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Table 1.1. Site Type Definitions.
Major Site Types Definition
Habitation Anasazi small house or pueblo residence sites of three or more masonry, jacal, or adobe rooms, or isolated and multiple pit houses. Includes features such as kivas, firepits, cists, sherd areas, and rock art, often occurring in association with surface rooms and pit houses.
Chacoan Structure A great house identified by a complex of features including core-and-veneer Chaco style masonry, large rooms with high ceilings, multiple stories, large scale planning, direct association with a prehistoric road or great kiva, and large size and mound height relative to surrounding sites. Subsumes a variety of minor site types common at habitation sites.
Field House Anasazi structures of no more than two rooms, lacking kivas or pit houses, generally associated with a only a light scatter of refuse.
Ledge Room One, two, or a few scattered room enclosures partially formed by a rock ledge, cliff, or overhang. Includes hearths, minor features, and light refuse.
Camp A scatter of lithic, ceramic, or historic materials in addition to hearths, baking pits, rock shelters, animal husbandry features, or other evidence of temporary use in the absence of architecture. Presence of a hearth is diagnostic. Anasazi sites are not assigned to this category.
Camp-like Site Same as a camp, except limited to Anasazi features.
Hogan Seasonal or permanent Navajo habitation, circular or oval in shape with masonry or upright log walls and cribbed wood roof, or conical forked-stick construction. Includes all minor associated features enumerated in the following section.
Ranch Any historic building or feature complex including houses, sheds, corrals, windmills, etc. of known or presumed Euro-American affiliation.
Storage Isolated rooms or cavities for which a storage function is presumed. Light trash, including perishables, may be associated.
Cist Unburned, slab-lined pit partially excavated into the ground, presumably used for storage.
Kiva Round, subterranean ceremonial structure less than 10 m in diameter. Small kivas in association with a residential site are included as habitation features.
Great Kiva Round, subterranean ceremonial structure greater than 10 m in diameter. Features such as peripheral rooms, entry stairs, roof supports, and seating pits may be present. Can be isolated or associated with other features.
Sherd Scatter A scatter or concentration of less than 10 sherds without accompanying features or architecture.
Lithic Scatter A scatter or concentration of less than 10 lithic artifacts without accompanying features or architecture.
Sherd and Lithic Scatter A scatter or concentration of less than 10 sherds and less than 10 lithics without accompanying features or architecture.
Burial Isolated human remains or evidence suggesting a burial.
Water Control Dams, ditches, head gates, diversion walls, terraces, or other features used to control run-off.
Rock Art Isolated, pecked, incised, scratched, or painted designs, symbols, or figures on rock. Includes modern graffiti.
Inscription Historic or Navajo name and date inscriptions.
Shrine Ceremonial or other apparently esoteric sites including Anasazi C or fishhook shaped enclosures formed by a masonry wall, stone circles, and possible signaling sites at locations of high topographic prominence or visibility.
Trail Narrow footpaths marked by linear sherd scatters, rock art, cairns, steps, and hand-and-toe holds.
Stair Treads cut into living rock, masonry steps, hand-and-toe holds, or other aids for climbing a cliff.
Road Wide, cleared or constructed routes including rock borders, retaining walls, cut and fill, etc. Category includes historic wagon and motor vehicle roads, but not modern or recent unimproved roads, or “two-tracks.”
Hearth Isolated firepits of all shapes and forms, except baking pits.
Baking Pit One or more large (greater than 1 m diam), circular, squarish, or polygonal slab-lined pits with an associated concentration of heavily burned rock.
Animal Husbandry Isolated features such as lamb pens, corrals, or fences associated with Navajo or Historic livestock.
Sweat lodge Small, conical Navajo sweat bath structures formed by wooden poles and accompanied by a rock heating hearth and a rock discard pile. Most often found next to water courses, and may appear to be no more than a massive pile of burned rock.
Oven Beehive-shaped masonry ovens of probable Navajo or historic cultural affiliation.
Quarry Source areas for masonry stone as indicated by disturbed bedrock, quarrying tools, numerous rock piles, and so forth.
Euro-American Refuse Industrial era manufactured refuse of Euro-American origin, such as tin cans, glass, plastic, steel, and rubber.
Other A catch-all category for unforeseen, miscellaneous, and infrequently occurring site types.
Unknown Sites of indeterminate type.