Sacred Ridge

Sacred Ridge was a multiple habitation archaeological site about 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Durango, Colorado. It covered about 11.6 acres (4.7 ha) and contained the remains of 22 pit structures, which have since been covered by Lake Nighthorse. The site was identified as belonging to the early Pueblo I or Anasazi culture. It was occupied from around 700 CE to around 803 CE, the dendrochronological age of the last tree cutting found near the site. By 810 CE, the buildings had been burned and abandoned.

Site work was done between 2002 and 2005 by SWCA Environmental Consultants, which were retained by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe to do the required archaeological and cultural investigations. Most of the sites covered by this investigation were in the Ridges Basin, which was to be inundated by Lake Nighthorse once the Ridges Basin Dam was complete, but some of the sites covered in this investigation were on Blue Mesa, which was used as borrow area for dam fill. Results of this study were published in a 16 volume report titled "Animas–La Plata Project".

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe was involved in all aspects of the Animas–La Plata Project, including consulting with other tribes, engaging with the public, and handling archeological issues. By the end of the project, this gave them the confidence to take over management of the cultural resources on their own reservation, resulting in the establishment of a Tribal Historic Preservation Office, the first in Colorado.

Two of the pit houses contain 14,882 identified human body fragments, belonging to about 35 people, about half the estimated population of the village. The victims show signs of extreme torture and mutilation, including beating on the feet, scalping, and eye gouging. Because of biological and dietary differences between the residents of the village and other villages in the same area, some scientists believe that this provides evidence of ethnic cleansing. The site was apparently abandoned soon after the massacre, and the whole Ridges Basin within about 15 years after the event.

Archaeologists speculate that the village at Sacred Ridge had some form of authority over other settlements in the Ridges Basin area, and that the massacre is part of an uprising following a time of severe food shortages due, in part, to a drier climate. The graphic torture and dismemberment may have been part of a demonstration used to intimidate other elements of the population.

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