Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

-------------- ._----------88 Chaco Project SynthesisTable 3.6.Comparison of chipped stone materials recovered from Atlatl Cave and the two dune siteslocated in the same rincon. All numbers are percentages.·Material TypeAtlatl CaveSleeping DuneAnt Hill Dune1052 Clear translucent chalcedony661053 Chalcedony with black inclusions 101091 Chert, chaldeconic (Pedernal chert) 101112 Dark silicified wood (nonchalcedonic)1113 Light-colored silicified wood1120 Red-colored silicified wood 271140 Light-colored to white chalcedonic silicified wood1142 Light-colored silicified wood, chalccdonic, undifferentiated 181151 Yellow-brown silicified (jasperized) wood 94000 Quartzite, undifferentiated 6OtherTotal percent 10014318516201001426681914-1.100a Taken from Neller (1976b:Tablc 4), with Warren's descriptions for lithic codes added.that the shelter represented limited use. The surfacecollections at the open sites also were larger.Neller (1976b) also compared the chipped stonefrom Atlatl Cave and Sleeping Dune with Judge'ssurvey data from Folsom sites along the Rio Grande.He concluded that the Archaic-Basketmaker II siteswere different from Folsom and that the Chaco sitesdid not represent base camps, processing sites, orarmament sites. He also compared these three siteswith Preceramic site-location data from Judge's transectsurvey; there was a negative correlation for dunesand rincons, thus indicating that these sites were nottypical.Comparative DataThe Chaco Canyon AreaBesides Atlatl Cave, two other rockshelters wereexcavated as part of the Chaco Shelters Project(Simmons 1984a) in order to increase knowledge ofthe Archaic use of rockshelters and to evaluateSimmons's hypothesis that the Chaco area may havebeen the winter location of Archaic peoples whowould be more protected in these rockshelters than inopen areas. Simmons wanted to establish an absolutechronology for the San Juan Basin Archaic (which heconsidered a possible variant of the Oshara tradition[Irwin-Williams 1973,1979; Simmons 1984d: 10)) andto improve the database available for use inreconstructing the paleoenvironment. This projectcontributed more toward the latter goal, but data fromthe excavations at Sheep Camp Shelter (29SJ178), andAshislepah Shelter (CAP PB AH 15), and surveys inthe surrounding areas also improved our understandingof the Archaic period in this area.Gillespie (1984a) described Sheep Camp Shelter,which is located on the north side of Chaco Canyonjust east of Chaco Culture National Historical Parkand 1.5 km west of Sheep Camp Canyon. It isapproximately 600 m north of the floodplain at thebottom of the canyon, 60 m above the canyon floor (at