National and State Register

Joe Ben Wheat Site Complex

Montezuma County

Consisting of three multi-component sites, the complex has the potential to provide important information about the design and development of Ancestral Puebloan communities.  While there is evidence of earlier habitation, the most extensive, visible and impressive architectural elements are from the Great Pueblo Period (AD 1075-1300).  Its over 90 rooms, 14 kivas, and a dance plaza constitutes one of the largest satellite settlements of the 13th century community known today as Yellow Jacket.

A black and white photo of the site with two circular wells, one inside the other.

Joe Ben Wheat Site Complex (1978 photograph.)

The largest archaeological collection at the University of Colorado Museum comes from these three sites.  Listed under Great Pueblo Period of the McElmo Drainage Unit, AD 1075-1300 Multiple Property Submission.