This is a list of Ancestral Puebloan dwellings in the U.S. State of Colorado.

Pueblo periods

Archaeologists have agreed on three main periods of occupation by the Ancestral Puebloans in southwestern Colorado: Pueblo I, Pueblo II, and Pueblo III.Rohn, Arthur H.; Ferguson, William M. Puebloan ruins of the Southwest. University of New Mexico Press, 2006. pp. 43. .

Pueblo I (750 to 900). Pueblo buildings were constructed with stone, generally oriented to the south, and featured U, E, and L shapes. The buildings were located more closely together than the previous Basketmaker culture and reflected deepening religious celebration. Towers were built, often near kivas, though their purpose (defense?, storage?, ceremonies?) still is debated. Pottery became more versatile, not just for cooking, but now included pitchers, ladles, bowls, jars and dishware for food and drink. White pottery with black designs emerged, the pigments coming from plants. Water management and conservation techniques, including the use of reservoirs and silt-retaining dams, also emerged during this period. Midway through this period, about 900, the number of residential sites in the Hovenweep area increased.History & Culture. National Park Service. Retrieved 9-20-2011. Pueblo II (900-1150). During the Pueblo II period, a significant increase in population led to the creation of more than 10,000 sites within a span of 250 years. Because much of the land is arid and crop yields were highly variable, people supplemented their diets by hunting, foraging, and trading for food.Stuart, Moczygemba-McKinsey, pp. 56-57. By the end of the period, there were multiple-story dwellings made primarily of stone masonry, towers (especially in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah), and family and community kivas.Wenger, Gilbert R. (1991) . The Story of Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde Museum Park, Colorado: Mesa Verde Museum Association. pp. 39-45.Pueblo Indian History. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Retrieved 10-9-2011.Lancaster, James A.; Pinkley, Jean M. Excavation at Site 16 of three Pueblo II Mesa-Top Ruins. Archeological Excavations in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. National Park Service. May 19, 2008. Retrieved 10-9-2011. Pueblo III (1150-1300). Rohn and Ferguson, authors of Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest, state that during the Pueblo III period there was a significant community change. Population tended to coalesce into larger community centers at canyon heads or under cliff overhangs. Population peaked between 1200 and 1250 to more than 20,000 in the Mesa Verde region.Pueblo III - Overview. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. 2011. Retrieved 9-27-2011. However, by 1300 most Pueblo people had abandoned the Four Corners area, as the result of climate changes and food shortages. They are believed to have moved south and east to villages in Arizona and New Mexico, especially the Rio Grande valley near what is today Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Types of Buildings In addition to the movable structures used by other Native Americans across North and South America, the Pueblo peoples created distinctive structures for living, worshiping, defense, storage, and daily life.

Pueblo - Referring to both a certain style of Puebloan architecture and groups of people themselves, the term pueblo is used in architectural terms to describe single-story or multistory buildings made of coursed stone or adobe, and occasionally jacal. Usually these buildings were plastered with adobe both inside and outside. Kiva - Circular underground buildings used for ceremonies, preparations for ceremonies and as retreats for families during the worst months of winter. Kivas may have evolved from pit houses. Found throughout the Ancestral Pueblo area and in parts of the Mogollon region (central Arizona), they generally feature a bench around the inside walls, pilasters against the walls to hold up the beams of the roof, a fire pit, a ventilator shaft to bring air to the fire pit and a square opening in the roof with a ladder to enter the kiva. A kiva generally was located in front of a family's suite of pueblo rooms. Great houses - Large adobe-plastered stone buildings believed to be mostly ceremonial in use, though they may have been used in part as residences. In the Chacoan period (roughly equivalent to PII, 900 to 1150 A.D.) these buildings share certain features, such as large rooms (15 feet square), massive size, elevated position and core-and-veneer masonry. They also often have blocked-in kivas, tower kivas and nearby great kivas. In the Pueblo III (PIII) period (1150-1300 A.D.) ceremonial buildings were less distinct from residential structures in room size and often included enclosed plazas. Great kivas - Large versions of traditional "family" kivas that appear to have been intended for use by the larger community, especially in Chacoan times. There are great kivas as large as 75 feet across, such as Casa Rinconada in Chaco Canyon. Roofs are held up by massive posts set into special recesses in the floors. In earlier times, such as PI, great kivas might not be roofed. In the Mogollon region, square great kivas often were built. Pit houses - In the Basketmaker and early PI periods most of the populations of the Southwest lived in pit houses, carefully dug rectangular or circular depressions in the earth with branch and mud adobe walls supported by log sized corner posts. While pit houses never completely disappeared, after PI most residences were above-ground blocks of pueblo rooms, usually with at least one "family" kiva in front. Cliff dwellings - Pueblos constructed under overhangs in the cliff sides of the mesas in the Southwest. Cliff dwellings were a relatively late development in Pueblo communities (mostly after 1150) and are considered to have been built at least partly for defensive reasons. Trincheras - The Hohokam and Trincheras culture used these distinctive type sites in the Southwest and northwest Mexico. Trincheras sites are usually located on steep slopes of hills and low mountains, and are characterized by terraces and walls that stairstep up the slope. Remains of the terraces and walls reminded early explorers of "trincheras," the Spanish term for entrenchments or fortifications. Jacal is a type of wall in Pueblo buildings made of woven reeds and sticks covered with adobe. Slim close-set poles were tied together and filled out with mud, clay and grasses."DeWitt Colony Life" . Texas A&M University. Retrieved July 27, 2011.

Locations

Archuleta County Site namePueblo peoplesPeriodNearest town (modern name)LocationTypeDescriptionPhoto Chimney Rock(Site ID 5AA.985) Ancestral Puebloan Pueblo II Chimney Rock Chimney Rock National Monument Great house The Ancient Pueblo People site, designated on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, was a community inhabited between Durango and Pagosa Springs about 1,000 years ago with about 200 rooms. Rooms in the buildings were used for living, work areas and ceremonial purposes. The site is located within the San Juan National Forest Archaeological Area on 4,100 acres of land. Between May 15 and September 30 the Visitor Center is open and guided walking tours are conducted daily.

Dolores County For Canyons of the Ancients sites, also see the Canyons of the Ancients section.

Site namePueblo peoplesPeriodNearest town (modern name)LocationTypeDescriptionPhoto Ansel Hall(Site ID 5DL.27) Ancestral Puebloan Pueblo II, Pueblo III Cahone Private owner The pueblo village was at least a moderate-sized community.Cordell, Gumerman, p. 161. There was one occupation at Ansel Hall from 1080–1150, with its peak period about 1125. The community had great kivas and great houses. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Research found that at least one of the small sites was built late in the 11th century, about 1074. The village may have been abandoned by 1100, based upon the absence of 12th century white and black pottery.Regional Context: Architecture, Settlement Patterns, and Abandonment. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. 2011. Retrieved 9-26-2011. Brewer Archaeological District(Site ID 5DL.578) Ancestral Puebloan Pueblo II, Pueblo III Dove Creek Brewer Archaeological District has two large prehistoric settlement sites: Brewer Mesa Pueblo (11th century) and Brewer Canyon Pueblo (13th century).National & State Registers for Dolores County, Colorado. Colorado Historical Society, Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 10-8-2011. Brewer Canyon Pueblo, part of the Upper Squaw Canyon Center, had 245 site clusters from 1225 to 1290.Varien, Mark D.; Wilshusen, Richard H. (editors). (2002). Seeking the Center Place, Archaeology and Ancient Communities in the Mesa Verde Region. University of Utah Press. p. 210. . Champagne Springs (Greenlee) Ruins (Sites 5DL2333-5DL2338) Ancestral Puebloan Pueblo I, Pueblo II Squaw Point, s. of Dove Creek Ruins situated on two low hill tops on the top of Squaw Point Mesa approximately 6 miles south-southwest of Dove Creek, Colorado. Both sites are characterized by a material culture that appears to be representative of the years spanning the late Pueblo I and early Pueblo II periods.Dove, Donald E. Greenlee Ruins Conclusions and Recommendations. Colorado Archaeology Society. 2011. Retrieved 9-27-2011.

La Plata County

Site namePueblo peoplesPeriodNearest town (modern name)LocationTypeDescriptionPhoto Darkmold Site (Site ID 5LP4991) Ancestral Puebloan Basketmaker Durango The Late Archaic Basketmaker II Darkmold Site, inhabited from about 220 BC through AD 750, was added to the Colorado Register of Historic Properties in 2000. Archaeological evidence found at the site include slab-lined roasting pits and bell-shaped pits. Durango Rock Shelters Archeology Site(Site ID 5LP4134) Ancestral Puebloan Basketmaker, Pueblo I Durango Durango Rock Shelters Archeology Site, also known as the Fall Creek Rock Shelters Site, is an Ancient Pueblo People (Anasazi) archaeological site, located in La Plata County, Colorado. People from the Late Basketmaker II and Basketmaker III Eras inhabited the site between AD 1 and AD 1000. Spring Creek Archeological District(Site ID 5LP1254) Ancestral Puebloan Basketmaker, Pueblo periods Bayfield Spring Creek Archaeological District, also known as Zabel Canyon Indian Ruins, is located in the San Juan National Forest. The site was inhabited from 300 BC through Pueblo times Ancient Pueblo People. In the protohistoric periods of southwestern Colorado the Ute, Apache and Navajo ranged and lived in the area. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.Colorado State Register of Historic Places for LaPlata County, Colorado. Colorado Historical Society. Retrieved December 13, 2011. Talus Village(Site ID 5LP4223) Ancestral Puebloan Basketmaker Durango Talus Village, a Basketmaker II site with Basketmaker pit-house dwellings, was excavated in 1940 by Earl Morris, the first archaeologist to conduct professional excavations in LaPlata County. It was added to the Colorado Register of Historic Properties in 1996. Ute Mountain Ute Tribe(Site ID 5MT.4342) Ancestral Puebloan Pueblo I, Pueblo II, Pueblo III Red Mesa Ute Mountain Ute Mancos Canyon Historic District, located on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe reservation, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It was occupied by puebloan people during the broad periods from 500 to 1499 [they left southwestern Colorado by 1300].

Montezuma County

Anasazi Heritage Center