Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

226 Chaco Project Synthesisnot analyzed or the results of excavations were notwidely disseminated (see sites classified as Pueblo IIIand Late Pueblo III in Truell 1986:Table 2.1). Abrief review follows.Headquarters site no. 1 (29S1515) was constructedduring the Classic period (Late Bonito phase)(Gordon Vivian and Mathews 1965:81). In plan view(Figure 7.1) it was similar to Wijiji. Five of its roomsand one kiva had cored masonry constructed of softsandstone blocks with dimpled surfaces, similar to thatin early A.D. ll00s sites. No cultural materials werefound on the floors, but 0.6 to 1.2 m (2 to 4 ft) ofrefuse above the floor contained one burial and MesaVerde sherds similar to those found in a neighboringsmall site. This nearby four-room Headquarters siteno. 2, located at the base of the talus slope, hadmasonry consisting of unshaped stones laid two stoneswide. The rooms were small (1.2 x 2.1 m [4 x 7 ft]),and the floors were not compact but rather loose andsandy. Approximately 77 percent of the sherds wereMesa Verde Black-on-white; the remainder wereMcElmo Black-on-white (7 percent); Chaco Black-onwhite(5 percent); Escavada Black-on-white (3 percent);Gallup Black-on-white (1 percent); QuerinoPolychrome (3 percent); and St. lohns Polychrome (2percent). These sherds were attributed to aMontezuma phase (Vivian and Mathews 1965:81).z. Bradley (1971) recognized that Bc 236(Figure 7.2) had evidence for two periods of use. Theoriginal walls consisted of large blocks shaped bypecking and smoothing; the double-faced masonry hadbeen laid on an underlying foundation. Floors werepacked adobe and averaged 5.08 cm (2 in) in thickness.Floors for the secondary occupation werecompacted fill; Bradley (1971:32) thought that rooms8 and 9 may have been covered with a jacal structure.Eleven of 18 firepits from the site were located againstwalls. In Room 8, the earlier firepit was in the centerof the floor; in the secondary occupation, it wasplaced against the wall, suggesting similar customs tothose found in the Mesa Verde region. The originalenclosed kiva walls were similar to Hawley's (1938)type 9 (i.e., rubble core with small slab facing); therewere six pilasters. The lower levels of occupationcontained a mix of Chaco and Mesa Verde sherds,while the upper levels were characterized by MesaVerde pottery. The courtyard exhibited two periodsof use: the earlier had a mix of Mesa Verde andChacoan sherds, while the later contained only MesaVerde sherds. An infant burial, accompanied by aMesa Verde Black-on-white bowl, was found on thefloor of Room 2. A second human burial had beenuncovered in a refuse area located ca. 7.5 m (25 ft)southwest of the house; it had been eroding out fromthe surface and had been removed by Gordon Vivianin 1958. The presence of 51 turkey bones out of 57total bird bones was similar to evidence that Dutton(1938) reported for the late occupation at Leyit Kin.At Be 236, 13 came from a deliberate burial of oneturkey recovered from a deep firepit located along thewest side of the house that was assigned to thesecondary occupation. Bradley thought that this sitewas built around the early A.D. 1100s, abandonedbetween ca. A.D. 1150 and 1200, and reoccupied inthe early A.D. 1200s.The Gallo Cliff Dwelling (29SJ540, Bc 288)(Abel 1974) is a small house block and kiva (Figure7.3) located on a talus slope under an overhang on thewest side of Gallo Wash (Figure 7.4). The crude,unshaped sandstone blocks (Figure 7.5), similar toHawley's (1937a, 1938) type 10, were of varyingsizes and were randomly laid, with occasional chinkingstones between them (Abel 1974). Of the 762sherds recovered, 74 percent were utility wares, halfof which were classified as Chaco Corrugated. Of thedecorated wares (26 percent of the collection), 12percent of the total sherds were classified as McElmoBlack-on-white and 6.3 percent as Wingate Black-onred.These were found predominantly in Room 5 andthe kiva. Based on the ceramics recovered, specificallythe McElmo Black-on-white, Abel placed thissite's use between A.D. 1100 and 1200, and possiblylater. Windes (personal communication, 2004) is uncomfortablewith archaeomagnetic dates. ESO 1466,formerly listed as A.D. 1370.±25, falls at A.D. 1330on the 1990s revision of the curve, while ESO 1475,formerly placed at A.D. 1250.± 56, did not date.Based on Abel's ceramic analysis, Windes places thesite at about A.D. 1200 or very late A.D. 1100s, withpossible later use, but recommends reappraisal of theceramics. Much material made from twine and over2,000 turkey feathers were recovered; 50 to 85 percentof the faunal remains represented turkeys.Site 29S11912, also known as Lizard House(Maxon 1963), or Bc 192 or Bc 193 in Hayes's survey(1981), and site 29S1827 (Voll's site Bc 362; Voll