Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

Explaining Pueblo Social Organization 275Within the independent subsistence-basedcommunities, people pooled their resources andredistributed the exchanged goods among theindividual community members. Full-time specialistswould have been few in number; they would havemanaged a trade system, and they would have beenable to improve the stability of primary productionand the community (Judge 1976b, 1977a, 1989).Thus, the response in the early tenth century advanceda small segment of the population to the level ofsecondary consumers who organized seasonal redistributionthat probably took place when perishablegoods were available. Because they did not want toequate social status with evidence for formal exchange,Judge et al. (1981) were careful not to specifythe social correlate that was evolving either in thecanyon or the basin. They were aware that HistoricPueblo people are primarily egalitarian; and that,other than two individuals at Pueblo Bonito, there islittle evidence for high status among the burials inChaco Canyon. Thus, emphasis was on examiningChaco as a developing center.The Formalization Period extended from A.D.1020 to 1050, when social organization served as abuffer against vagaries in moisture availability andencompassed a larger set of communities in thesouthern Chaco Basin. Only one of eight new outliercommunities, Hogback, was in the north, whichsuggested that Chaco Canyon was not located in thecenter of a system. Administration of the exchangenetworks was controlled by Chacoan residents;whether these were elite individuals or members of adominant corporate unit was not possible todetermine.A period of above-average moisture with continuedvariability from around A.D. 1020 to 1080 wasinterrupted by a period of below-average rainfall fromabout A.D. 1025 to 1035 (Judge 1989). Adjustmentswithin the cultural niche would be made throughincreased formalization and complexity. BetweenA.D. 1020 and 1050, Gallup Black-on-white potteryappears. Two new great houses, Chetro Ketl andPueblo Alto, were constructed in the central section ofChaco Canyon (Lekson 1984a). There were no localcommunities near these new great houses and theywere not located along confluences of side drainagesystems. Judge (1989:238) suggested that Chetro Ketlmay have provided a link with settlement along theEscavada Wash. Pueblo Alto lacked evidence for roadconstruction between A.D. 1020 and 1050, but itslocation permitted visibility across the San Juan Basin(Windes 1987[1]). Roads would later lead from bothof these great houses to the north-the Great NorthRoad from Pueblo Alto to Kutz Canyon and two roadsfrom Chetro Ked to the Escavada Wash. Theproximity of these two great houses to Pueblo Bonitosuggests an increasing importance for the centralcanyon.Because analyses of data from studies in thecanyon and the region indicated that most goodsflowing through the exchange system came from thelarger region into resource-poor Chaco Canyon, wherethey were being consumed during activities in thegreat houses (Cameron 1997b; H. Toll and McKenna1997), management of the e~ono!11jc system throughredistribution of goods was unlikely. Judge (1989:238-239) proposed that Chaco's increasing importancein the larger region is attributable to the ritual use ofturquoise, which was obtained by people in outlyingcommunities, brought into the canyon, and made intofinished products by local craftsmen. Turquoiseobjects were used during periodic visits under a ritualmetaphor when other nonritual material was broughtin and exchanged. The development and control ofritual to ensure agricultural success fostered socialinteraction and became the locus of power.The Expansion Period from A.D. 1050 to 1115included two long periods of favorable climate, fromA.D. 1045 to 1080 and from A.D. 1100 to 1130, thatwere interrupted by moisture reduction in the earlyA.D. 1080s and a lO-year reduction from A.D. 1090to 1100. The earlier and later periods of goodmoisture show different patterns in the occupation anduse of great houses. Windes (1982a, 1984, 1987[1];Windes and Doleman 1985) noted decreasedpopulation between A.D. 1050 and 1100; hesuggested that habitation in small houses in Marcia'sRincon may have ceased around A.D. 1050 (Windes1993). Because big-room suites in great housesbetween A.D. 1050 and 1100 have no true firepits andmay not represent habitation space, Windes (1987[1])suggested that their function changed. Lekson (1984a)found that front rooms in great houses decreased insize through time and tend to be more similar in sizeand shape to back rooms. Massive construction stagesbetween A.D. 1075 and 1115, especially the McElmo