Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

13 8 Chaco Project SynthesisAnasazi region at this time, the back two storagerooms were fronted by a larger living or work space,with a plaza area separating these ramada rooms froma pit structure. The ramadas were divided by lowwalls, and roofed; they contained a number of featuressuch as firepits, heating pits, and other work areas.Remodeling maintained the earlier pattern, yetreflected change and more variability in room use.Sometime during the late A.D. 900s through earlyA.D. 1000s, storage room walls were completelyrebuilt; the ramada area walls were tom down; thearea was resurfaced; and Room 19 (a storage room),which included a mealing catchment area, was built.By the mid-A.D. 1000s, above-ground rooms werefully walled and new floor surfaces were in use, aswere two or three pit structures (kivas D, G, and E).Room 17/18 and Room 20 had a series of mealingbins; other mealing basins were located in the plaza onthe east side of the pueblo. The presence of multiplebins in formal work areas suggests a division of thesite into specific functions. Ceramic analysis by R.Toll and McKenna (1992) supports differential use ofrooms. Mealing rooms 19 and 20 were associatedwith a high number of white wares, and might be partof the grinding complex. The presence of features andwhite wares in one of two rooms in the pairs ofstorage rooms (rooms 4/9 and 16/19), while the otherroom had no features and higher numbers of culinarywares, also suggests differences in types of storage,possibly long- and short-term (R. Toll and McKenna1992:225).An increase in the use of turquoise and shellafter A.D. 900 is documented by the presence of acache of 23 pieces of turquoise and two Olivella shellbeads in the ventilator tunnel of Kiva G that Truell(1992:90-91) considered to be either a ritual offeringat the time of construction or intentional fill. This isthe earliest (A.D. 1000s) such offering in a small-sitepit structure. Although most of the turquoise in thiscache resembled bead blanks, unfinished pieces ofturquoise were also found in two floor pits in storageRoom 16 (Mathien 1992). Cameron (1992:262) recordeda cache of seven drills of silicified wood(similar to those from workshop debris at 291S629) inRoom 5. These data only hint at, but do not prove,the manufacture of jewelry took place at this site,which also exhibits an increase in number of shellspecies from approximately the A.D. 900s throughl000s (Mathien 1992).29S]629 (Spadefoot Toad Site)This site (Figure 5.5) is also located in Marcia'sRincon. Nine rooms and three pit structures, a trashmidden, and several extramural features testify to itsuse from around A.D. 900 to the middle l000s, andagain in the early A.D. 1100s (Figure 5.6) (McKenna1986:65-71; Windes 1993). Architectural and ceramicdifferences allowed Windes to subdivide the data intoapproximately 50-year periods and discern changes insite use through time.Site 29S1629 may have been occupied by twofamilies or extended families and their descendants forapproximately 150 years (Windes 1993). Initial constructionof Pithouse 2, a ramada with a bell-shapedpit, and three to four tub-like storage rooms orientedtoward the east, occurred sometime between A.D. 875and 925. Some turquoise on Floor 2 of Pithouse 2hints at jewelry-making, which is well documented forthe next occupational phase. Between A.D. 925 and975, the smaller secondary Pithouse 3 was constructed,as was Other Pit 6 in the plaza. Other Pit 6,a possible storage facility for the new pithouse, mayhave been used for ceremonial purposes during thisperiod when change from pithouses to kivas occurred;or it could have functioned as additional space forthose using Pithouse 2. From A.D. 975 to 1000, twosets of living and storage rooms were added to thenorth and south ends of the surface rooms, andPithouse 2 was refloored and its ventilator wasremodeled into the sub floor type. Domestic activitiesin rooms 3 and 9 (the new, but not fully enclosed,living rooms on each end of the surface structure),dual sets of mealing bins and catchments in Pithouse2 and on the plaza work areas, and differences inramada work areas suggested the presence of twofamilies who may have used the surface living roomsduring warmer weather. Windes (1993) questionedwhether occupation was seasonal or permanent. Hecould not determine whether the families returned toPithouse 2 or moved elsewhere during colder times.Windes (1993:400) proposed that the addition of thetwo sets of rooms on the north and south ends of thesite may indicate the presence of permanent residents.The lack of Puerco B1ack-on-white, Escavada Black-