Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

The Florescence 175construction could be the result of a ritual activity thatis being carried out elsewhere, but the mounds are notintentional ritual structures. Under the direction ofWills, re-evaluation of earlier trenches at PuebloBonito is currently under way.The function of roads is also unclear. Roney(1992) found that only a few major roads (e.g., theGreat North Road) can be traced for long distances.Most other known segments are found around greathouses in communities outside of Chaco Canyon. Hesuspects that they may have had ritual meaning.Do small sites represent seasonal occupation(Windes 1987[1]:405)? Data from 29SJ627 (Truell1992:240) do not provide a clear answer. Analyses ofmacrobotanical and pollen remains (M. Toll 1985aand A. Cully 1985b) indicate use from spring throughautumn. Truell considered Akins's study of faunalremains insufficient to shed light on this topic becauseeither procurement practices or later disturbances byanimals could have affected the data. Truell (1992:241) stated: "One thing that seems apparent from thesite use through time is that if the inhabitants of29SJ627 were there intermittently or seasonally, therewas some consistency in the group who occupied thesite." They made similar use of space and constructionmethods through time. Without answers to thesequestions, models for social organization will remaindifficult to evaluate.The shift in popUlation concentrations toward thecentral canyon after A.D. 1050 needs further clarification.The presence of A.D. 1100s features at someof the small sites in Marcia's Rincon and elsewheremay indicate a reuse of earlier areas or a problem withthe sample of excavated sites. Windes (1993:404)indicates that five PUeblo II srr.all sites in the FajadaGap community were occupied during the ClassicBonito phase, but that many others were abandoned.He suggests that some of the abandoned houses wereformally closed with the smashing of the latestcooking jars in the primary pit structures. We do notknow why some people moved away while othersremained.Some of these issues will be explored further inthe following chapters; others remain for futureinvestigation. But any models for social organization(Chapter 9) must consider these data and questions.