Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

The Florescence 173Figure 5.29.Aerial photograph of the Cherto Ketl field, indicating placement of test trenches excavatedby Richard Loose. (NPS office, Santa Fe.)Pursuing his father's lead, Gwinn Vivian (1972:8, 1974b: 104-105, in preparation) documented a 14.5-km (9-mi)-long system of canals that extends along thenorth side of the canyon from the Gallo Wash to theEscavada Wash. Earth and stone dikes channel runofffrom side rincons to major gates that lead to smallercanals and gridded fields (Gwinn Vivian 1972:5,Figure 9.4). In Cly's Canyon, a large masonrydiversion dam impounded greater volumes of water.Two reservoirs at Tsin Kletzin and some pond areasalong the Gallo Canal near Una Vida were observed(Vivian 1972:4-5). Bromberg (1961) documented adiversion wall (Bc 364, 29S11095) on the south sideof Chaco Wash just upstream from Penasco Blanco.This feature would have diverted water into alluvialflats. Based on masonry style, all are attributed to theClassic period.In addition to grid gardens associated with thewater control features on the north side of the canyon,terraced gardens were recorded between Pueblo Alto,Chetro Ketl, and Kin Kletso. At the base oflow cliffseast of Tsin Kletsin, several walled gardens wereidentified.During their evaluation of aerial photographsused to prepare a vegetation map of the canyon, Potterand Kelley (1980:Figure 8) identified a number of oldfields. The one southeast of Chetro Ketl was thelargest and the easiest to distinguish (Figure 5.29).