Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

118 Chaco Project Synthesislower bench of the great kiva at 29SJ423 suggests thebeginning of a custom of placing these materials inbuildings either during construction or remodeling(Mathien 2001b).The technology for jewelry-making and the useof turquoise and shell were documented in northeasternArizona during Basketmaker II. In the earlyChacoan sites there is little evidence for the manufacturingof jewelry items. No workshops have beenfound; items that were used were probably being madeon an as-needed basis (Mathien 1984). Tools used tomake jewelry include active and passive lapidaryabraders. These tools are rarely found in BasketmakerIII or Pueblo I sites (Akins 1997:733, 773, 792,Tables 5.25, 5.81, 5.89). None of the abraders attributedto the Basketmaker III through Pueblo Iperiods suggested a jewelry workshop area.Those abraders that are present are part of a toolkit that includes polishers and cobbles. Most abraderswere made of sandstone; quartzite cobbles also wereused in high numbers (Akins 1997:Table 5.153).During the Basketmaker III and Pueblo I periods,there were low percentages of active and passiveabraders; high percentages of polishers; high percentagesof burned abraders (except at 29SJ423); muchvariability in cobble materials; less reuse of otherartifacts as abraders than in later times; fewer abradersthat were extensively modified; and more abraders thatwere more often heavily used than in later sites, andsecondary use, mostly as hammerstones (Akins 1997:853). Akins reasoned that either the polishers wereused for many activities that abraders later filled, orthat they were perhaps used for maintaining claysurfaces that are found in pit structures and othersubterranean structures until Pueblo II. During thisperiod, the tool kit was more general than that of laterperiods. The incorporation of abraders into benchconstruction of the great kiva at 29SJ423 indicates thatlarger stones, even during Basketmaker III, werereused during construction.At two Pueblo I sites, 29SJ721 and 29SJ724,anvils were found on floors from which almosteverything else of value had been removed. The onefrom 29S1724 was recovered in an area near twometate fragments and five bone tinklers and other boneartifacts. Akins (1997:927) considered this anvil to bepart of a bone tool working area or possibly aresonating chamber.Analyses of these different artifacts indicate thatthe Basketmaker III and Pueblo I people in Chacoeither traveled long distances, traded with neighboringtribes, or were joined by people from these areas whobrought some local resources with them. The directionof social interaction during the Basketmaker IIIperiod indicates that the use of ceramics and lithicsfrom eastern Arizona and southern New Mexico wasmore intense during this period and that contact withthe north and east increased during Pueblo 1.Because human remains from all excavated sitesin Chaco Canyon attributed to this period are meager,Akins (1986) analyzed all from the Basketmakerperiod through the early Red Mesa (pre-A.D. 925)period as one group. The largest number (n= 14) wasrecovered from Shabik'eshchee Village, where onlythree were accompanied by ceramics, and from theThree C site (n= 15), where six had Early Red Mesapottery. When found, these grave goods were recoveredwith burials of children as well as adults. Ingeneral, a westerly orientation was reported (Akins1986:82-85). Although the sample is small and thedata from these previous excavations limited, it doesprovide a baseline with which to contrast later humanburials and grave goods to infer changes in socialorganization.Contributions of the Chaco ProjectInvestigations of the Basketmaker III-Pueblo Iperiod indicates considerable change during the 400years. Families lived in small houses. Initially therewere two major clusters on mesa tops; several othersmaller ones were also identified. The two m~orclusters contained large, round structures suggestive ofgreat kivas at different ends of the canyon. Althoughmany smaller sites were also located on mesas (relativelyclose to tributaries of main streams), otherswere found on the floodplains, some at a considerabledepth below the current surface. There was amovement off the mesas during Pueblo I, and Hayes(1981) noted a shift in site cluster locations. RecentlyWindes (2001) identified a Pueblo I village with agreat kiva on the south fork of Fajada Wash. Duringthis period, antechambers were transformed intoventilator shafts, and living quarters were moved frompit structures to above-ground rooms.