Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

288 Chaco Project Synthesiswatered areas in the Chaco halo (Marshall and Doyel1981:73-75).Were all great house communities integrated intoone system? Because there had been two great kivaseast and west of the central canyon duringBasketmaker III, it is possible that Penasco Blancomay represent an independent node on the west end ofthe canyon. Una Vida and Kin Nahasbas mayrepresent a similar independent community east ofPueblo Bonito. The early large pit structure beneaththe great kiva at Kin Nahasbas probably belongs tothis period, but it is replaced by later great kivas(Mathien and Windes 1988). The proximity of thisgreat house to Una Vida was attributed to the need forvisibility in a communications system that linkeddifferent areas of the canyon. No great kiva has yetbeen identified at Hungo Pavi; this great house mighthave been part of Pueblo Bonito's expansion into anarea that captured water flowing through MockingbirdCanyon.Within the Chaco halo, great kivas are absent insettlements at Padilla Well, South Gap, Fajada Gap,Chaco East, and Pueblo Pintado in the late A.D. 800sor early 900s (Windes et al. 2000:39). This suggeststhat most of these communities were not independent.A great kiva in the Kin Bineola area, 29Mc261 (VanDyke and R. Powers 2006b), may be early; this site isin an area that was previously inhabited and may havebeen independent throughout its history. Which of thecommunities in the Chaco halo were tied to those inChaco Canyon is not known.Assuming that all new settlements in the Chacohalo were not independent, there is some evidence tosuggest that existing social organization underwentmodification during the A.D. 900s, when several newminerals and species of shell appear in Chaco Canyonsites, as well as the first jewelry workshops (Mathien1997; Windes 1993:387). Around A.D. 900 or 950to 1000, Plog (1990, 2003) found that designs onblack-on-white ceramics become more geographicallyrestricted, which is expected if less overall spatialvariability in rainfall decreased the need for regionalinteraction. Some people in Chaco Canyon, however,were becoming tied more closely to other areas; asthey began to exhaust the wood resources in thecanyon (Samuels and Betancourt 1982), they began torely on southern and western associates to providetimber for roof construction (English et al. 2001).The growing numbers of trachyte-tempered ceramicsindicate that the Chuska Mountains provided suchresources. Windes (2004) proposed that migrationsfrom the northern San Juan followed the Chaco Riverthrough the Chuska Valley and into the Chaco halo.Those in Chaco would need to adjust their integrationof different social segments to accommodate thesechanges. As Sebastian (1992) proposed, this might bea time when competition among independent communitiesexisted, but no one was able to establishhegemony. Recognition of the importance of bothhorticulture and hunting through a moiety systemwould continue. The importance of other crosscuttingsodalities would require enhancement whenpeople migrated southward (Ware 2001; Ware andBlinman 2000).In summary, during the period between A.D.750 and 1000, there would have been severalfluctuations in local rainfall episodes. The increasedneed for storage would have increased the need forlabor investments in the production of sufficient crops.All leaders, of both families and larger segments,would have had to manage the distribution of storesduring some periods. If distribution to families(extended families and households) came first, it islikely that remaining lineage members came second,and that nonlineage neighbors might have been left totheir own devices. This would strengthen the importanceof lineage and/or clan affiliation. In addition,in-migration from the northern San Juan in the lateA. D. 800s would have led to the absorption ofadditional people, some probably into existinglocalities, with others becoming established in newlocalities. Those lineage segments on better wateredlands would have had advantages over other segments.But the variability in rainfall, both spatially andtemporally, would not have brought long-term successto all areas. Cooperation among different groupsacross space would have been emphasized. Theappearance of additional shell and turquoise items, andespecially jewelry workshops, suggests that there is anincreased emphasis on non subsistence materials thatmay have been exchanged for food or services, or thatthey may have served as symbols of prestige thatidentified cooperation among larger segments of thesociety. The extensiveness of the Red Mesa Black-onwhiteceramic design in sites across the Pueblo regionat this time suggests ease of communication and