Figure 1. Overview of the Jones Homestead looking southwest across a small Rincon.

Figure 2. View southeast post the Jones Homestead toward Jones Spring below the sandstone bench.

Figure 3. View of the post-in-masonry style architecture at the Jones Homestead.

Figure 4. View west of the masonry construction at the Jones Homestead.

Description

The Jones Homestead (LA 102822) is a two-room stone-and-adobe building on the north side of a small rincon adjacent to La Ventana Mesa (Figure 1). The side consists of two adjacent rooms separated by a small “breezeway;” the rooms are not connected by architectural elements. The site was undoubtedly placed in this location because of the availability of fresh water from the spring ca. 50m to the southeast (Figure 2). The water is not now potable, but when it went bad is unknown.

The homestead itself contains several interesting features. The rooms have stone foundations and the walls are constructed of stone and adobe without obvious coursing. The corners and middle of the walls had upright posts built into the walls. We assume these uprights supported a flat roof, but no roofing timbers remain. Likewise, the door jambs were encased in stone and adobe, except where they articulated with the opening. All the samples, therefore, had to be taken as cores.

A total of 10 tree-ring samples was collected from the site—all of the extant beams that exhibited useful dendrochronological attributes. The species present include five pinyon, three juniper and two oak (see Table). All these species are locally available, although the oak, presumably Quercus gambelii, only grow in mesic environments such as near the spring. There appears to have been no functional preference for species as both pinyon and juniper were used as upright corner posts and door jambs; the oak may have been roof primary or secondary beams, but both were sampled as loose logs that lacked good provenience information.

Seven of the samples yielded dates, including four of the pinyons and all three of the junipers; neither of the oaks dated. Only one of the samples (BBM-138) yielded a near cutting date (1923+B inc); all the other samples yielded noncutting vv dates in the 18th or 19th centuries. Because BBM-138 is the latest date, the only near cutting date, and because it is a door jamb set into the masonry, it probably dates the initial construction of Room 1. Without architectural associations , and because the only two samples from Room 2 failed to date, we are unable to determine the chronological relationship between the two rooms.