The Paul-Bauman site is the latest addition to an important network of nine Ancestral Puebloan sites owned by the Conservancy between Cortez, Colorado, and Monticello, Utah. The Paul – Bauman Pueblo was named after Teri Paul and her husband Kyle Bauman, the archaeologist who purchased this land in 2006.
The site came to the Conservancy’s attention early last spring when an employee was informed by Madalyn Bills, the lead park ranger at the Edge of the Cedars Museum, that Paul, the museum’s director, had property for sale that contains significant archaeology. The site is located along a tributary of the San Juan River and may be part of a much larger prehistoric farming community. It has the potential to provide insight into the function of farmsteads along the San Juan’s tributaries. It may also contain information about how people farmed at such a high elevation, where an early frost or late snow could harm crops.
