Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:15:31.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ritual and Mound Formation during the Bonito Phase in Chaco Canyon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

W. H. Wills
W. H. Wills*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent socioeconomic models for the Bonito phase (ca. A.D. 850–1150) in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, rely heavily on the inference that ritual activity was a causal factor in the design and construction of architectural features. A particular example of this inferential argument concerns earthen mounds, which are widely viewed as evidence for ceremonial gatherings and the intentional creation of sacred architecture. However, a critical evaluation of the physical attributes of Chacoan mounds indicates that these features do not offer clear evidence for either periodic ceremonies or intentional design.

Résumé

Résumé

Los modelos socioeconómicos recientespara la fase Bonito (A.C. 850 a 1150) en Cañon del Chaco, Nuevo México, dependen de la inferencia de que el ritual era un factor causal en la planeación y construction de arquitectura. Un ejemplo de este argumente inferential se refiere a los monticules de tierra, los cuales están interpretados como la evidencia de reuniones ceremoniales y la creation intentional de arquitectura sagrada. Sin embargo, una evaluation critica de los detalles fisicos de los monticules de Chaco indica que estos rasgos no ofrecen evidencia muy clara de ceremonias periódicas ni diseño intentional de las actividades rituales.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , July 2001 , pp. 433 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Abrams, E. M. 1994 How the Maya Built Their World. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Akins, N. J. 1984 Temporal Variation in Faunal Assemblages from Chaco Canyon. In Recent Research on Chaco Prehistory, edited by Judge, W. J. and Schelberg, J.D. pp. 225–240. Reports of the Chaco Center No. 8, National Park Service. Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Akins, N. J. 1987 Faunal Remains from Pueblo Alto. In Investigations at the Pueblo Alto Complex, Chaco Canyon, Volume III, Part 2, edited by Mathien, F. J. and Windes, T.C. pp. 445–650. Publications in Archeology 18F, National Park Service. Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Bak, P., and Chen, K. 1991 Self-Organized Criticality. Scientific American 264 : 46–53.Google Scholar
Bernardini, W. 1999 Reassesing the Scale of Social Action at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Kiva 64 : 447–170.Google Scholar
Breternitz, C. D., and Doyel, D. E. 1987 Methodological Issues for the Identification of Chacoan Community Structure : Lessons from the Bis Sa'ani Community Study. American Archaeology 6 : 183–189.Google Scholar
Bryan, K. 1926 Recent Deposits of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, in Relation to the Life of the Prehistoric Peoples of Pueblo Bonito. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 16 : 75–76.Google Scholar
Bryan, K. 1954 The Geology of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, in Relation to the Life and Remains of the Prehistoric People of Pueblo Bonito. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 122, No. 7, pp. 1–65. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Buikstra, J. E., Charles, D. K., and Rakita, G. F. M. 1998 Staging Ritual : Hopewell Ceremonialism at the Mound House Site, Greene County, Illinois Kampsville Studies in Archeology and History : Volume 1. Center for American Archeology Press. Kampsville, Illinois.Google Scholar
Bustard, W. J. 1996 Space as Place : Small and Great House Spatial Organization in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, A.D. 1000-1150. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Bustard, W. J. 1999 Space, Evolution, and Function in the Houses of Chaco Canyon. Environment and Planning B : Planning and Design 26 : 219–240.Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. 1971 Environment and A rcheology : An Ecological Approach. Aldine, New York.Google Scholar
Byrd, J. E., and Owens, D. D., Jr. 1997 A Method for Measuring Relative Abundance of Fragmented Archaeological Ceramics. Journal of Field Archaeology 24 : 315–320.Google Scholar
Cully, A. C. 1985 Pollen Evidence of Past Subsistence and Environment at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. In Environment and Subsistence of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, edited by Mathien, F. J., pp. 135–246. Publications in Archeology 18E, National Park Service. Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Dean, J. S., and Warren, R. L. 1983 Dendrochronology. In The Architecture and Dendrochronology of Chetro Ketl, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, edited by Lekson, S. H.. pp. 105–240. Reports of the Chaco Center, No. 6, National Park Service. Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Dillehay, T. D. 1990 Mapuche Ceremonial Landscape, Social Recruitment and Resource Rights. World Archaeology 22 : 223–241.Google Scholar
Durand, S. R. 1992 Architectural Change and Chaco Prehistory. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Durand, S. R., Shelley, P. H., Antweiler, G. C., and Taylor, H. E. 1999 Trees, Chemistry, and Prehistory in the American Southwest. Journal of Archaeological Science 26 : 185–203.Google Scholar
Field, J., and Banning, E. B. 1998 Hillslope Processes and Archaeology in Wadi Ziqlab, Jordan. Geoarchaeology : An International Journal 13 : 595–616.Google Scholar
Fitchen, J. 1994 Building Construction Before Mechanization. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Fowler, A., and Stein, J. R. 1992 The Anasazi Great House in Space, Time and Paradigm. In Anasazi Regional Organizational the Chaco System, edited by Doyel, D., pp. 101–122. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Anthropological Papers No. 5. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Fowler, W. B. 1984 Una Vida. In Great Pueblo Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, edited by Lekson, S. H., pp. 79–84. Publications in Archaeology No. 18B, National Park Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Glob, P. V. 1970 The Mound People : Danish Bronze-Age Man Preserved. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
Hawley, F. M. 1934 The Significance of the Dated Prehistory ofChetro Ketl, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. University of New Mexico Bulletin, Monograph Series 1(1). Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Hayes, A. C, Brugge, D. M., and Judge, W. J. 1981 A Survey of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Publications in Archeology Series 18A, National Park Service, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Jaeger, H. M., and Nagel, S. R. 1997 Dynamics of Granular Material. American Scientist 85 : 540–545.Google Scholar
Judd, N. M. 1925 Everyday Life in Pueblo Bonito. National Geographic Magazine 48 : 227–262.Google Scholar
Judd, N. M. 1954 The Material Culture of Pueblo Bonito. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, Vol. 124. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C..Google Scholar
Judd, N. M. 1964 The Architecture of Pueblo Bonito. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, Vol. 147, No. 1. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C..Google Scholar
Judge, W J. 1991 Chaco : Current Views of Prehistory and the Regional . System. In Chaco and Hohokam : Prehistoric Regional Systems in the American Southwest, edited by Crown, P. L. and Judge, W.J. pp. 11–30. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Judge, W J. 1993 Resource Distribution and the Chaco Phenomenon. In The Chimney Rock Archaeological Symposium, edited by Malville, J. M. and Matlock, G., pp. 35–36. USDA Forest Service, General Technical Report RM-227. Fort Collins, Colorado.Google Scholar
Judge, W J., Gillespie, W. B., Lekson, S. H., and Toll, H. W. 1981 Tenth Century Developments in Chaco Canyon. In Collected Papers in Honor of Erik Reed, edited by Schroeder, A. H., pp. 65–98. Archaeological Society of New Mexico Anthropological Paper No. 6. Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Kantner, J. 1996 Political Competition among the Chaco Anasazi of the American Southwest. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 15 : 41–105.Google Scholar
Kantner, J., and Mahoney, N. M. (editors) 2000 Great House Communities Across the Chacoan Landscape. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona No. 64. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Kirkby, A., and Kirkby, M. J. 1976 Geomorphic Processes and the Surface Survey of Archaeological Sites in Semi-arid Areas. In Geoarchaeology : Earth Sciences and the Past, edited by Anderson, D. A. and Shackley, M.L. pp. 259–253. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Kohler, T. A., and Sebastian, L. 1996 Population Aggregation in the Prehistoric North American Southwest. American Antiquity 61 : 597–602.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. H. 1981 Cognitive Frameworks and Chacoan Architecture. New Mexico Journal of Science 21 : 27–36.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. H. 1983 Chacoan Architecture in Continental Context. In Proceedings of the Anasazi Symposium, 1981, edited by Smith, J. E., pp. 183–194. Mesa Verde National Park, Mesa Verde, Colorado.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. H. 1984 Great Pueblo Architecture of Chaco Canyon, NewMexico. Publications in Archeology 18B, National Park Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. H. 1999 Chaco Meridian. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, California.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. H., Windes, T. C., Stein, J. R., and Judge, W. J. 1988 The Chaco Canyon Community. Scientific American 259 : 100–109.Google Scholar
Love, D. 1987a Preliminary Sedimentologic Analysis of Roof Adobe from Pueblo Alto. In Investigations at the Pueblo Alto Complex, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 1975-1979. Volume I : Summary of Tests and Excavations at the Pueblo Alto Community. Appendix H (Microfiche). Publications in Archeology 18F, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Love, D. 1987b The Origin of Thinly Laminated Sand Layers Beneath the Stairs in Room 112, Pueblo Alto. In Investigations at the Pueblo Alto Complex, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 1975-1979. Volume I : Summary of Tests and Excavations at the Pueblo Alto Community. Appendix J (Microfiche). Publications in Archeology 18F, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Marshall, M. P. 1997 The Chacoan Roads : A Cosmological Interpretation. In Anasazi Architecture and American Design, edited by B. H. Morrow and V P. Price, pp. 62–76. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Mathien, F. J., and Windes, T. C. 1988 Historic Structure Report : Kin Nahasbas Ruin, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico. National Park Service. Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
McNutty, A. P. 1982 Management of Small Construction Projects. McGraw- Hill Book Co., New York.Google Scholar
Milner, G. R. 1998 The Cahokia Chiefdom : The Archaeology of a Mississippian Society. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Morgan, W. N. 1999 Precolumbian Architecture in Eastern North America. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Neitzel, J. E., and Bishop, R. L. 1991 Neutron Activation of Dogoszhi Style Ceramics : Production and Exchange in the Chacoan Regional System. Kiva 56 : 67–85.Google Scholar
Nelson, B. A. 1996 Complexity, Hierarchy, and Scale : A Controlled Comparison between Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, and La Quemada, Zacatecas. American Antiquity 60 : 597–618.Google Scholar
Nelson, N. C. 1920 Notes on Pueblo Bonito. In Pueblo Bonito, by G. H. Pepper, pp. 381–390. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 27. New York.Google Scholar
Nials, E., Stein, J., and Roney, J. 1987 Chacoan Roads in the Southern Periphery : Results of Phase 11 of the BLM Chaco Roads Project. New Mexico Bureau of Land Management, Cultural Resources Series No. 1. Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Pepper, G. H. 1920 Pueblo Bonito. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 27. The American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Peterson, I. 1997 Dry Sand, Wet Sand : Digging into the Physics of Sandpiles and Sand Castles. Science News 152 : 186–187.Google Scholar
Plog, S. 1985 Estimating Vessel Orifice Diameters : Measurement Methods and Measurement Error. In Decoding Prehistoric Ceramics, edited by Nelson, B. A., pp. 243–253. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Pope, G. A., and Rubenstein, R. 1999 Anthroweathering : Theoretical Framework and Case Study for Human-Impacted Weathering. Geoarchaeology : An International Journal 14 : 247–264.Google Scholar
Potter, J. M. 1997 Communal Ritual and Faunal Remains : An Example from the Dolores Anasazi. Journal of Field Archaeology 24 : 353–364.Google Scholar
Potter, J. M. 2000 Pots, Parties, and Politics : Communal Feasting in the American Southwest. American Antiquity 65 : 471–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rick, J. 1976 Downslope Movement and Archaeological Intrasite Spatial Analysis. American Antiquity 41 : 133–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, F. H. H. 1927 The Ceramic Sequence in the Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, and Its Relation to the Cultures of the San Juan Basin. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Rosen, A. M. 1986 Cities of Clay : The Geoarchaeology of Tells. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Saile, D. G. 1977 ‘Architecture’ in Prehispanic Pueblo Archaeology; Examples from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. World Archeology 9 : 157–173.Google Scholar
Saitta, D. J. 1997 Power, Labor, and the Dynamics of Change in Chacoan Political Economy. American Antiquity 62 : 7–26.Google Scholar
Schelberg, J. D. 1992 Hierarchical Organization as a Short-Term Buffering Strategy in Chaco Canyon. In Anasazi Regional Organization and the Chaco System, edited by Doyel, D. E., pp. 59- 74. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Anthropological Papers No. 5. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Schiffer, M. B. 1987 Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Sebastian, L. 1992 The Chaco Anasazi : Sociopolitical Evolution in the Prehistoric Southwest. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Stein, J., and Lekson, S. H. 1992 Anasazi Ritual Landscapes. In Anasazi Regional Organization and the Chaco System, edited by Doyel, D., pp. 87–100. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Anthropological Papers No. 5, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Stein, J., and McKenna, P. J. 1988 An Archaeological Reconnaissance of a Late Bonito Phase Occupation near Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Stein, J., Suiter, J. E., and Ford, D. 1997 High Noon in Old Bonito : Sun, Shadow, and the Geometry of the Chaco Complex. In Anasazi Architecture and American Design, edited by Morrow, B. H. and Price, V.B. pp. 133–148. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Stuart, D. E. 1997 Power and Efficiency in Eastern Anasazi Architecture : A Case of Multiple Trajectories. In Anasazi Architecture and American Design, edited by Morrow, B. H. and Price, V.B. pp. 36–52. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Titiev, M. 1972 The Hopi Indians of Old Oraibi : Change and Continuity. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Toll, H. W. 1985 Pottery, Production, and Public Architecture and the Chaco Anasazi System. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Toll, H. W, and McKenna, P. J. 1987 The Ceramography of Pueblo Alto. In Investigations at the Pueblo Alto Complex, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 1975-1979, Volume III, Part I, edited by Mathien, F. J. and Windes, T.C. pp. 19–230. Publications in Archeology 18F, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Toll, H. W, and McKenna, P. J. 1997 Chaco Ceramics. In Ceramics, Lithics, and Ornaments of Chaco Canyon, edited by F J. Mathien, pp. 17–530. Publications in Archeology 18G, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Toll, M. S. 1987 Plant Utilization at Pueblo Alto : Flotation and Macrobotanical Analyses. In Investigations atthe Pueblo Alto Complex, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 1975-1979. Volume III, Part II : Artifactual and Biological Analyses, edited by Mathien, F. J. and Windes, T.C. pp. 691–784. Publications in Archeology 18F, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Varien, M. D., and Mills, B. J. 1997 Accumulations Research : Problems and Prospects for Estimating Site Occupation Span. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 4 : 141–191.Google Scholar
Vivian, R. G. 1990 The Chacoan Prehistory of the San Juan Basin. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Vivian, R. G. 1992 Chacoan Water Use and Managerial Decision Making. In Anasazi Regional Organization and the Chaco System, edited by Doyel, D., pp. 45–58. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Anthropological Papers No. 5, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Vivian, R. G. 1997 Chacoan Roads : Function. Kiva 63 : 35–68.Google Scholar
Webb, R. H. 1987 Compaction Studies in Plaza 2. In Investigations at the Pueblo Alto Complex, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 1975—1979. Volume I : Summary of Tests and Excavations at the Pueblo Alto Community. Appendix D (Microfiche). Publications in Archeology 18F, National Park Service, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Wills, W. H. 2000 Political Leadership at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, AD.Google Scholar
Wills, W. H. 1020-1140. In Alternative Leadership Strategies in the Prehispanic Southwest, edited by Barbara J. Mills, pp. 19–44. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Windes, T. C. 1984 A New Look at Population in Chaco Canyon. In Recent Research on Chaco Prehistory, edited by Judge, W. J. and Schelberg, J.D. pp. 75–88. Reports of the Chaco Center No. 8, National Park Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Windes, T. C. 1987a Investigations at the Pueblo Alto Complex, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 1975-1979. Volume I : Summary of Tests and Excavations at the Pueblo Alto Community. Publications in Archeology 18F, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Windes, T. C. 1987b Investigations at the Pueblo Alto Complex, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 1975-1979. Volume II : Architecture and Stratigraphy. Publications in Archeology 18F, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Windes, T. C, and Ford, D. 1996 The Chaco Wood Project : The Chronometric Reappraisal of Pueblo Bonito. American Antiquity 61 : 295–310.Google Scholar