Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

The Final Years 243ceramic types, by A.D. 1350 the southern San JuanBasin can be divided into three distinct subdivisions:the Western, or Acoma-Laguna, area (Tularosa tradition);the Eastern (Mesa Verde tradition); and theLower Puerco (Socorro tradition). Along the middleRio San Jose, there is some overlap of the Mesa Verdetradition with the western tradition, especially in thearea around Acoma Pueblo. Sherds from the Socorrotradition are found in both the Tularosa and MesaVerde tradition sites. In the north, this evolutioncomes to an end at about A.D. 1350, and the area isabandoned, while in the south, although there arechanges in settlement pattern, there is continuedoccupation of major areas into the Historic period.If continued ceramic traditions indicate participationin a long-established group, during the periodfrom A.D. 1100 through 1350, a major divisionbetween those using carbon and mineral paints tookplace. Roney (1996) suggested that the fuzzy ceramicborders at the eastern San Juan Basin flow over intothe Rio Grande area (the close relationship ofMcElmo/Mesa Verde and Santa Fe types), whichwould suggest ties between these peoples. However,migration, or a slow movement of people from theMesa Verde and Chaco areas through the Rio PuercoValley and into the Rio Grande, seems unlikelybecause both the Mesa Verde and Rio Puerco areas areabandoned at the same time (but see recent commentsby Baker and Durand [2003:188-189], who proposemovement downstream to Hummingbird and laterpossibly to Pottery Mound, thus indicating possiblecontinuity through time). The presence of MesaVerde peoples in both the eastern San Juan Basin andthe Rio Grande areas in the late 1200s, however, isaccepted.Like Gwinn Vivian (1990) and McKenna (1991),Roney (1996) suggested a change in agriculturalpractices; the shift led to the abandonment of dryfarming in lowland areas and a movement to lowlandareas with slick rock that channeled water to farmingareas or to upland settings that were better watereddue to enhancement by orographic effects. Roney(1996) proposed that local communities retained theirorganization. The presence of "pre-eminent" sites(those that are larger than others in the community)suggests some formal organization; these are also thelast within the community to be abandoned. Thesepre-eminent sites vary considerably in layout; somehave plazas, some are in defensive locations, and someare walled. The possibility of conflict cannot beoverlooked.The period beginning around A.D. 1100 was anunsettled time, when local communities can be easilyassigned to distinct ceramic provinces that often do notinteract with one another (Roney 1996). In theAcoma-Laguna area, the mixing of Mesa Verde andTularosa traditions suggested continued interaction ora melding of peoples with different backgrounds andoutlooks.Roney's ideas are not very different from thoseof Lekson and Cameron (1995), who proposed anexpansion of the Chacoan regional system betweenA.D. 1050 and 1150, with an early A.D. 1100s shiftof the center from Chaco Canyon to the Totah regionof the San Juan River. They suggested that aroundA.D. 1150 a balkanization or division of the regiontook place, but the Chaco pattern of communitycontinued even though it was no longer the center.The great houses were still used, but their functionschanged. Based on similarities between the paintedwood recovered from Chetro Ketl (Gwinn Vivian etal. 1978) with that used on contemporary Puebloceremonies, Lekson and Cameron suggested thatkatsina dances (associated with the use of macaws),which they believe originated in the Mimbres areaaround A.D. 1050, were introduced. Lekson andCameron (1995) reported ties through oral histories ofthe Hopi and Zuni peoples that point to Chaco, whereboth lived together and where their ceremonial cyclesbegan; it is still considered their northernmost place(Ferguson and Hart 1985). Leksan and Cameronprovided a link between Acoma and the Chaco andMesa Verde areas, which are named in migrationaccounts. Lekson (1999) pursued this link further; forthis discussion, the goal is only to provide a backgroundfor the historic pueblos and to link them to theprehistoric sites and possible practices we canreconstruct from Chacoan archaeology.Most recent studies by Hill et al. (2004) plot thepresence of sites with 50 rooms or more between A.D.1200 and 1600 at 50-year intervals. Their graphicillustration confirms a slow movement out of the FourComers area to the historic Pueblo villages of today.They caution, however, that there may have beensmaller sites existing during some of these periods so