093
Room 93W is an original Chacoan room and part of what has been called Salmon's gallery, located in the central sector of Salmon Pueblo. It measures 7.2 x 2.9 m. The room was one of the most intensively used at Salmon, with seven distinct floors (four Chacoan and three San Juan). The room was not structurally modified by the later San Juan inhabitants, who used the room for perhaps 150 years from the mid-1100s into the 1280s. A total of 88 strata were identified in Room 93W. San Juan age strata included trash, roof-fall, occupational fill, and three distinct floor surfaces. Chacoan strata included artificial fill, wall foundations, structural debris below the earliest floor, feature fill, roof-fall, and four floor complexes. Forty-six features were identified in 93W with the majority relating to the Chacoan occupation: hearths, bell-shaped storage pits, subfloor storage cists, wall niches, an ash pit, and several pits of unknown use. Other features included four doorways, a wall extension, and postholes. These features indicate a residential-living use for the room during the Chacoan period. San Juan features were fewer in number but also indicated residential usage: hearths, milling bins, storage cists, and a single burial. Room 93W was originally built as an open “gallery” in front of the pueblo facing the plaza. Later, walls were added, and a more typical room structure emerged. Tree-ring dates indicate construction around the initial occupation beginning in 1090. The use of Room 93W was clearly intensive during both the Chacoan period and the later San Juan occupation, with use until the 1280s.
