Lowry Pueblo was excavated during summer field seasons (1930-1936) by Paul S. Martin of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1967, and now is a part of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.
Lowry's architecture and masonry indicate strong influence from Chaco Canyon, about 100 miles south in New Mexico. Lowry is among the northernmost Chaco-style communities, which may have formed an interdependent network spread thinly across the eastern half of the Ancestral Pueblo homeland.
Lowry Pueblo's most visible elements are a Great House and Great Kiva. The surrounding area includes smaller, unexcavated hamlets that probably belonged to the greater Lowry community.
The Great House was a multi-story structure with a pre-planned, rectangular layout. Its rooms are larger, on average, than found in "local" Puebloan architecture.
Its outer walls are constructed with double layers of stone blocks, alternating with bands of smaller stones, enclosing a core of rubble fill.
Like most Puebloan settlements, Lowry includes a number of kivasâ¿¿ round, subterranean rooms for both domestic and ceremonial activities. The Great Kiva is several times larger than the others and seems to have served a different purpose. This one may have been a gathering place for the people of surrounding hamlets.
Many rooms were probably plastered inside, and kiva walls were painted with bold geometric designs.
Initial excavations in the 1930s revealed one kiva (Kiva B) with an exceptionally well-preserved mural, and the kiva was backfilled to preserve it.
After re-excavation in 1974, the mural began to discolor and peel away due to exposure to light and air. None of it survives today, except for a salvaged fragment at the Anasazi Heritage Center.
Current technology cannot preserve such murals in situ except by reburial.
