Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum
Edge of the Cedars Pueblo
Pueblo II–III 850–1220 CE·Ancestral Pueblo (Virgin–Kayenta blend)·🇺🇸 Utah, San Juan County, United States
About
About Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum
Pueblo II–III complex (850–1220 CE) with restored great kiva 12 m, six-room block row, excavated museum with restored Ladder-Entrance kiva and largest southwestern pottery shard collection (5,000+ vessels). Village 100+ rooms surrounding prehistoric reservoir, linked to Chaco network via Blanding North great house. Visible non-excavated mound covers intact pueblo; Ute tribal consultation, NAGPRA repository.
Why it mattersType-site for Blanding phase; museum holds most comprehensive Four Corners pottery sequence for chronometric dating.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why abandon small great house before regional peak
- 02Reservoir capacity vs population
Theories
- 01Outlier colony for Blanding agricultural frontier
- 02Staging post for Chaco turquoise road
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.850–1100 CE; occupation to 1220 CE
- Period
- Pueblo II–III 850–1220 CE
- Culture
- Ancestral Pueblo (Virgin–Kayenta blend)
- Builders
- Ancestral Pueblo
- Purpose
- Great house pueblo village and pottery/redistribution center
- Abandoned
- c.1220 CE (pre-Mesa Verde depopulation)
- Rediscovered
- 1920s before 1970s park; excavated Winston Hurst 1970s
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
850
Pithouse to pueblo transition
1978
State park and museum established
On the ground
Structures & features
37.6250° N · 109.4814° W · 1865 m · 2 mapped features
Great Kiva
kivaRestored 12 m diameter great kiva with fire pit
37.6252° N · 109.4810° WRoomblock Pueblo
puebloSix-room masonry block with plaza
37.6248° N · 109.4818° W