Construction, Expansion & Remodeling

Construction, Expansion and Remodeling. Lowry Pueblo National Historic Landmark. , The changing floor plans shown record growth stages in the pueblo. The first kiva and four-room core expanded to a 40-room building in about one generation (AD 1085-1105). In 1936, archaeologist Paul S. Martin envisioned "frenzied and exuberant outbursts" of demolition, remodeling, and new construction that often erased evidence of earlier layouts. , Lowry Pueblo does not represent a homogenous unit built all at once. It was… added to and modified six or seven times at least. , , Paul S. Martin, Lowry Ruin in Southwestern Colorado , Field Museum of Natural History Anthropological Series , Chicago, 1936 , Early walls were evenly coursed with flat stones occasionally set in banded patterns. This style shows influence from Chaco Canyon, about 100 miles (160 km) to the southeast. The last builders used uneven courses of thicker "bread loaf" stones, a common local style. These later walls often divided large rooms into smaller ones. , In the last floor plan, notice the almost square southern half of the building with rooms enclosing an aboveground kiva. The earliest examples of blocked-in kivas are found at Chaco Culture National Historical Park and, like banded masonry, are another hallmark of Chacoan influence. , Sites with similar floor plans can be visited at Escalante Pueblo near the Anasazi Heritage Center; Far View Pueblo at Mesa Verde National Park; Edge of the Cedars State Park near Blanding, Utah; Salmon Ruins near Bloomfield, New Mexico; and Aztec Ruins National Monument.