Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

The Classic Adaptation 219structures during closure tended to be reported mostcommonly in the Mancos Canyon in southwesternColorado (Emslie 1978; Gillespie 1976). She notedthat at Bc 50, Brand et al. (1937) found four kivas thatincluded intentional turkey burials upon closure; andSenter (1939) suggested possible turkey and dogburials in Feature 5, an earlier pit structure at this site.These findings contrasted with the lack of similarpractices at the neighboring site, Bc 51 (Kluckhohn1939b:34). Truell found only a few examples of thispractice, which occurred in small sites dating ca. A.D.700 or later. Similar practices had been recordedduring a later period at Puebio dei Arroyo, where dogburials were recovered in kivas F and 1. Voll (1978:142) recorded the placement of the legs and skulls offour deer in the upper fill of an earlier lower story ofRoom 92 at Chetro KetI. This type I masonry 'roomwas intentionally closed prior to construction of thepueblo in the mid-A.D. 1000s. Windes (1993:404)suggests that culinary ceramics were intentionallydestroyed and left in the firepits of primary pitstructures at three small sites (29SJ626 East, 29SJ629,and 29S11360), probably in the early A.D. lO00s.In addition to these special offerings, bothduring construction and closure of pit structures andkivas at small sites and great houses, Akins (1985:343) surveyed the ethnographic literature to determinethat bear remains often contribute to ceremonialpractices. Several were recovered in the great kivas atPueblo Bonito (Judd 1954) and Kin Nahasbas(Mathien and Windes 1988). Shell and turquoiseofferings, however, were more abundant and possiblymore important or represented different aspects of theceremonial-ritual cosmology.Possible Ritual Rooms and PracticesDuring his excavation of Pueblo Bonito, Pepper(1920: 193-195) recognized a number of artifacts thatresembled ceremonial items used by historic Hopi andZuni clans. For example, in Room 38 were the remainsof macaws and a platform holding objectsencrusted with turquoise and other tesserae. Hethought that the macaws suggested the presence of amacaw totem similar to the Zuni Mula-kwe (People ofthe Sun). He compared human effigy vases fromRoom 38 and adjacent Room 46 with the He'he andHe'he mana-modem Hopi katsinas. Some of theflagolets (flutes) collected from Room 33 are similarto those used by Hopi flute priests. Thus, Pepper(1909:250) suggested the burials found above the floorof Room 33 may be representative of an early flutefraternity. He thought that the wealth of PuebloBonito, especially with burials 13 and 14 in Room 33,represented ceremonial paraphernalia of a priesthoodor leaders who held important positions in Chacosociety. He also considered Room 67, a kiva underthe West Court, to have been a council house (Pepper1899:2, 1920:251-254). Windes (1987[1]:373-377)suggested a predominantly ceremonial rather thanmultifunctional living purpose for several rooms withfirepits constructed in the early A.D. 1100s. Tnesemi subterranean rooms tend to be located in front ofbig-room suites on the west side of Pueblo Bonito.Possibly earlier similar rooms include rooms 309,315, and 316 at Pueblo Bonito; Room 21 at Una Vida;and Room 110 at Pueblo .AJto. Although we camlotmake direct links with historic Pueblo social organization,these data suggest the institution of formalspace for some type of clan or sodality practicesduring this period.CosmologyBy the 1970s, the recording of pictographs andpetroglyphs and studies of archaeoastronomy provideddata to suggest that there may have been sometime-depth to several Historic Pueblo practices.Reyman (1971) examined Southwestern archaeologicalsites to determine whether they were aligned withcelestial bodies. In Chaco Canyon, he determined thatthe great kivas at Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito didalign with Ursa Major and that several other smallerkivas may have been aligned to stars during theClassic Bonito phase or later. These alignments werenot unique to Chaco Canyon; they occurred at othersites in the Anasazi region. Reyman was not certainwhether star alignments were relevant to these earlyPueblo people, because historic Pueblo people do notseem as concerned with star alignments as they dowith movements of the sun, in particular at the wintersolstice.Based on her extensive knowledge of Puebloethnology, Ellis (1975) proposed that sun-watchingstations or observation sites could have been used toestablish a yearly calendar and mark religiousceremonies early in time, and that these stations couldbe identified in the archaeological record. Several