Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

The NPS Chaco Project 13outside of the park (Gwinn Vivian 1960). A numberof different recording procedures led to the identificationof sites by either names or site numbers, orsome combinations thereof (Hayes 1981:Table 1).During the Chaco Project, the Smithsonian Institutionnumbering system was employed during three separatesurvey projects that were designed for differentpurposes and recorded different information (Hayes1981; Judge 1972; Van Dyke 2006a); the sites that arerecorded in more than one of these surveys retain onlyone number. These site numbers were then correlatedwith the New Mexico system to provide LA numbersunder which they are filed in the New MexicoCultural Resource Information System(NMCRIS)-the official database for the State of NewMexico Historic Preservation Division in Santa Fe.Because of the variability in recording formats andcorrelations made to enter the Chaco data into the statesystem, it is recommended that use of the databases belimited to exploratory propositions; more detailedanalyses of sites, their locations, features, dating, andother variables must be undertaken with theseconditions in mind. The evolution of these surveys,however, reflects changes in methodology that weredriven by government regulations mentioned above.Once excavations were under way, improvementsin artifact sampling technique during surveywere proposed to better understand use of a sitethrough time. Recording of pictographs and petroglyphsalso informed on use of the canyon. Somesurvey data were computerized; others were not. Thissection will elaborate on what Chaco Projectarchaeologists learned through surveys, and how whatthey learned reflected changes in archaeological theoryand method.Sample Transect Survey. In 1970, developingmethods for data-gathering and analysis of settlementlocations included sample survey, which could be usedto predict archaeological site locations and density(Judge 1972, 1981b), which is useful when estimatingtime, costs, and results for full inventory survey.Based on a systems theory approach in which cultureis one variable integrated into the system, Judge'sinitial transect survey was designed to obtain as muchinformation as possible about the range of archaeologicalsite types and their environmental contexts.Included were data relevant to research initiated by theSouthwest Archaeological Group (SARG), a consortiumof investigators whose goals were to distinguishenvironmental criteria that would be useful whenstratifying the survey area ecologically in anticipationof the next research stage (Judge 1971, 1972,1981b: 109-110). Although a total of 636 sites fromthe Chaco Project are also recorded in the SARGdatabase that is stored on tape at Arizona StateUniversity (Sylvia Gaines, personal communication,1999), they were not included in analyses derivedfrom that project. This study was one of the initialsteps in the evaluation of predictive modeling inarchaeology, especially for cultural resourcemanagers. Models could be derived through eithercorrelation of variables or deductive propositionsbased on theories from various fields (Judge andSebastian 1988).Inventory Survey. This survey was designedto obtain a complete inventory of sites within theboundaries of the park in order to provide managerswith a tool to meet their protection and interpretationgoals, to obtain information on the distribution of thepopUlations and cultures that used the area throughtime, to determine why people located their siteswhere they did, and to pose questions for futureresearch (Hayes 1981:2). A single form containinginformation pertinent to location, site type, probabledating, and other comments regarding materials at asite provided a standardized data-collection procedure;a sketch map could be drawn on the reverse side.Hayes transferred these data to library analysis cards,in which holes were punched according to a masterplan. Using a long pick, cards with specific variablescould be retrieved and numbers of sites counted.Later data from this survey were coded and enteredinto the San Juan Basin Regional Uranium Study(SJBRUS), a computerized database designed to assistin evaluation of the impact of uranium mining oncultural resources (Drager and Lyons 1983b; Wait1982). A subset of these data was placed in PARK­MAN, a database that could be manipUlated andoverlain with data on soils, roads, and otherinformation (Judge 1983b; Mathien and Judge 1983;Mathien et al. 1982). Although the FORTRANprograms became obsolete, while operative, theseearly computerized databases did aid in analyses ofspecific projects (e.g., Gillespie and Powers 1983;Judge 1982).