Emil W. Haury photographs Canyon Creek Ruin from across the canyon
Solon T. Kimball holds Haury on the cliff edge
1932. Russell Hastings, photographer
Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation Negative 71184
Text by Jannelle Weakly, Photo Collections Manager, April 15, 2011
This photograph is part of the Gila Pueblo Collection and was taken during the excavation of Canyon Creek Ruin. I selected this photograph because it speaks to the lengths archaeologists must go to obtain the photographs they need. One can see the stones falling from the cliff edge, and Dr. Haury, who later became Director of the Arizona State Museum (ASM), looks in a precarious place.
As I looked at the photograph, I wondered if the museum had the results of Haury’s efforts in its collections, since ASM received all Gila Pueblo’s artifacts, photographs, and records when the foundation dissolved in 1951. I did find an image that seems to be the one. Its caption reads, “Survey photo. General view of area from side of cliff looking into head of small canyon in which AZ C:2:8 is located. Negative 71186.” AZ C:2:8 is the site number that Gila Pueblo assigned to Canyon Creek Ruin.
Links
Emil Walter Haury, May 2, 1904–December 5, 1992, a brief biography of Emil W. Haury with notes on Gila Pueblo by Raymond Harris Thompson, Caleb Vance Haynes, Jr., and James Jefferson Reid on the National Academies Press website.
Gila Pueblo Medallion Papers, reports of all Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation research projects, on the Arizona Memory Project website
References
Haury, Emil W.
- 1934 The Canyon Creek Ruin and the Cliff Dwellings of the Sierra Ancha. Medallion Papers No. XIV. Gila Pueblo, Globe.
Haury, Emil W.
- 1988 Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation: A History and Some Personal Notes. The Kiva 54(1):1-96.