sharrock
Affiliation:
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
David S. Dibble
Affiliation:
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Keith M. Anderson
Affiliation:
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
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Abstract

This early Pueblo III site in the Little Rincon of the Colorado River, about 17 river miles downstream from Hite, Utah, is the first site with an irrigation system of any kind to be noted in the upper Glen Canyon. It is most closely linked to the Kayenta branch of the Anasazi culture. It is unusual because of its distance from any center of cultural development and because of the complexity of the irrigation system. This system consists of a large masonry reservoir filled by an internal spring and drained by a metering gate and a slab-lined tunnel into a canal or ditch which was traced for 30 feet. Two possible gates were noted on the downslope side of the canal. Many notched slabs, which were possibly used as canal gates, were located in the reservoir area, but were not definitely associated with other features. Only two dwellings were located. Post-occupational erosion has changed surface contours and erased the possible connection between the reservoir and canal and the fields. The water supply is probably more limited now than at the time of occupation.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , October 1961 , pp. 188 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1961

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