Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

260 Chaco Project SynthesisAfter A.D. 1050, two distinct patterns appeared(Irwin-Williams 1980a). In the middle San Juan RiverValley, numerous large Chacoan outliers had evidenceoflarge quantities and a diversity of intrusive Chacoanceramics. A number of small sites had a similarceramic pattern. Irwin-Williams (1980b) thought theywere incorporated into the Chacoan sphere and representeda specific region of Chacoan culture. In theLa Plata River Valley there were only a few outliers,and these were isolated structures. The local sites didnot have the San Juan and Chaco ceramic patterns; sheconcluded that this was a different region, in whichChaco culture was not integrated with the indigenouspopUlation.Salmon ruin was constructed during the lateeleventh century. This large structure has 140 to 150ground-floor rooms and over 100 second-story rooms,and a great kiva and a tower kiva. It is one of twooutlying pueblos that fall into the large- and mediumsizegreat house category with those of Chaco Canyon(R. Powers et al. 1983:Table 41). The primary (orChaco-affiliated) construction was divided into fourphases (Rex Adams 1980). In phases I through III,from A.D. 1088 to 1106, the great house reached itsfinal shape, and it had an open, easy flowing trafficpattern. Around A.D. 1116, during phase IV, a numberof internal functions were modified: ground-floordoorways, including front-to-back connections, weresealed; the gallery in front was subdivided; and kivalikefeatures were added to some of the large, squarefront rooms thought to be the living rooms of front-tobacksuites. Prior to this, only two kivas werepresent: the tower kiva in the central room block, andthe great kiva in the plaza. The former had evidenceof a larger number of Cibolan ceramics and wasinterpreted as a special-function area; the latter had anaverage amount of all types of ceramics and wasthought to be a place where functions that integratedthe entire popUlation took place. Sometime after A.D.1130, a Chaco-type kiva was constructed in Room 96.Irwin-Williams (1980a) thought that a population-environmentdisequilibrium in the ChacoCanyon area in the late ninth and tenth centuries mayhave stimulated adaptive responses (new and improvedtechnology) and expansion into the broader San JuanBasin in search of new homes and extensive trade.Thus, a need for integrative and regulative mechanismsbrought about the Chaco Phenomenon, whichwas characterized by supra-kin group organizationduring this period rather than the aggregatedcommunities seen during the later Mesa Verde phase.Relying on the ceramic studies of Franklin (1980) andlithic studies by Shelley (1980), she compared Chacoperiod data with the later Mesa Verde period. (TheIntermediate period was found to have little evidenceof use, possibly due to greatly decreased populationsize.) Room function and artifacts indicated differencesin use of space, composition of diet andprobable subsistence base, and social organization.Irwin-Williams (1980b) concluded that the Chacoperiod was centered around some type of authoritythat had access to Chacoan goods, and control overspecialized economic activities and main ceremonialareas (the tower kiva and the great kiva). Yet theleaders lived in a sty Ie similar to that of the rest of thepopUlation.During the Chacoan period, Irwin-Williams(1980b: 169-170) found evidence for two populationsusing Salmon ruin. Except for the great kiva, all ofthe special-activity areas (i.e., milling room, butcheringarea, food preparation area, and tower kiva area)are associated with Cibolan ceramics. Rooms aroundthe tower kiva contained com mothers, ceremonialfeatures, and Gallup and Chuskan pottery types. Thegreat kiva was thought to be associated with neitherthis group of rooms nor others that contained locallyavailable or locally made artifacts. Irwin-Williamscould not determine whether the personnel wereaffiliated with imported items or whether the objectsrepresent special activities-or both-but she suggestedthat social organization was dominated by priestlyleaders who controlled economic and social functions.These priests came from dispersed egalitarian originsand received little personal gain. Of the three burialsattributed to the Chacoan period, only one male burialwas accompanied by goods (a bow, nine cane arrows,four bone awls, a paho, a robe, four bowls with unusualdesigns, and finely woven mats) that remindedIrwin-Williams of a bow priest. His burial was attributedto the beginning of the Intermediate period.Irwin-Williams (1980b: 175-176) suggested that thecentral authority led by religious personnel wasaffiliated with Chaco Canyon.Around A.D. 1116 to 1130, there was a distinctbreak in the culture continuity of the Chaco period.An increase in local ceramic types suggested the