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The Organization of Turquoise Production and Consumption by the Prehistoric Chacoans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Frances Joan Mathien
Frances Joan Mathien*
Affiliation:
National Park Service, P.O. Box 728, Santa Fe, NM 87504-0128
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Abstract

For the prehistoric inhabitants of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, turquoise was not an essential commodity for daily life. Yet, over 56,000 pieces of turquoise were recovered with two burials from Pueblo Bonito, the first site excavated in Chaco Canyon, and more turquoise is found in sites in Chaco Canyon when compared to other sites throughout the southwestern United States from ca. A.D. 900 through 1150. It may have been a long-distance trade item, exchanged for copper bells or macaws from further south, but its primary function was as a ritual item within the regional system. Because turquoise is found in sites established early in the Chaco sequence, this review will examine data from earlier periods to suggest which Bonito phase developments were innovations or continuations of previous practices. Some ritual uses of turquoise followed by contemporary Puebloan people probably have roots extending back into the Chaco era.

Résumé

Résumé

Para los habitantes prehistóricos del suroeste de los Estados Unidos y del norte de México, la turquesa no era una necesidad esencialpara su vida cotidiana. Sin embargo, más de 56,000 piezas de turquesa fueron recuperadas de dos entierros en Pueblo Bonito, quefue el primer sitio excavado del Cañón Chaco. Se encuentra más turquesa en este lugar que en cualquier otro, cuando se compara al Cañón Chaco con otros del suroeste de los EE.UU. entre los años 900 y 1150 d. C. aproximadamente. La turquesa puede haber sido un artkulo de intercambio de larga distancia, cambiada por cascabeles de cobre o guacamayas de más al sur, sin embargo, su función principal fue como un artículo de uso ritual dentro del sistema regional. Debido a que la turquesa se encuentra en lugares establecidos en la secuencia temprana de Chaco, este repaso examinará la informatión de periodos tempraños para así determinar cudles desarrollos de la Fase Bonito fueron innovaciones o sólo una continuatión de las costumbres precedentes. Algunos usos rituales de la turquesa seguidos por la gente pueblo probablemente tienen sus ralces en la era Chaco.

Type
Special Section
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , January 2001 , pp. 103 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2001

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