Indian Village and Pit?

[Clayton Bardwell]

About 30 odd years ago a buddy and I had taken a trip to the Eastern Sierra of California to do some adventuring. We stumbled across what must have been a undisturbed village. There was a huge bolder with petroglyphs nearby. I have a picture of me standing next to the bolder.

The village consisted of twelve sets of stones arranged in a circle. I believe these stones were the foundation of a reed hut like structure the natives used as a residence. The twelve stone circles were arranged in a large circle. Each stone foundation had a portable metate sitting in front of it and to the inside of the circle. There was an unbroken mano sitting in each of the metates. It was as if the inhabitants had picked up and moved without any attempt to hide their belongings.

The mystery for me was the pit. This is volcanic country. Adjacent to the village was what appeared to be a large pit. It was about six feet across and twelve feet long. It was filled in with volcanic rock. We had made the mistake of planing our adventure during the hottest part of the year and in desert country. We decided not to do any work on this trip and to come back when the weather was cooler.

Well, life happened and I didn't make it back until about 20 years later. I found the bolder with the petroglyphs but I couldn't find the village or the pit.

What do you think the pit was?

 

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[monsterrack]

Maybe for storage

 

[jamey]

maybe to heat treat there flint.

 

[NC field hunter]

Wow! This is an incredible story. Sounds like an Indianan Jones movie. The pit, I suppose, could be any number of things. The volcanic rock, which I'm really unfamiliar with, creates a vision of fire or hot coals, in my mind. Could the pit have been a primitive grill? I know in my part of the country, people still grill pork in the ground. The measurements given would be a little larger than today's cooking pits. However, I have never seen over one hog in a pit. They may have grilled more than one animal. Just my guess. Nice story. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[rock]

Welcome to the site! Thats a interesting story for sure. I would guess the pit was for cooking but also served for protection from the animals and for warmth at night and of course light. Just by the size of it that is the only thing I can think of. I would guess it got quite cold at night and the size of the pit probably kept the place warm.

 

[Clayton Bardwell]

That's an interesting theory about the fire pit. It was a huge pit. This is sagebrush country. The pit seems much too large for the available fuel. I imagined they had warming fires in their huts. Yes it gets mighty cold at night in the desert. I wish I would have removed some stones to see how deep the pit was. I think I was afraid of what I might find.

 

[NC field hunter]

That's an interesting theory about the fire pit. It was a huge pit. This is sagebrush country. The pit seems much too large for the available fuel. I imagined they had warming fires in their huts. Yes it gets mighty cold at night in the desert. I wish I would have removed some stones to see how deep the pit was. I think I was afraid of what I might find.

A crematory?

 

[rock]

With that type of rocks in the pit it wouldnt have to have a flame to keep burning. Just the coals could stay warm for days or longer.

 

[Get-the-point]

Native Americans that settled in dryer desert style environments would create these pits for water storage and rain collectors as sources of water were usually farther away then normal. The Anasazi would do this as well. Not saying this could be one but by your description of topography and the pit it sure sounds like it.....................GTP

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

pits were used to cook agave...most of those pits were round...
you may have stumbled upon a baskemaker III site...where the underground home had evolved into an above ground living...
the pit may have been storage or an earlier period of occupation.

Basketmaker III: Growth & Innovation | Peoples of Mesa Verde