Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

292 Chaco Project Synthesis1954:65). Parsons (1936) connected bears with curingsocieties, and Stevenson (1904) illustrates bear pawson altars of the sword swallower and little fire fraternitiesat Zuni. Possibly three former lineage markersare represented here to mark the earliest lineages thatcooperatively used Kiva Q and eventually migrated toother areas.Because the greatest number of wealth itemshave been recovered from Pueblo Bonito, "the BonitoFactor" (H. Toll 1991), it is considered the centralplace within Chaco Canyon. Although Akins (1986)attributed the differences among grave goods andstature to different levels of an elite hierarchy, it ispossible that they represent offerings with leaders ofdifferent lineages who provided different, but equallynecessary, ceremonial practices to the community orwhose segments operated or contributed to differentaspects of the society. Contrast the higher quantitiesof shell and turquoise found with the two malesbeneath the floor of Room 33 with the 28 projectilepoints associated with the male in Room 330--thelatter a room that also had a few bear claws. Theseburials might represent leaders of lineages whose kinwere also buried in these repositories over time.Gwinn Vivian's (1990) suggestion that a commitmentto certain farming techniques that includedwater control systems allowed less leeway in subsistencepractices in Chaco Canyon may be one reasonwhy recognized membership in a lineage or clanbecame increasingly important. By the late A.D.1000s or early A.D. 1100s, it is possible that somegroups were adopting symbols to mark clan propertyand facilities where knowledge was passed on toyounger members.Clans, sodalities, and moieties may have neededa full-time presence in public structures by aroundA.D. 1100. At Pueblo Alto, Windes (1987a[II])identified a possible clan room (Room 143/236) justnorth of Kiva 10. Judd (1954, 1964) identifiedseveral ceremonial rooms at Pueblo Bonito. Pepper(1909, 1920) recovered a number of objects that aresimilar to those used by members of the historicmacaw totem at Zuni from Room 38 of Pueblo Bonito.Similarly, he recognized the effigy vessels in thisroom and adjacent Room 46 as being similar to twoHopi katsinas. Flagelots (flutes) from Room 33 aresimilar to those used by Hopi flute priests.That different clans and/or sodalities markedtheir space with wall decorations at this time is alsopossible. Truell (1986:186-189), and later Mathien(2003b), reviewed examples of wall decorations fromlarge and small sites. The sample is small andincludes incised figures, painted dados, and carvedfigures, in both rooms and kivas. The earliestexamples of such decoration appears in the FourComers region (including Chaco Canyon) during LatePueblo II, and the practice moved east and southduring Pueblo III. It reached its greatest extent duringPueblo IV, when military or competitive scenes appear(Brody 1991; Crotty 1995; Smith 1952). Throughoutall periods, the designs exhibit considerable variabilityin style, technique, and subject matter-such, in fact,that Crotty (1995:374) concluded that the Pueblo IVwall murals indicate a "mix of people with variedcultural traditions" and that the presence of thesemurals seems to have occurred and "flourished wherewidespread contacts were maintained." A similardiversity in Chacoan wall decorations supports thepresence of various traditions in Chaco Canyon(Mathien 2003b).Other recent studies suggest that activities ingreat houses were probably varied, and may havechanged to support different needs during severalconstruction periods or to meet the differentrequirements of various lineages, clans, sodalities, ormoieties using their allotted space. Recent studiesusing spatial syntax analyses by Bustard (1996) andCooper (1995) confirm differential traffic patternsamong room blocks at great houses, and between greathouse and small house sites, during the Early, Classic,and Late Bonito phases. Both investigators remarkthat although there is apparent symmetry in unitsconstructed at approximately the same time at PuebloBonito and Kin Kletso, they were not organized in thesame manner (compare Figure 9.1 with Figure 9.2).Although great houses were planned facilities, theroom blocks were not standard in size, form, or spatialorganization. Initially some domestic units werepresent, but looping interconnections among unitssuch as the central section of Pueblo Bonito (IB)suggest an interconnectedness that is not presentearlier. Classic and Late Bonito great house roomblocks were probably not intended for residential use;they were inconvenient for storage and would notsupport a redistribution model. They may representmultipurpose sections, with a variety of ritual