Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

Basketmaker III to Pueblo I 117and McKenna 1997:Table 2.7). Decorated wares arenot common priorto A.D. 700. Slips are not commonprior to AD. 850. White wares are few during theearly years, but they increase through time, with thegreatest number present after A.D. 820 to 1040.Jars were the predominant form throughout theBasketmaker III and Pueblo I periods, and bowls weresecond in frequency. Yet, between A.D. 700 and820, bowls increased in almost equal proportions tojars (H. Toll and McKenna 1997:Table 2.15).A dramatic and widespread change invessel form took place from early grayware(Lino Gray) jars with necks and tecomates(both with small orifices) to the widemouthedjars that followed (Table 2.15).This change has two components--changein the role of ceramics in food preparationinvolving more boiling, probably as part ofa greater reliance on agricultural products(Blinman 1988), and the development ofmore task-specific whiteware forms (C.Wilson and Blinman 1995:79-77). Althoughthe number of grayware forms isgreater in the earlier periods than in laterperiods (partly because decoration coverssmaller percentages of vessel surfaces inearly "whitewares"), graywares are nearlyalways closed forms in all time periods.(H. Toll and McKenna 1997:70)Other forms were present in low numbers during thesetwo periods.There was a change in design styles from "isolatedto continuous lines bisecting or quartering thevessel, to designs pendant from rims" (H. Toll andMcKenna 1997:43). Hachure was recorded on lessthan 5 percent of Pueblo I vessels. The treatment ofgray ware jar surfaces went from smoothly scrapedduring the earliest period to texturing (wide neckbanding)on the upper one-third of the jar necks,probably around A.D. 850 to 925 (vs. the A.D. 800to 950 dates cited by others). These trends areregionwide.Ceramic data indicate long-distance contacts withpeople living in different areas of the Anasazi andMogollon regions. Although the percentages ofimports are lower at earlier sites, all the majorimported temper types found throughout time inChaco Canyon ceramics are represented in the samplesrecovered at Basketmaker III and Pueblo I sites. H.Toll and McKenna (1997:Table 2.58) documented anoverall total of imported ceramics at 16.6 percentprior to A.D. 800, and 18.1 percent between A.D.800 and 920. Prior to the A.D. 800s, the highestportions of these imports included brown wares, redwares, and smudged wares ofthe ForestdalelWoodruffseries; these types are attributed to the eastern Arizonaand southern New Mexico or Mogollon regions.Some Lino Red ceramics may have been brought infrom the San Juan Basin. Only 6 percent of the grayware and 17.1 percent of the white ware were importedfrom areas in the San Juan Basin. BetweenA.D. 800 and 920, approximately 55.1 percent of thegray ware and 38.9 percent of the white ware camefrom areas throughout the San Juan Basin. Trachyte(from the Chuska area) and cha1cedonic sandstonewere the dominant temper types.Evidence of more distant imports is seen amongornaments and minerals (Mathien 1997). In contrastto the objects recovered from the Archaic-BasketmakerII period, when all materials could have been obtainedfrom sources within the San Juan Basin, the BasketmakerIII-Pueblo I peoples included materials from alarger area. The appearance of turquoise (unsourcedto date, but from outside the San Juan Basin) andshells from the Gulf of California (Glycymerisgigantea and Olivella dama) indicate that eitherChacoans traded with neighbors or traveled longdistances. Increased numbers of minerals probablyobtained from the peripheries of the San Juan Basin(azurite, quartz crystal, and talc/soapstone) wererecovered.At 29SJ628, a site that spans the transitionbetween Basketmaker III and Pueblo I, one new shellspecies appears; however, Haliotus cracherodii wasfound earlier in other parts of the Anasazi region. Itspresence indicates importation from the Pacific Coast.Use of materials prior to A.D. 900 is similar to thatelsewhere in the Anasazi world, but this use is lowcompared to what occurs during the Pueblo II period(Mathien 1997:1151).The presence of turquoise in two postholes andthe appearance of turquoise and shell on top of the