096W
Room 96W is an original Chacoan room located in the northeastern transect of Salmon Pueblo and measures 5.7 x 5.7 m. Towards the end of the Chacoan occupation, 96W was converted into a kiva. Subsequently, additional San Juan kiva features were added, including a southern recess and pilasters. The designation “96W” is for both the square Chacoan room and the kiva. The names 96A and 96C were applied to the interstitial spaces created when the round kiva was emplaced into the square room. The 96B label was applied to the southern recess of the Room 96A kiva. These rooms only produced two strata. Thirty-seven strata, most of Chacoan origin, were identified in 96W. The upper two levels were post-occupational fill, followed by four San Juan age strata: two roof-fall layers and a floor complex for the kiva. Immediately below the kiva floor was another floor complex, presumably Chacoan in origin. The rest of the strata were feature-related deposits. A total of 49 features was identified in Room 96W from both the Chacoan and San Juan periods. Chacoan features included hearths, an ash pit, two adobe-lined pits, two doorways, and more than 10 pits of unknown use. Most of the San Juan age features were directly related to the room's conversion into a kiva structure later in time, including pilasters, a masonry bench, walls built around the structure above the bench to create a round interior, a ventilator shaft and tunnel, hearth and deflector, and several wall niches. No tree-ring dates were obtained, but given the room's location, there is little doubt that 96W was built during the initial Chacoan construction around 1090 and used into the late 1200s.
