Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

--------------------- ~~~~-~~-100 Chaco Project SynthesisWest Mesa near Penasco Blanco, suggesting twomajor Basketmaker III focal points. Hayes (1981: 14,Figure 13) identified clusters of Basketmaker III sitesat the north end of West Mesa, on the southeast sideof West Mesa near the head of South Gap, on thesouthwest side of West Mesa, in Rafael's Rincon, andin the Pueblo Bonito/Chetro Ketl vicinity. BecauseShabik'eshchee Village is located near the parkboundary and there was a lack of survey outside ofthat boundary, Hayes also thought there might be acluster near this large site.Hayes's suspicions were confirmed during the1983 survey of the four additions to the park. Thenumber of Shabik'eshchee Village pithouses skewedthe samples recorded. The size of this site is muchlarger than any other pit structure site (with an averageof 1.1 to 1.8 pithouses per site if Shabik'eshcheeVillage is not included) and confirmed Hayes's suggestionof this as a major locus for Basketmaker IIIhabitation (Sebastian and Altschul 1986). Sebastianand Altschul also confirmed a shift in locations onChacra Mesa; during the period from A.D. 550 to750, most of the residential concentration was on thedrainage where Shabik'eshchee Village is located (seealso Wills and Windes 1989). Other sites were foundalong the east and south edges of mesas. In the KinBineola addition, between A.D. 550 and 750, habitationsites and scatters were found on mesa tops andvalley slopes along both sides of the wash (Sebastianand Altschul 1986). In both the Kin Klizhin andSouth addition, sites were few in number, especiallyduring the periods from A.D. 550 to 800 (Sebastianand Altschul 1986).Initial identification of Pueblo I sites was notsimple, nor was the characterization of the sitesrecorded. Judge (1972:32) considered the distinctionbetween Basketmaker III and Pueblo I sites one of thehardest to make. Neck-banded pottery sherds werenot always the best diagnostic ceramic type, especiallyin small-site surface collections. If a site had both LaPlata Black-on-white (an early ware) and Red MesaBlack-on-white (a late ware), plus a pit structure andsurface structures, it was assigned to the Pueblo Iperiod. Early ceramics and a surface structure alsomerited a Pueblo I classification. Judge (1972:51)thought that the problem of identifying a Pueblo Iadaptation in Chaco was hampered by the possibleimproper classification of sites (mixes of BasketmakerIII, Pueblo II, and Pueblo III in the sample) or theearly existence of a dichotomy between the "Towns"and ·Villages· suggested by Gordon Vivian (Vivianand Mathews 1965:29).Like Basketmaker III sites, the 19 recordedPueblo I sites tended to be found on Menafee Shales,but at a considerably lower elevation (Judge 1972).These sites also tended to be located in areas withrelatively high frequencies of rice grass. Theirtopographic settings exhibited characteristics of bothBasketmaker III and Pueblo II, yet none were associatedwith mesas, few with rincons, and many withhills.Hayes (1981) assigned a total of 457 sites toPueblo I (A.D. 750 to 900); of these, 373 werepueblos and 36 were classified as field houses. Thetransition from below-ground to above-ground structuresoccurred. Storage cists were joined together,and ramada-like structures appeared in front of them.The smaller and deeper pit structures lost their antechambers,and floor features dwindled. Above-groundconstruction consisted of jacal poles and adobe,upright slabs, adobe walls with stones, adobeturtlebacks, and rough-coursed masonry. Lino Grayand La Plata Black-on-white continued to be used, butpottery types evolved into neck-banded (Kana'a Gray)and White Mound or Kiatuthlanna Black-on-white (seealso Truell 1986). Hayes (1981:26) was still concernedthat some of the Pueblo I sites had been buried(e.g., the pithouses excavated by Judd [1924] and R.N. Adams [1951]).Hayes (1981) posited a gradual but significantchange in site location to the canyon bottom. Therewas a shift in the locations of large communities.Basketmaker III communities on the south side ofWest Mesa, in Rafael's Rincon, and near PenascoBlanco decreased in size or nearly disappeared, but theones in South Gap, near Pueblo Bonito, and FajadaGap increased in size. A new settlement appeared onPadilla Wash (Hayes 1981:Figure 15).Sebastian and Altschul (1986) reported a declinein occupation on Chacra Mesa between A.D. 700 and880; only one habitation site was located on thecanyon floor east of Shabik' eshchee Village. BetweenA.D. 700 and to 880, there were three major clustersin the Kin Bineola section-one in the north, one