Reassessing the Scale of Social Action at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Development and application of methods used to source prehistoric Southwestern maize: a review

“…Judge's models imply that most of the maize consumed within Chaco was grown outside Chaco and that the full-time residential population of Chaco was relatively small. Pueblo Bonito, for example, had upwards of 800 rooms, yet its peak occupancy never exceeded 100 individuals (Bernardini, 1999;Windes, 1984).…”

Great House Communities Across the Chacoan Landscape. John Kantner and Nancy M. Mahoney, editors. 2000. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. viii+ 192 pp. $16.95 (paper), ISBN 0- 8165-2072-0.

“…Windes and Ford (1996) interpret the suites as storage facilities based on their lack of internal features. This function is indeed a possibility, but it seems that the size of the rooms in these suites (many are larger than 50 square meters per room) would have exceeded the needs of the 10 to 75 people residing in Pueblo Bonito during its early occupation phase (Bernardini 1999). If these rooms were used for storage, then they were intended for more massive quantities than any previous or contemporary building.…”

Exploring Social Organization Through the Built Environment: Cosmological Foundations for Power at Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico

“…Hearths have been used archaeologically to identify social groups for some time (Windes 1984; Bernardini 1999). Here the focus on the hearth as a food production and sharing locus helps link certain features at Paquimé that will be discussed.…”

“…Hearths previously have been used archaeologically for population estimations (Bernardini 1999;Windes 1984), or room function (e.g., Hill 1966Hill , 1968. Here I seek to add a level of cosmological importance to this seemingly mundane feature, and show how a hearth is a point of intersection between social groups and cosmology (Freidel et al 1993;Pearson and Richards 1994).…”

“…Hearths, if mentioned at all, are often used as an indicator of room function or to estimate population (Bernardini 1999;Hill 1966Hill , 1968Windes 1984). I agree that hearths are useful for those studies, but here I aim to add a more cosmological meaning and underpinning as to why the hearth is so central to social groups.…”