097

Room 97W is an original Chacoan room located in the northeast portion of Salmon's main room block. It measures 6 x 3.7 m. In the San Juan period, it was subdivided into Rooms 97A and 97B. Thirty-one strata were identified in 97W, most of Chacoan age. These included three floors, feature-specific deposits, structured trash, artificial fill layers, construction debris, and pre-occupational fill. A total of 31 features was defined, most of Chacoan origin, including doorways, a hearth, a subfloor pit, 12 milling bins in a row, and steps leading to the roof. The San Juan features consisted of two vigas, two burials, and the cobble wall that divides 97A and 97B. The 12 milling bins indicate a primary corn milling function during the Chacoan period. Tree-ring dates indicate construction around 1090, and was used throughout the San Juan occupation into the late 1200s.