Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

256 Chaco Project SynthesisGuadalupe CommunityFrom 1970 through 1981, Cynthia Irwin­Williams directed the Middle Rio Puerco Project,which included a survey that recorded over 800 sites,and excavations at two of them. Washburn (1974)published results of a nearest-neighbor analysis ofsmall sites; and Pippin (1979, 1987) reported on theexcavations at Guadalupe ruin. Initially, a small LateBasketmaker-Pueblo I community was established nearGuadalupe Mesa in upland areas above Tapia Wash, atributary drainage in the middle Rio Puerco Valley,during the AD. 800s. Prior to A.D. 828, 22 siteswith pit structures were located on the south side ofthe mesa. Later masonry structures were constructedin the same area. This settlement resembles manyothers found throughout the Anasazi region during thePueblo I period (Baker and Durand 2003).Between A.D. 900 and 960, sites with structureswere located farther down slope toward the maintributary stream; they were concentrated at the contactof the slope environment (shale bedrock remnants)with the valley floor (Baker and Durand 2003).Eleanor ruin, a small house with Chaco-like features,was constructed on the valley floor. Pippin (1987:174) placed the earliest Chaco (type I) construction ofthe initial nine rooms and one kiva at Guadalupe ruinon the mesa top sometime between AD. 919 and 971.Within the settlement, four kivas were documented.Two were found with small (five- and six-room)sites-one with Eleanor ruin, and one with a 32-roomstructure (ENM-848) that was not excavated (Bakerand Durand 2003). After AD. 970, there is evidenceof initial settlement farther south in the Salado Washarea, where there is no evidence of a Chaco anstructure (Roney 1996: 150).Between A.D. 960 and 1130, 21 structures werepart of the community (Durand and Durand 2000:Table 8.1). L. Baker (2003) placed several water controlfeatures in ceramic group 7, dated AD. 969 to990. Guadalupe ruin increased to 29 rooms with coreand-veneermasonry; some were large rooms that hadT -shaped doorways. The Eleanor ruin also has T­shaped doorways. The number ofkivas increases afteraround A.D. 970 (to 27 for the entire community),with the largest number existing from about A.D.1056 to 1091. Five are associated with Guadaluperuin and Eleanor ruin.Around A.D. 1092 to 1126, sites are located onvalley floors, as well as at the previously noted slopecontact areas, but there is little evidence for use ofeither Guadalupe ruin or Eleanor ruin. After A.D.1130, the size of the community is greatly reduced.Between A.D. 1220 and 1300, 16 structures were inexistence and the mesa top was much used. Remodelingof both the Guadalupe great house andEleanor ruin occurred, but populations moved downstreamsoon thereafter.Based on his anal ysis of the data from Guadaluperuin and its surrounding community, Pippin (1987:193-194) considered the pattern of town-like structuresamong rural hamlets as having developed earlier inChaco Canyon, but as being present at a number ofoutlying communities during the tenth century.Development at the Guadalupe community paralleledthe canyon sequence; yet the material culture in thegreat house was more like that in surrounding dispersedsmall house sites. Although communicationbetween this settlement and Chaco Canyon existed,there was no evidence of an intrusive population.Pippin (1987: 193) proposed that similar processesmay have led to the establishment of the largestructures in this community and Chaco Canyon. Heconsidered the large structures to be public buildings,possibly used as warehouses or ritual/ceremoniallocations. The increase in population growth mayhave been due to more mesic conditions, the adoptionof the mais de ocho variety of corn, and the developmentof water control features, all of which led toincreased social complexity.Judge (1989:235-237) proposed that leaders inthe Guadalupe community may have controlled turquoisetrade from the Cerrillos Mining District toChaco Canyon. However, the lack of mining toolsand the limited number and types of turquoise objectsrecovered at Guadalupe ruin did not support thisinference.Durand and Durand (2000) admitted that thereare definite links between these areas, but thoughtChaco was part of a pan-Southwestern adaptation inwhich the height of Chacoan culture represents earlyexperimentation with an agricultural adaptation and anattempt at aggregated village life based on foodproduction and seasonal exploitation of wild resources(Roler 1999). Until there was an increase in corn-row