Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

-- -- - - - - -- - ~- -~-------- - ----- - -~The Final Years 235archival material at other institutions brought forthsome previously unavailable data from past excavations.Surveys carried out as part of the ChacoProject, and later by Windes, as well as limitedexcavations and analyses, provided information on thisleast understood period in and around Chaco Canyon.Archival ResearchExamination of Roberts's field notes (SmithsonianInstitution National Anthropological Archives,No. 485; Chaco Culture NHP, Archive No. 2108)and written materials obtained from the HarvardPeabody Museum shed light on three additional siteswith evidence for late occupation. Two small sitesnear Wijiji were excavated by Roberts in 1926(Roberts 1927:246-247). One large pueblo was excavatedby Tozzer and Farabee in 1901 (Andrews 1970;Mathien 2002). Pertinent details follow.Turkey House, or Roberts's Small House, is nowidentified as 29SJ2385 (Truell 1986:Table 2.1). It islocated at the foot of talus that flows out from thecliffs on the south side of the Chaco Wash, just east ofShabik' eshchee Village. Roberts excavated nine ofpossibly 10 rooms and the East Court in this Be-likestructure. There are probably one to three kivas inthis site (TruellI986:Table 2.1). In Room 6, threefloors were identified; a northeast comer fireplace wasassociated with the uppermost floor, which contrastswith a center fireplace described for the middle floor.Comer firepits were also recorded in rooms 4, 7, and8. Remains of turkey were abundant throughout therooms. Several burials were recovered from therooms and the trash midden. Akins (1986:Table B.l)associated six burials from the trash midden withGallup Black-on-white ceramics; burials recoveredfrom the house (e.g., an adult male in the northeastcorner of Room 7, and a young child covered by astone slab in the East Court) were placed in anunidentified later period. Pottery types from the siteinclude some early types; for rooms 1 through 5,Mesa Verde pottery and some red wares were present.The second small site excavated by Roberts,located one mile east of Turkey House, has not beenassigned a name or survey number. From the availablenotes, it is difficult to determine its plan.Roberts excavated at least three rooms (rooms 6, 7,and 9), where several children and adults, accom-panied by Mesa Verde ceramics but little else (Akins1986: 105), were found on the floors. Although mostburials were represented by numerous skeletal parts;in Room 7, only the skulls of two children wererecovered.The Mesa Tierra great house (LA 17220) wasdescribed by Roney (1995, 1996) as one of a few largeisolated sites dating to the Mesa Verde period. It islocated on a mesa top just west of Chaco Canyon andwas excavated in 1901. Farabee (1901) estimated thatit contained approximately 40 rooms, but only 25could be traced. Seven rooms and three kivas wereexcavated. Walls were badly eroded; a few photographssuggest use of irregularly shaped rocks forconstruction. One human skull was recovered in ahearth in the kiva (Room 8). Ground stone, bone, andcerawic artifacts were predominant (Mathien2002:Table 2). Excavated ceramic types includedPinedale Polychrome, st. Johns Polychrome, andMesa Verde-type sherds (Andrews 1970). Ceramicsfrom a survey sample (Marshall et al. 1979:79)included Mesa Verde Black-on-white (most common),Wingate Polychrome, st. Johns Polychrome, and aKwakina-style polychrome, which suggest an A.D.1200s assemblage.Data from these three sites reinforce the conclusionthat there was reuse of earlier small sites, butwhether this indicates decreased population orabandonment and reuse was not apparent. The locationof the great house in a defensive position, theirregular masonry, and the late ceramic types indicatethat new construction of a large site did take place tothe west of the canyon.SurveyHayes (1981) acknowledged overlap in the use ofsmall and large sites, with two types of large sites­Bonito-style and McElmo-style architecture-fromabout A.D. 1075 to the mid-A.D. 1200s. Based onarchitectural traits (fine-banded, darker sandstonemasonry, vs. large, shaped blocks of lighter soft sandstone)recorded during survey, Hayes (1981 :20, 29-34) subdivided the Pueblo III period into early (A.D.1050 to 1275) and late (A.D. 1275 to 1350) phases,but noted that there was much confusion in ceramictypes (the early presence of Mesa Verde Black-onwhite).For Early Pueblo III, he considered an early