Aztec Ruins Administrative History

[Armijo, Antonio]. "Itinerary from New Mexico (North) to Upper California Traversed in 1829 and 1830 by Sixty Mexicans." Geographic Society 3, ser. 2 (1935): 316-23.

Bolton, Herbert S. Pageant in the Wilderness, the Story of the Escalante Expedition to the Interior Basin. Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1950.

Corbett, John M. Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. Historical Handbook, no. 36. Washington: National Park Service, 1963.

Cornelius, Temple H., comp. Sherds and Points 2, no. 21 (1941). Reprinted from Durango Herald Democrat, June 22, 1941.

Department of the Interior, National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places. Washington: Office of Archeological and Historic Preservation, 1972.

_________. Historic Listing of National Park Service Officials. Washington: National Park Service, 1986.

Endlich, Frederic M. "Description of Ruins Near Aztec, New Mexico." U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, Ninth Annual Report, 1875 (1877): 176-91.

Hargrave, Lyndon L. "Identification of Feather Fragments by Microstudies." American Antiquity 31, no. 2, pt. 2 (1965): 202-205.

Howe, Sherman. My Story of the Aztec Ruins. Farmington: Time Hustler Press, 1947.

Ise, John. Our National Park Policy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1961.

Judd, Neil M. "The Pueblo Bonito Expedition of the National Geographic Society." National Geographic Magazine (March 1922): 321.

________. The Material Culture of Pueblo Bonito. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol 124. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1954.

Koogler, C.V. and Virginia Koogler Whitney. Aztec: A Story of Old Aztec from the Anasazi to Statehood. Forth Worth: American Reference Publishing Company, 1972.

Lister, Florence C. and Robert H. Lister. Earl Morris and Southwestern Archaeology. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1968.

Lister, Robert H. and Florence C. Lister. Anasazi Pottery. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1978.

_________. Aztec Ruins on the Animas. Excavated, Preserved, and Interpreted. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987.

Metzger, Todd R. Structure Numbering System at West Ruin, Aztec, New Mexico. Santa Fe: Southwest Cultural Resource Center, National Park Service, 1988.

Moorehead, Warren K. "Ruins at Aztec and on the Rio La Plata, New Mexico." American Anthropologist 10, no. 2 (1908): 255-56.

Morgan, Lewis H. "On the Ruins of a Stone Pueblo on the Animas River in New Mexico." Reports of the Peabody Museum 2 (1880): 536-56.

Morris, Earl Halstead. "Discoveries at the Aztec Ruin." American Museum Journal 17, no. 3 (1917): 169-80.

_________. "Further Discoveries at the Aztec Ruin." American Museum Journal 18, no. 7 (1918): 602-10.

_________. "The Aztec Ruin." Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 26, pt. 1 (1919): 3-108.

_________. "The House of the Great Kiva at the Aztec Ruin." Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 26, pt. 2 (1921): 109-38.

_________. "Chronology of the San Juan Area." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 7 (1921): 18-22.

_________. "Burials in the Aztec Ruin." Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 26, pt. 3 (1924): 139-225.

_________. "The Aztec Ruin Annex." Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 26, pt 4 (1924): 227-57.

_________. "Notes on Excavations in the Aztec Ruin." Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 26, pt. 5 (1928): 259-420.

_________. Archaeological Studies in the La Plata District, Southwestern Colorado and Northwestern New Mexico. Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1939.

_________. "Adobe Bricks in a Pre-Spanish Wall near Aztec, New Mexico." American Antiquity 9, no. 4 (1944): 434-38.

Morris, Earl Halstead and Robert F. Burgh. Anasazi Basketry, Basketmaker II Through Pueblo III, a Study Based on Specimens from the San Juan River Country, Pub. No. 533. Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1941.

Newberry, J.S. Report of the Exploring Expedition from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Junction of the Grand and Green Rivers of the Great Colorado of the West, in 1859. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1876.

Powers, Robert F., William B. Gillespie, and Stephen H. Lekson. The Outlier Survey, a Regional View of Settlement in the San Juan Basin. Reports of the Chaco Center, No. 3. Albuquerque: National Park Service, 1983.

Robinson, William J., Bruce G. Harrill, and Richard L. Warren, Tree Ring Dates from New Mexico, B: Chaco-Gobernador Area. Tucson: Tree-Ring Research Laboratory, 1974.

Schroeder, Albert H. "Themes of Environmental Adaptation and Response in Southwestern National Park System Areas." Southwestern Lore 33, no. 2 (1967): 37-46.

Smith, Duane A. Mesa Verde National Park, Shadows of the Centuries. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1988.

Stein, John R. and Peter J. McKenna. An Archeological Reconnaissance of a Late Bonito Phase Occupation Near Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. Santa Fe: Southwest Cultural Resources Center, National Park Service, 1988.

Stevens, F.E. "Aztec Remains in La Plata County, Colorado." Kansas City Review of Science and Industry 6 (1883): 442.

Vivian, R. Gordon. The Hubbard Site and Other Tri-Wall Structures in New Mexico and Colorado. Archeological Research Studies, No. 5. Washington: National Park Service, 1959.

Vivian, R. Gwinn, Dulce N. Dodgen, and Gayle H. Hartmann. "Wooden Ritual Artifacts from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The Chetro Ketl Collection." Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 32 (1978).

Bearden, Susan E. and Ronald G. Hefner. Aztec Ruins National Monument Cataloging and Analysis Project: Accessions 8 (Partial), 11 (Partial), 23 (Partial), 41 (Partial), 78, 79, 80, 84, 85, 87, 88, and 89. Report for contract No. PX-7029-7-0678. 1988.

Dykeman, Douglas D. The Ceramic Consultant's Comments on the Aztec Ruin Collection. Appendix B in Susan E. Bearden and Ronald G. Hefner, Aztec Ruins National Monument Cataloging and Analysis Project, 1988.

Hargrave, Lyndon L. Report on a Microscopic Study of Feathers from Aztec Pueblo, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1960.

________. Remains of Wild Birds from Aztec Pueblo, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1962.

Hargrave, Lyndon L. and D.N. Dodgen. Bird Bone Artifacts from the West Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1962.

Lekson, Stephen H. Dating the Hubbard Triwall and Other Triwall Structures, 1982.

Maxon, James C. Excavation of a Mound, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1960.

McKenna, Peter J. A Stabilization Trench in Aztec West Ruin's Room 231, Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico, Division of Anthropology, Southwest Regional Office, Santa Fe, 1988.

________. Late Bonito Phase Developments at the Aztec Ruins, New Mexico, Paper presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting, Society for American Archaeology, Phoenix, 1989.

Reyman, Jonathan E. Astroarchaeological Comments, memorandum to Superintendent D.F. Huggins, June 13, 1972.

Steen, Charlie R. Excavation of Two Rooms in the Northwest Corner of the Aztec Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, November-December 1938, 1939.

Toll, Mollie S. Macrobotanical Materials from Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. Appendix C in Susan E. Bearden and Ronald G. Hefner, Aztec Ruins National Monument Cataloging and Analysis Project, 1988.

[Vivian, R. Gordon], Stabilization Records, West Ruin, 1939-1941.

________. Stabilization of the Aztec Ruin, 1939-1946. Southwestern National Monuments, Santa Fe.

Townsend, Irving D., Stabilization Report, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1945.

Vivian, R. Gordon, Stabilization Records, The East Ruin, Southwestern National Monuments, 1949.

Rixey, Raymond, Stabilization Records, The West Ruin, Southwestern National Monuments, 1950.

Richert, Roland, Stabilization Report, Limited Stabilization, East Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1953. Southwestern National Monuments, 1953.

________. Stabilization Report, West Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1953. Southwestern National Monuments, 1954.

Vivian, R. Gordon and Tom Mathews, The Hubbard Mound, Stabilization Records for Comprehensive Stabilization, Completed August 1954. Southwestern National Monuments, 1954.

Vivian, R. Gordon. An Inventory of Ruins Stabilization Requirements for Southwestern National Monuments. Part I: Unstabilized Sites; Part II: Maintenance Sites. Southwestern National Monuments, Globe, 1955.

Richert, Roland, Maintenance Stabilization Report, West Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1956. Southwestern National Monuments, Globe, 1956.

________. Stabilization Report, East Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1956. Southwestern National Monuments, Globe, 1956.

[Vivian, R. Gordon], Ruins Stabilization Inventory, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Southwestern National Monuments, Globe, 1956.

Richert, Roland, Stabilization Report, East Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1957. Southwest Archeological Center, Globe, 1957.

Shiner, Joel L., Stabilization at Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1959-1960. Southwest Archeological Center, Globe, 1961.

________. The 1960 Stabilization of the Hubbard Mound, Aztec Ruins National Monument. Ruins Stabilization Unit, Globe, 1961.

________. Stabilization of the West Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1961. Ruins Stabilization Unit, Globe, 1961.

Richert, Roland, Excavation of a Portion of the East Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico. Southwest Monument Association Technical Series, vol 4. Globe: Southwestern National Monuments, 1964.

Voll, Charles B. and Martin T. Mayer, 1965 Maintenance Stabilization, West Ruin, East Ruin, and Hubbard Mound, Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. Ruins Stabilization Unit, Globe, 1965.

Ruins Stabilization Inventory. Southwest Archeological Center, Globe, August 1965.

Mayer, Martin R., Stabilization Records, East and West Ruins, Aztec Ruins National Monument, 1967. Southwest Archeological Center, Globe, 1968.

Laudeman, Peter, Aztec Ruins National Monument, West Ruin, Hubbard Tri-Wall Structure, 1973. Stabilization Report. Ruins Stabilization Unit, Western Archeological Center, Tucson, 1976.

Trussell, Marianne, Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico, May 1974-October 1974, Part I and Part II. Stabilization Report. Ruins Stabilization Unit, Western Archeological Center, Tucson, 1974.

Adams, Stephen E., West Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Stabilization Report, 1975. 2 vols. Ruins Stabilization Unit, Western Archeological Center, Tucson, 1975.

________. Completion Report, Day Labor Project, Construction Package no. 110, Stabilize West Ruin. Navajo Lands Group, Farmington, 1977.

Nordby, Larry V., Archeological Materials Recovered from Preservation Drainage Excavations at Aztec Ruins, 1977. Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Santa Fe, November 1979.

________. Drainage Installation in a Portion of the South Wing of the Aztec Ruins, 1977. Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Santa Fe, 1978.

Adams, Stephen E., Hubbard Site, RY 1978 Ruins Stabilization, Scope of Work Statement. Navajo Lands Group, Farmington, March 20, 1978.

________. Scope of Work Statement, Protective Roofs, West Ruin. Navajo Lands Group, Farmington, 1978.

Nordby, Larry V., Drainage Installation Along the North Wall of Aztec Ruins, 1978. Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Santa Fe, 1979.

Schart, William L., Aztec Ruins National Monument, West Ruin, Field Season 1978, Ruins Preservation. 2 vols. Aztec Ruins National Monument, November 1980.

________. Aztec Ruins National Monument, Hubbard Site, Field Season 1978, Ruins Preservation. Aztec Ruins National Monument, November 1980.

Adams, Stephen E., Ruins Preservation Guide, Aztec Ruins National Monument. Navajo Lands Group, Farmington, February 1979.

________. Completion Report, Cyclic Maintenance, Complete Stabilization of Hubbard Mound, Replace Protective Roofs, West Ruin. Navajo Lands Group, Farmington, October 15, 1979.

________. Completion Report, Day Labor Project, Improve Drainage to Protect West Ruin. Navajo Lands Group, Farmington, October 13, 1982.

Brown, James D., Completion Report, Day Labor Project, Stabilize West Ruin, Construction Package No. A17. Aztec Ruins National Monument, December 8, 1986.

Nordby, Larry V. and John T. Morgart, Drainage System Installations and Great Kiva Outer Ring Primary Beam Replacement, Aztec Ruins National Monument. Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Santa Fe, 1984.

Brown, James D., Completion Report, Day Labor Project, Stabilize West Ruin, Construction Package A17. Aztec Ruins National Monument, January 8, 1987.

________. Completion Report, Day Labor Project, Stabilize West Ruin, Construction Package A17. Aztec Ruins National Monument, November 5, 1986.

________. Completion Report, Day Labor Project, Stabilize East Ruin, Construction Package No. 402. Aztec Ruins National Monument, November 5, 1986.

Trott, James J., East Ruin Preservation Design, Aztec Ruins National Monument. Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Santa Fe, 1986.

Morgart, John T. et al, Great Kiva Primary Beam Project, Aztec Ruins National Monument. Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Santa Fe, 1986.

Brown, James D., Completion Report, Day Labor Project, Stabilize West Ruin, Construction Package A17. Aztec Ruins National Monument, January 8, 1987.

________. Completion Report, Day Labor Project, Stabilize West Ruin, Construction Package A17. Aztec Ruins National Monument, January 26, 1988.

Metzger, Todd R., Emergency Stabilization Assessments of Eleven Structures of the West Ruin, Aztec Ruins National Monument. Contract No. PX-7029-7-0504, August 1987.

McKenna, Peter J., Stabilization Observations at the Aztec Ruins: Prospective for the Superintendent, Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Santa Fe, 1989.

Master Plan, 1961 (incomplete typescript, Document file).

Master Plan, 1964 (incomplete typescript, Document file).

Inventory of Collections Pertaining to the Southwest Archeological Center, Globe, 1961, revised June 1963.

Resources Management Plan. Santa Fe: Division of Natural Resources Management, Southwest Region, 1973.

Resources Management Plan. Santa Fe: Division of Natural Resources Management, Southwest Region, 1976.

Interpretive Prospectus. Denver: National Park Service Center, 1977.

Collection Management Plan. Harpers Ferry: Division of Museum Services, 1980.

Resources Management Plan. Santa Fe: Division of Natural Resources Management, Southwest Region, 1981.

Statement for Management. Santa Fe: Southwest Region, National Park Service, 1985.

Resources Management Plan. Santa Fe: Division of Natural Resources Management, Southwest Region, 1987.

Draft General Management Plan, Development Concept Plan, Environmental Assessment. Denver: National Park Service Center, 1988.

Archeological Exploration:

The Morris Papers

At the time the West Ruin in Aztec Ruins National Monument was being excavated and initially prepared for public visitation, communication between the man in the field and his employing institution and between him and colleagues engaged in archeological research elsewhere in the northern Southwest was by mail or telegraph. Morris carried on an extensive correspondence with both groups, and he almost compulsively saved most of it.

One principal collection of Morris papers relevant to the opening up of the Animas valley complex of Aztec Ruins is housed at the University of Colorado Museum in Boulder. That institution purchased the documents, together with a personal collection of Anasazi pottery, shortly after Morris's death in 1956. The documents cover more than 40 years of Morris's adult life, from ca. 1912 to 1956 and afford invaluable insight into the evolving reconstruction of prehistoric life on the Colorado Plateau and the personalities involved. Since the studies were new and the man was young and eager, the Aztec years are well represented in approximately 24 linear feet of documents. Within a year, they will be available on microfiche at the monument headquarters. Although specifics about places, proveniences, times, and personages often are lacking, numerous photographs are part of the collection.

The second collection of Morris papers is in the archives of the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It covers the period from 1916 to 1928, when Morris terminated his appointment with the museum at the conclusion of the Canyon del Muerto project. Some of this correspondence duplicates that in the University of Colorado collection, but in addition it incorporates administrative details of each season's excavations and the amassing of the artifact collection. These letters have added appeal in being addressed to men on the museum staff--Clark Wissler, Nels Nelson, Pliny Earle Goddard-- who were among the giants of American anthropology at the time. A large photographic collection of Aztec Ruin and specimens from it is maintained by the museum library.

Both collections of Morris papers are disappointing in the absence of raw archeological data in the form of field notes. Wissler repeatedly urged Morris to deposit these records at the museum, first because of the possibility of his being called to military service during the first World War and later because of his prolonged absences while working in Mexico and in other parts of the Southwest. Apparently this was done only in a limited way. The museum archives has one handwritten ledger containing the specimen catalogue giving field specimen number, a concise description of the artifact, and provenience. Another handwritten notebook consists of the materials published seven years after Morris quit digging at Aztec as "Room Notes on Excavations at the Aztec Ruin," Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 26, pt. 5 (1928). Other than several ground plans of the West Ruin, there are no further notations, artifact descriptions, room measurements, or observations that would be of interest to current students.

There are two possible reasons for this dearth of field data. One is that notes simply were not kept as rigorously as they are today. Morris disliked this part of the process, a fact substantiated by Talbot Hyde in the field and to the writers personally. Much of the mass of lesser artifactural materials, such as debitage, small bone or wood fragments, and potsherds, was regarded as waste and was not recorded. Morris relied on an amazing memory and an obsessive involvement in his work to help him recall details necessary to his reports.

Secondly, some documents may have been lost over time. A full decade elapsed between Morris's last excavation at Aztec and his move away from the monument. During this period, it is assumed any notes were packed away in the basement of the stone house. Upon his final departure, some personal possessions continued to be stored there. The next year when he returned to begin the restoration of the Great Kiva, he found bags of cement taking up most of the basement and many of his things missing. These included important notes on the Aztec Ruin kivas, which he planned to write up some nebulous day in the future. Years later, he learned that in the continual need for storage space at the monument, other of his boxes inadvertently were hauled to the dump.

There is a scattering of Morris correspondence in National Park Service files at Aztec Ruins National Monument, the Southwest Regional Office, and the National Archives. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, also a prominent Southwestern archeologist, has no documents or field notes pertaining to the Aztec Ruin.

Preliminaries to the Monument:

In addition to Morris correspondence, folders of memoranda and letters written by Clark Wissler, Henry Abrams, Henry Fairfield Osborn, George Sherwood, and others in the archives of the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History provide information about excavation rights, the prolonged negotiations for acquisition of various tracts of land, proposed deeds, the piecemeal gifting of the land to the government, the erection of the field station, the ownership of specimens, and the caretaking responsibilities assumed during the four-year period prior to the appointment of the first full-time National Park Service custodian.

Government Control:

Beginning in November 1927 and continuing through 1956, monument development and preservation are dealt with in varying detail in the monthly reports submitted by the monument custodians and superintendents. These reports were mimeographed and compiled into the Southwest Monuments Monthly Report and are available at the monument or regional office. Their informal chatty style allows a uniquely personal view of the daily routine of the monument's management. These were superceded by monthly or annual reports in memorandum format, which are more structured but nonetheless informative. Together, these files provide a basic chronology.

The National Archives in Washington, entries 6 and 7, contain one linear foot four inches of materials from 1923 to 1949 relative to National Park Service management of Aztec Ruins National Monument, construction within the precinct, and preservation of the ruins. Most of these inter-office and government-to-citizen documents are not duplicated elsewhere. They contain information about the formative years of the monument's history.

A lesser body of data, generally of the post-World War II era, is at the library of the Southwest Regional Office in Santa Fe. These materials consist primarily of operational memoranda and stabilization reports.

Files at Aztec Ruins National Monument headquarters are comparatively extensive. They are site maps of various periods of development, construction drawings, ruin plans, photographs, collections accessions, stabilization reports, and assorted documents. From the late 1920s through the 1960s, the latter are random and unorganized. They include custodian correspondence, news clippings, and developmental plans from the Civil Works Administration efforts in 1933 through the MISSION 66 era. Later documents are maintained in category files.

Selected Uncited References Relevant to Aztec Ruins Archeology

Dykeman, Douglas D. and Kristin Langenfeld. Prehistory and History of the La Plata River Valley, New Mexico: an Overview. Santa Fe: Office of Cultural Affairs, New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, 1987.

Irwin-Williams, Cynthia and P.H. Shelley, eds. The Structure of Chacoan Society in the Northern Southwest. 5 vols. Portales: Eastern New Mexico University, 1980.

Judge, W. James and John D. Schelberg, eds. Recent Research on Chaco Prehistory. Albuquerque: Division of Cultural Research, National Park Service, 1984.

Lekson, Stephen H. Great Pueblo Architecture of Chaco Canyon. Albuquerque: Division of Cultural Research, National Park Service, 1984.

Marshall, Michael P., John R. Stein, Richard W. Loose, and Judith E. Novotany. Anasazi Communities of the San Juan Basin. Santa Fe: Public Service Company of New Mexico and New Mexico Historic Preservation Bureau, 1979.