Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

The Florescence 171Three road-related excavations were conducted.As part of initial field research on the road system,Ware and Gumerman (1977) placed several trenchesacross road segments leading into Pueblo Alto. Roadbeds were difficult to frnd; most trenches providedlittle evidence that the roads were intentionallyprepared. Formal attributes of the roads includedcurbing (not always present) and peripheral sandstonerubble mounds (discontinuous and nonlinear). Approximately40 m east of Pueblo Alto, a I-m-widegate in the north wall was exposed (Obenauf 1980a:Figure 10). It is here that three roads converged; butthe trench that extended for 2 m north of the gaterevealed no evidence of a prepared road surface. Onlya hard-packed caliche surface sloped away from thegate.In 1974, Richard Loose examinea me biockhouse, a jog in Major Wall 1 that connects PuebloAlto to the East ruin (Camilli and Cordell 1983:Figure27; Obenauf 1980a: 145; Windes 1987[1]: 16, Figure4.1). Although initially thought to represent a smallroom or ramp over the wall, the results of excavationswere inconclusive.The Poco site, 29S1101O, was discovered in1972 during field checking of road segments found onaerial photographs. Located along a spur of the"Sandspit Road" between Chetro Ked and theEscavada Wash, this site consists of six circularfeatures, linear features, and mounds along the eastand west side of the site (Figure 5.27). Excavationwas designed to determine whether features identifiedon the photographs would be similarly classified onceexcavated; the accuracy of orthophoto maps; the siteconstruction date, and whether it preceded or succeededthe road construction, and therefore when theroad was built; and the function of the site structures(Drager and Lyons 1983a). Initially the circular structureswere designated as kivas; excavation of three ofthe circles that were linked to one another indicatedthat walls probably never exceeded 1 m in height andlacked evidence for roofs. Masonry walls in all threecircles were very similar; tabular sandstone coursedwalls with adobe mortar were approximately 1 m thickand less than 1 m high. Although two of the three hadfirepits on their plastered floors, other features typicalofkivas were lacking (Figure 5.28). Because the roadsurface butted the Circle B wall but did not go beneathit, there was no way to determine which feature hadbeen constructed first. One archaeomagnetic datefrom the firepit in Circle A suggested use aroundA.D. 1210 ± 11. Windes (in Drager and Lyons1983a) thought this date was too late, based onexperience at dating Pueblo Alto; he suggested that theceramics indicated a Late Pueblo II-Pueblo III use,possibly as a signaling station, because it was on ahigh point of the mesa. Although road-related, thefunction of this site had not been satisfactorilydetermined (Obenauf 1980a: 146).Continuing studies of roads and road-relatedfeatures outside of Chaco Canyon conducted by theBureau of Land Management (Kincaid 1983; Nials etal. 1987) identified the Poco site as an example of aHzambullida" (Kincaid 1983:9-11 to 9-14, C7 to C9).In addition to increasing our knowledge about theextent of the road network, excavations demonstratedthe differences between historic and prehistoric roads;ceramics provided dates for the use of some of thesefeatures; and a number of road-associated masonryfeatures were identified and named (Kincaid 1983;Nials et a1. 1987). More recent evaluation of theroads led Roney (1992) to question their function; heproposed that the short segments documented aroundmany of the Chacoan great houses and great kivas mayrepresent ceremonial tracks.Irrigation Systems and Agricultural FieldsIdentification of both Navajo and Anasaziagricultural features in and around Chaco Canyon hasa long history (Gordon Vivian and Mathews 1965: 11-14). Holsinger's (1901: 11-12) descriptions of Navajofields and the small ditches used to bring water tothem contrasts with his description of five "artificialreservoirs, " each associated with a system of irrigationditches. Hewett (1905) relocated these "reservoirs"the following year, but by the 1920s, visibility ofthese features had decreased due to alluviation in someareas (Judd 1954:55-59). Gordon Vivian's examinationof aerial photographs did not reveal the watercontrol features described by Holsinger (1901) atPueblo Pintado and Kin Ya'a, but those at Kin Klizhinand Kin Bineola were identified and studied. Additionally,a complex near Casa Rinconada wasidentified. Today the only visible fields in the canyonbottom attributed to the Pueblo people are those nearChetro Ked and Casa Rinconada.