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Current Archaeological Projects at ASMHomol'ovi Research ProgramThis program has been active since 1984-85, under the direction of Dr. E. Charles (Chuck) Adams. Research is focused on several ancestral Hopi pueblos (villages) near Winslow in northeastern Arizona. The research studies the processes of aggregation in late prehistory (that is, the formation of large communities) and contributes to the interpretive programs at the Homol’ovi Ruins State Park. After 15 years of concentrating on ancestral Hopi villages in the park, the Homol’ovi Research Program shifted its focus to Chevelon Ruin, a village contemporary with the other villages and located farther upstream. Chevelon pueblo is the third largest of the Homol’ovi settlement cluster villages—with around 500 rooms (see Map 1). Similar to Homol’ovi I, it seems to have been occupied from about AD 1280 to 1380. ASM archaeologists Adams and Rich Lange worked at the site from 2002-2006, supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and from Earthwatch.
The project usually conducts field work during June and July each year; relying on the participation of volunteers. The remainder of the year is spent in analyzing and summarizing the materials recovered. Graduate and undergraduate students participate in the field and laboratory aspects of the project; some paid student-positions are available each year. The project is taking a hiatus from the field in 2007, we will update the information and opportunities for students and volunteers as our plans evolve. More about the role of volunteers for the
Homol'ovi Research Program Borderlands Archaeology Program These projects provide many opportunities for research and training in archaeological field methods for both graduate and undergraduate students. There are also opportunities for volunteers to participate in excavations and artifact analysis. More about volunteering for
the Borderlands Archaeology Program 
Sierra Ancha Cliff Dwelling Project Since 1981, Richard C. Lange
has been conducting research in the rugged Sierra Ancha in east-central Arizona.
Numerous cliff dwellings occur in the canyons, mostly dating to the late AD 1200s
and early AD 1300s. The cliff dwellings were first formally described by Emil
W. Haury in 1934, and contributed significantly to studies extending the range
of tree-ring dating below the Mogollon Rim. Research has involved detailed mapping
of the structures, recording of architectural details, and recovery of complete
sets of tree-ring samples. Fieldwork has largely been completed, so no volunteers are being sought at this time. A final report has been written and is now available through the University of Arizona Press: Echoes in the Canyons: The Archaeology of the Southeastern Sierra Ancha, Central Arizona On the Trail of CoronadoThis ASM project is focused on discovering segments of the trail used by the expeditionary force of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Between the years 1540 and 1542 the Spanish Army, accompanied by civilians and Indian allies, set out from Culiacan, Mexico in search of Cibola (the Seven Cities of Gold). The expedition followed portions of established Indian trade trails to traverse the vast region of northwest Mexico and what was to become the southwestern United States. At least eleven documented trips were made over all or portions of the trail between Cibola and Culiacan during the mid-sixteenth century. Along it went Coronado's couriers and scouts and small parties returning to Culiacan with ill and discouraged treasure seekers. Undocumented trips over this trail were probably numerous. Those segments of trail that might exist in Sonora, Mexico and in the United States, particularly in the vicinity of southeastern Arizona or southwestern New Mexico are of interest to this study. The search for Coronado's trail is based on the premise that portions of the trail were used by Indians hundreds of years before and probably for decades after Coronado's return trip to Mexico in 1542. Besides being a well used Indian road we might expect that the expeditionary force left behind inscriptions, shrines and temporary camps with associated features and that members of the expeditions lost or discarded along the trail a variety of identifiable Spanish-Colonial period artifacts. Current research has focused on documenting 16th, 17th and 18th century Spanish-Colonial
artifacts in private and public collections. The distribution of Spanish artifacts
found in isolated context over the landscape of southeastern Arizona, southwestern
New Mexico and portions of northern Sonora will be plotted. The distribution
of Spanish-Colonial artifacts will determine the locations for remote sensing
studies and ground surveys in an attempt to find trail segments. If you have
information or would like more information pertinent to this study please contact: Image Credits: This icon |
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Chevelon is especially intriguing because of its location upstream from the other villages, its location beside a spring-fed stream, and, in contrast to the other Homol’ovi villages, a higher percentage of pottery types from an area 100 km to the southeast. Work over the many field seasons focused on the origins, layout, and history of the site and on the nature of its interaction with the other villages.
Preliminary work done in the summer of 2002 discovered an unusual layout of the village (a semi-circular roomblock arrangement of the highest part of the site—
This
program incorporates a number of projects lead by 
