Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

Chapter ThreeThe Preceramic Period in Chaco CanyonTnere has been no investigation of non-ceramic sites in the general Chaco area. Such sites do exist. Theyare confined to high, sandy ridges on the Chacra Mesa and east of the Monument. They occur as hearthareas and slab hearths eroding out of the sand; the hearths are accompanied by abundant flint chips. Thetypes of points or blades from which these were derived are unknown and the sites have received onlypassing attention from the senior author. They mayor may not have any direct connection with thefollowing long and imperfectly understood period. (Gordon Vivian and Mathews 1965:28)Although several sites indicated a preceramicpresence around the basin's peripheries (Agogino1960; Agogino and Hester 1953, 1956; Alexander andReiter 1935; Bryan and Toulouse 1943; Campbell andEllis 1952; Mohr and Sample 1959; Reinhart 1967;and Renaud 1942), in 1969, very little was knownabout the Preceramic period, not just in Chaco Canyonbut throughout the San Juan Basin. Dittert et al.(1961) recorded several sites in the Navajo Reservoirarea and Cynthia Irwin-Williams was conducting theAnasazi Origins Project (1964 to 1969) along theArroyo Cuervo in the Rio Puerco drainage specificallyto learn more about the Archaic adaptation (Irwin­Williams 1994:571-572). TheChacoProspectus(NPS1969:4) stated that itA survey specifically orientedtoward recovery of preceramic information ismandatory. The establishment of typology and criteriafor cultural subdivisions, if any, is necessary.This survey should include all physiographicsituations. It is suggested that the survey be extendedbeyond the canyon environment, especially to the eastin the Chacra Mesa area. II The need to reconstruct thePreceramic ecosystem by determining the vegetationthen present was emphasized.Since that time, cultural resource managementstudies in this section of northwestern New Mexicohave contributed a comparative wealth of informationon surface sites, plus limited data from three rockshelters in the Chaco Canyon area. Much of thisinformation has been summarized by others (e.g.,Elliott 1986; Vierra 1994; Gwinn Vivian 1990). Thischapter will outline the models available for interpretingthe Paleoindian and Archaic periods, presentthe results of Chaco Project survey and excavation,and suggest how these data fit within currentknowledge of the Preceramic adaptation in the SanJuan Basin.Models for the Preceramic AdaptationAs the Chaco Project was under way, severalmodels for a Paleoindian and Archaic adaptation innorthern New Mexico provided a framework foranalysis and for comparative studies. Environmentalchange was the major variable considered by Irwin­Williams (1973), Judge (1971, published in 1973),Reinhart (1968), and Lyons (1969), but culturalvariables were not excluded.Irwin-Williams outlined changes that occurred inthe Southwest from Paleoindian through Archaicperiods (Irwin-Williams 1967, 1968a, 1968b) andreported on excavation of the En Medio rockshelterthat was part of her Anasazi Origins Project (Irwin­Williams and Tompkins 1968). She proposed that thePaleoindians who utilized the San Juan Basin prior to8,500 B. C. were part of a plains-based hunting culturecharacterized by specific fluted point types (e.g.,Clovis around 9,300 B. C., and Folsom from 8,500 to7,500 B.C.). With the last Paleoindian occupationidentified as makers of Cody points about 6,000 B. C.,changes in the environment brought about an eastwardshift in large faunal species and a movement of hunters