Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

Historic Period Studies 329the case during the 1700s and early 1800s; we haveless knowledge about the Navajo adaptation at thattime, and it is difficult to draw too many parallels orimplications for prehistoric Pueblo adaptations fromthese data.Although the writtlrs of the Chaco Prospectus(NPS 1969:8) did not necessarily intend their sectionon the "Implications of Interaction BetweenContinuous Distinctive Cultural Systems" to beapplied to the Historic period as defmed in thischapter, the data from the Historic period can be usedto examine this statement: "Present evidence indicatesthere were three distinct cultural systems exploitingthe Chaco Canyon environment. What are theimplications of the presence of several communitytypes toward an understanding of the pace of culturalchange in Chaco Can.yon?" Ethnohistoric data onNavajo, Spanish, and Anglo-American use and interactionsin the area since 1848 provide considerableinsight into the reasons for culture change. Thereports by K. Kelley (1982) and Fanale (1982)expanded on the work of the National Park Service toshed light on the interrelationships among differentculture groups outlined in the prospectus. Forexample:• What external culture contacts may be discernedas influencing cultural evolution?• What demographic movements can be discussedin the record of cultural evolution?• What insights into diversity and change in socialorganization and what implications for past orcontemporary social problems can be ascertainedfrom archaeological data?The information on historic people clearly supple-ments and corrects some of the interpretations madebased solely on the archaeological record.Several issues remain. The Gambler stories toldby the Navajo have some basis, probably during theRefugee period when Pueblo Indians moved intoterritory occupied by the Nav~o (Begay 2004), but itis not clear what area the Gambler stories specificallyrecord. It is possible that the intermingling of culturesillustrated in these stories occurred in the Chaco area,or possibly in another locale that was changed to suitthe storyteller. There is little evidence of Pueblo useafter A.D. 1300; and there is little evidence of Navajouse prior to the A.D. 1700s, when Pueblo traitsappear in Navajo sites.Pueblo and Navajo peoples did live together inother areas; e.g., the Jemez and Gobernadorhomelandof the Navajo. Some situations-e.g., the cooperationof Hosta (Jemez Pueblo) and Sandoval (Navajo)guides who accompanied Simpson through Chaco in1849, suggest that Navajo and Pueblo people hadnumerous occasions to exchange stories. One canonly speculate on conversations between Hosta andSandoval as they participated in a number of Spanishand American expeditions in northern New Mexico,and how each would have adapted these stories for hisown use as circumstances changed.At the beginning of this chapter, two quotationsindicated the lack of interest in Historic period sites atthe tum of the century. The Navajo features at ChetroKetl were not well documented, possibly becauseHewett was so interested in the excavation of aChacoan great house that he did not consider themimportant. The work carried out during the ChacoProject has remedied much of this deficit, but therestill remains more to examine through botharchaeology and oral history.