Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

------------Explaining Pueblo Social Organization 291Canyon in communities within the Chaco halo duringthis period suggests that fission may have occurred.People who moved out of Chaco Canyon or anyof the communities in the San Juan Basin wereprobably not members of founding lineages. Whenthey moved into a different area, they may havebrought only some of their priests and ritual practices.Based on ethnohistoric records, new groups couldhave been welcomed in an established community ifthey provided a service; e.g., the acceptance of Tewaat Hopi (Dozier 1954). Such change could also occurin the canyon. Depending on how extensive anetwork of trading partners existed during this period,one might also expect that an increased number of newitems could be made available when leaders visiteddistant areas; thus, the introduction of copper bellsand tuaca\vs, or the filed tooth of one rnan. in PuebloBonito, might signify such visiting by a few leaders.Competition among lineages to bring materials back totheir clans in the canyon may have fostered some ofthe massive building episodes recorded by Lekson.Evidence for an overarching organizationthroughout the Pueblo World is found in the rapidchange to the use of overall indented corrugated andthe Gallup-Dogoszhi style around A.D. 1030 or 1040.The latter design does not displace, but rather cooccurswith, more constricted design traditions (Plog1990, 2003). If the Dogoszhi style in ceramicsbecame an icon to the larger population and wasrepresentative of blue-green as Plog (2003) proposes,this may be representative of a unifying set ofpractices that were adopted regionwide. In addition toPlog's (2003) suggestion that this Dogoszhi style maybe representative of blue-green, Neitzel and Bishop(1990) thought it was indicative of Chacoan economic,political, and ceremonial power. The Dogoszhi designappears on a number of cylinder jars, found mainly inthe central area of Pueblo Bonito, which H. Toll(1990) suggested may represent storage for use onspecial occasions by participants in scheduled events.Crown and Wills (2003) reported that a few cylinderjars from Room 28 were repainted with these designs,which suggests changes that reflect the increasedimportance of a concept associated with these vessels.These data support expansion of the social organizationat this time-Judge's (1989) period ofexpansion. Sebastian's (1992) model explains howthe leading lineages may have institutionalized theirroles. Based on Reyman's (1987) and Zeilik's (1987)analyses of Pueblo hierarchy, the sun-watcher fromthe founding lineage may have regulated theceremonial calendar, assisted by other medicine chiefs.Were the leaders institutionalized? If one assumesthat different lineages are represented bydifferent symbols, there is evidence to support thepresence of multiple groups whose relationshipschanged through time. One line of evidence isrepresented by animal remains that mark closingceremonies. Voll (1978: 137) recorded the placementof the articulated front legs and skulls of four deer onan intentional sand-fill layer in the lower story ofRoom 92 at Chetro Ketl, which had type I masonrywalls (Figure 5.18). Akins (1985:353) and Truell(1986:225-227, Table 2.25) documented the placementof dog/coyote and turkey remains in differentkivas and pit structures-a pattern that Truell (1986)indicates is found in southwestern Colorado. Akins(1985:356) noted a difference in percentages of dogremains in Basketmaker III/Pueblo I sites, which mayindicate different attitudes toward these animals ortheir use by different lineages. When the total numberof remains from all proveniences were reviewed, dogsare present in greatest numbers during Pueblo II, whennumerous burials were recorded, but their presencedecreased thereafter.Other species are predominant among offeringsrecovered from great kivas. Bear claws, dogs, andmountain lion remains were among the itemsrecovered with turquoise and shell offerings in Kiva Qat Pueblo Bonito (Judd 1954:323-325). Early bearelements were recovered among Basketmaker IIImaterials from Shabik'eshchee Village and 29SJ423.Most bear elements, with the exception of thoserecovered from Pueblo Alto and Bc 51, are found insites with great kivas; to date most are from sites in"downtown" Chaco. A combination of bear claws andmountain lion claws has been retrieved from greatkivas at Pueblo Bonito (Judd 1954:323-324) and KinNahasbas (Akins and Bertram 1988:286). Akins(1985:356; Akins and Bertram 1988:288) consideredthe possibility that bear, wolf, and mountain lion wereused for ceremonial purposes. Judd (1954:324) indicatedthat bears are associated with war by HistoricPueblo Indians, and with the west, where the deaddwell. Bears are considered humans in animal form,so there is a taboo against killing them for food (Judd