Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

302 Chaco Project Synthesisestablished themselves along the Rio Puerco of theeast. Competition for land then became a problem.This more intensive interaction between Navajo andPueblo peoples is reflected in the archaeologicalrecord. In the Gobemador area, masonry buildingsand tower-like structures, as well as pueblitos, arefound. There is evidence of settlement on ChacraMesa and Big Bead Mesa; on the former are siteshaving an emphasis on defense. Spanish trade itemsare rare in the Gobemador area and absent farthersouth. Gwinn Vivian saw the process of change in thedevelopment of masonry architecture and the ceramicmaterials. Based on faunal remains from ChacraMesa, he suggested that livestock were present butwere probably used for food rather than for wool andother products.After 1750, and until 1800, documentary evidenceindicates that, except in the Cebolleta area,where Spanish settlers obtained land grants andencroached upon the Navajo, there was less contactbetween Navajo and Pueblo peoples. At this time; theNavajo moved from their homeland in the north tosettlements farther south and west. Many moreNavajo sites are assigned to this period, both onChacra Mesa and Big Bead Mesa. In the newsettlements, there is evidence for a decline in Pueblostylearchitecture, but also some evidence of contactand trade. Very few Navajo sites are found in theGobernador area.Based on these observations, Gwinn Vivian concludedthat there is good correlation between thearchaeological and historical records. The formercould explain certain changes in the latter. When heexamined architecture and ceramics to test the ideathat Navajo culture remained stable through time, heconcluded that the Pueblo traits found in the Gobernadorarea were considerably reduced from what theywere in their homeland. Traits that evolved in theGobernador area were reduced and simplified in theChacra Mesa archaeological database. The Pueblopeople who moved into Navajo territory during the1600s were easily absorbed, but their traits andtraditions were not as easily integrated into the Navajoculture. When defense against the Ute became a majorproblem for the Navajo, there was a change in structuresfrom forked-stick to masonry hogans, a movesouth and west into new territory, and the appearanceof Pueblo trade pottery on Navajo sites on Chacra andBig Bead mesas. Sites in the south were less defensivein nature than those in the north, indicating a shiftback to more traditional Navajo ways when the enemywas not close by.In summary, knowledge about the Navajopeoples in Chaco Canyon was still limited in 1969.Although there were a number of ethnological studiescarried out during the SARIUNM field schools, mostof the data were incorporated into larger studies ofNavajo culture. The stories of the Gambler werevaried, and some investigators wondered how much toattribute to the individual storyteller. Documentationof the prior history of the Navajo in the Chaco areahad begun. A comprehensive survey of Navajo siteswithin the then-monument had not been undertaken,and the few reports that had been published werelimited in scope. It was not until Gwinn Vivian conductedthe survey on Chacra Mesa, and was able toassign dates to a number of structures and relate eventsto the historical documents, that we had a basicunderstanding of early Navajo use of the area.Vivian's research was limited to the period from 1600to 1800 and had not been published, although a summaryof this work appeared in Bannister (1965:116-202). He was, however, the first in Chaco to addresscausal factors for changes in the archaeological recordbased on historic documentation. His studies providedbasic information on historic adaptation in the Chacoarea prior to Chaco Project research.The key issues in 1969, therefore, included acomplete survey of all historic sites in the canyon;ascertaining more exact dates for when Navajo movedinto the area; enhancing Navajo history of use in thearea; and explicating relationships between Navajo andother culture groups. The Chaco Prospectus (NPS1969: 15-17) suggested survey, excavation, and examinationof documentary evidence within an ecologicalframework for three periods of use: Refugee, Navajo,and Recent Historic. These studies would easily becombined.After a discussion of major data-recoveryprojects carried out by the Chaco Project, and severalcontemporaneous studies in the area outside of parkboundaries, this chapter will conclude with anevaluation of what has been learned, and suggestionsfor future research.