The surface masonry rooms occupied the highest point on a gentle south-facing ridge slope. Based on the size and shape of the remains of these rooms, it appears that the Pueblo II people built six to ten single-story rooms using both upright slab and horizontal masonry construction. Slightly downhill to the southeast of the rooms, the Pueblo II people built their kiva. (This semi-subterranean structure has been fully excavated and is discussed in detail in the following 28 screens.) The roof of this kiva is thought to have protruded about 2' above the surrounding ground surface, so people were probably forced to walk around it, rather than across it, as they could have, had it been flush with the ground. While this may have been somewhat inconvenient, it also provided the people with a slightly elevated outdoor work surface which would drain water and therefore dry more quickly. The front yard of the home sloped gently to the south and southeast. Scattered across much of the yard and extending 30' to the south was discarded trash, artifacts and ash. Because the prevailing wind is from the southwest, the odors and ash from the midden did not usually drift back over the home.
This ridge-top house location provided the people with several advantages and a few disadvantages. On the positive side, the people had a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside. In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, this allowed them to observe approaching people and animals, including both game animals and those which could damage crops in the fields. The southern exposure meant that after rain and snow storms, the muddy ground and roofs dried off quicker, and the buildings and plaza collected more solar heat in the winter than they would have in another exposure. By placing their home here, the people were also able to utilize the pit which had already been dug by the Basketmaker III people. And finally, they were close to a source of building rock, which occurred in the form of the low sandstone cliff on the west side of the ridge. On the negative side, this building location placed their home on fairly shallow soils. In building their kiva, this meant they had to dig through about 6" of bedrock. It also probably meant that, in order to obtain soil sufficiently deep for farming, they had to locate their fields at least 600 feet from their home.