Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

Related Communities 257and cupule widths, plus increased reliance on turkey,the increasing populations that adjusted to cycles ofsedimentation and depletion of nutrients in the soilwere unable to maintain permanent aggregatedcommunities. Chaco may have been a focal point forceremonies for the larger community within that area,but not all communities needed to be linked to Chacoin an organized manner.Bis sa 'ani CommunityThe Bis sa'ani Pueblo and surrounding sitescomprise a short-lived Late Bonito phase communitythat dates from around A.D. 1100 to 1150 (Breternitzet al. 1982; Doyel et al. 1984; R. Powers et al. 1983:21-54; J. P. Wilson 1979). Bis sa'ani Pueblo is locatedon two sections of a ridge 20 m above theEscavada Wash. The eastern complex includes 20rooms made from puddled, coursed adobe in thecentral section (Casa Quemada), surrounded on threesides by enclosed kiva complexes (Casa Horminga onthe west, Rabbit House on the east, and South House),all of them constructed of masonry. At South H~use,the western face exhibited two decorative bands ofwhite sandstone that resemble the banding on the westwall at Aztec West (Breternitz et al. 1982:264). Justslightly east was a C-shaped structure that could havebeen a signaling station. The western complex includesa large kiva and 10 masonry rooms. Uniquefeatures of this great house are four stairways; adobearchitecture; large and massive wall-foundation platforms;and narrow, subdivided platform rooms locatednorth of each kiva.The 35 sites that constitute the Bis sa'ani communityinclude 10 small habitation pueblos; 10isolated structures (including field houses and threeisolated kivas); and 15 limited use sites, whereactivities related to agriculture, resource procurement,or processing took place. The 10 habitation sites weretypical units found throughout the Colorado Plateau.At two of these sites, however, there were separatewalk-in storage rooms that were entered via stairwaysfrom the plaza.Based on the presence of five kivas in Bis sa'aniPueblo and five in its surrounding community,Breternitz et al. (1982) and Doyel et al. (1984)postulated a relationship between small sites and thegreat house. Within the community, two kivas wereincorporated into small pueblos. One of these smallpueblos was located to the north of the Escavada Washand was the only site in this area. Similarly, one withpuddled adobe (similar to Casa Quemada in Bis sa'aniPueblo) was the only structure located on thefloodplain. The remaining three kivas were isolatedstructures located in three "neighborhoods" composedof small sites, field houses, and limited use sites.Breternitz et al. (1982) and Doyel et al. (1984) suggestthat the Bis sa'ani community included a pueblo thatwas constructed as a public facility and maintainedthrough cooperation by the residents of the smallhouse sites. Both site types had evidence for aresidence (e.g., Casa Quemada, a section of the greathouse) and milling facilities. Bis sa'ani Pueblo hadthe greatest number and largest variety of exotic goods(higher numbers of imported ceramics and lithics, amore diverse faunal assemblage, and an unusual sealedpit with 31 stone objects, as well as ornaments, stonepalettes, a copper bell, shells from the Pacific coast,a jet ring, and turquoise). Mutual interdependencebetween the site types for subsistence, as well as forsocial and secular amenities, was proposed.A. Cully et al. (1982) indicate that from 150 to190 ha of land would have been available for agriculturein the Bis sa'ani community, and that this landcould support between 123 and 153 people. Thus, theestimated popUlation (based on site numbers and size)of70 to 127 inhabitants (100 average) could have beensupported locally. If the population using Bis sa'aniPueblo was not permanent and if additional fields at agreater distance were used in addition to hunting andgathering, then a 25 percent reduction in communitypopulation would be a self-sufficient group, yet theywould not have had an appreciable surplus.Three lines of evidence were suggested to connectthe Bis sa'ani community with other Chacoansites. Although there are no identifiable resources totrade from the Bis sa'ani community area, the productionof a few local ceramic vessels and services(such as labor) could have been available for exchangein an integrated system. A C-shaped feature on theridge east of Bis sa'ani Pueblo may have been asignaling station that linked the great house to FajadaButte and other points in Chaco Canyon. A prehistoricroad from Chaco Canyon to outlying areasmay pass through the community. Marshall et al.(1979) proposed that the Bis sa 'ani community