essay

Looking beyond Chaco in the San Juan Basin and its peripheries

prehistoric pueblo world, a.d. 1150-1350 • Tucson • Published In 1996 • Pages: 114-130

By: Stein, John R., Fowler, Andrew P..

Abstract

Stein and Fowler examine the settlement patterns of the San Juan Basin and the influence of Chaco on the various areas around the basin. They do not believe the big sites in Chaco Canyon were residential, instead they see these structures as regional integrative architecture that would bring together many communities. Nor do they believe Chaco Canyon was abandoned as there is good evidence for construction in the 13th century. They believe the primary functions of this regional center were moved to Totah and Aztec East when the regional facility at Chaco was retired and the new center was constructed along the Rio Animas. In other words the Chaco collapse was a planned renewal of ritual facilities. 'In our explanation of developments in Chaco Canyon, the great houses are but element of a larger planned architectural composition which functioned in the ritual, not the residential, realm. We suggest that Pueblo Bonito was not a pueblo, that Chaco Canyon was never a proto-urban center of culture and commerce, and that the canyon population, the so-called Chacoans, resided in smallish but otherwise normal communities spaced along the length of the canyon.' (page 114-a). Other Chacoan great houses are also seen as ritual facilities that integrated communities throughout the San Juan Basin.

HRAF PubDate

2012

Region

North America

Sub Region

Southwest and Basin

Document Type

essay

Evaluation

Creator Type

Archaeologist

Document Rating

4: Excellent Secondary Data

Analyst

Sarah Berry; 2011

Field Date

not specified

Coverage Date

900-700 BP (AD 1100-1300)

Coverage Place

San Juan Basin: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, United States

Notes

John R. Stein and Andrew P. Fowler

Based on a conference held at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colo., from Mar. 28 to Apr. 1, 1990. It was organized by William Lipe and Stephen Lekson

Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-130)

LCCN

95032452

LCSH

Pueblo Indians--Antiquities--Congresses

Pueblo Indians--Land tenure--Congresses

Pueblo Indians--Social conditions--Congresses

Land settlement patterns--Southwest, New--Congresses

Demographic archaeology--Southwest, New--Congresses

Southwest, New--Antiquities--Congresses