Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

308 Chaco Project SynthesisFigure 10.7.Inscriptions from rock-art files for site 29S1206. (Chaco Culture NHP Museum Archive,no. 33000. William B. Gillespie, photographer.)roads and trails and piled stones into cairns. At 266rock-art sites, Navajo rock art was pictorial. Spanishand Anglo-Americans inscribed their names (Figure10.7), dates, and sometimes associations with townsor military regiments. Dates associated with Spanishnames suggested use of the area as winter grazingranges.The most abundant artifact type was pottery, andthe dominant types were Navajo. Pueblo trade wareson Navajo sites indicate exchange with Keres andTewa groups, Santa Ana, Acoma-Laguna, Cochiti­Zia, Zuni, and Hopi. Other artifact types on Navajosites included lithics, two cradleboards, weaving tools,a beater, one digging stick, gaming pieces, three religiousobjects, two baskets, an arrow, and reworkedtrade items. No items attributable to Spanish orMexican culture were recovered. Anglo-Americangoods included items of trade: those used for dress andgrooming, household items, storage, tools, andtransportation (Brugge 1981b:95).Due to limitations in dating techniques, Bruggewas concerned about our inability to identify Navajosites in the Chaco area prior to the early eighteenthcentury. In spite of difficulties dating sites, Brugge(1981b:99-100) found differences between Navajosites assigned to the period from 1750 to 1820 andthose assigned to the period between 1880 and 1945.Not only were the earlier sites more clustered andgenerally located on the south side of the canyon, butthey were also more common on the eastern end of thepark. Later sites were more common toward the westernend, more scattered in location, and seemingly lessconcerned with concealment. Exposure to the sun,relationship to vegetation, and access to farm landswere noted.Brugge's (1981b:l00-l01) summary reiteratesand comments on points made by Gwinn Vivian(1960). The earliest Navajo sites date to the mideighteenthcentury. Prior to 1774, their only enemieswere other Indian tribes. After that, occasional warswith the Spanish induced some defensive retreats, butmany sites were close to agricultural lands. Farming,livestock-raising, handicrafts, and some trade withnearby Pueblo people existed; the last depended on theavailability of Euro-American goods and freedomfrom Spanish regulation. After 1818, warfare wasmore intense. Increased trade over the Santa Fe Trailbrought more firearms, especially after Mexicanindependence. Sites are almost invisible; if Navajo