The Chaco Canyon Community

Lekson, Stephen H.; Windes, Thomas C.; Stein, John R.; Judge, W. James

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0788-100

Cited by 88 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 0 publications

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“…We rinsed each tube three times with 2.5 M HCl and added sample tube rinse to beaker. Samples were evaporated and reconstituted twice with 3.5 M HNO 3 (Table 1). There is no basalt cap at Porcupine Canyon and the only local bedrock is Tertiary sandstone.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strontium isotopes reveal distant sources of architectural timber in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

English

Betancourt

Dean

et al. 2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

150

118

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Between A.D. 900 and 1150, more than 200,000 conifer trees were used to build the prehistoric great houses of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, in what is now a treeless landscape. More than one-fifth of these timbers were spruce (Picea) or fir (Abies) that were hand-carried from isolated mountaintops 75-100 km away. Because strontium from local dust, water, and underlying bedrock is incorporated by trees, specific logging sites can be identified by comparing 87

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A single great house incorporated millions of sandstone fragments from surrounding cliffs and thousands of wood timbers used as primary and secondary roof beams and door and window lintels (3). More than 200,000 timbers, the primary beams averaging 5 m in length, 22 cm in diameter, and 275 kg in weight, were used in the great houses.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Strontium isotopes reveal distant sources of architectural timber in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

English

Betancourt

Dean

et al. 2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

150

118

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“…Pueblo Bonito was the physical and social center of a large community comprising multiple great houses and perhaps hundreds of smaller buildings, hierarchically organized to manage social relations, food production, and regional exchange effectively (9,10). Most great house building in Chaco took place during the 11th century AD (3,11), but depopulation appears to have started soon afterward and was complete by the late 13th century AD.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon?

Wills

Drake

Dorshow

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Ancient societies are often used to illustrate the potential problems stemming from unsustainable land-use practices because the past seems rife with examples of sociopolitical “collapse” associated with the exhaustion of finite resources. Just as frequently, and typically in response to such presentations, archaeologists and other specialists caution against seeking simple cause-and effect-relationships in the complex data that comprise the archaeological record. In this study we examine the famous case of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, during the Bonito Phase ( ca . AD 860–1140), which has become a prominent popular illustration of ecological and social catastrophe attributed to deforestation. We conclude that there is no substantive evidence for deforestation at Chaco and no obvious indications that the depopulation of the canyon in the 13th century was caused by any specific cultural practices or natural events. Clearly there was a reason why these farming people eventually moved elsewhere, but the archaeological record has not yet produced compelling empirical evidence for what that reason might have been. Until such evidence appears, the legacy of Ancestral Pueblo society in Chaco should not be used as a cautionary story about socioeconomic failures in the modern world.

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“…Kivas are commonly considered to have been used for ritual purposes at least some of the time (Adler 1989;Lekson 1988). Steward (1937) and Lipe (1989Lipe ( , 1995 used kiva:room ratio as a means of gauging changes in the composition of the groups who used kivas and the social functions served by kiva activities.…”

Section: Kiva-to-room Ratiomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pre-14th century "kivas" were houses: pit houses (Lekson 1988). We inherited the misconception that little round rooms were "kivas" from Fewkes and Kidder and Morris, and it resists correction.…”

Section: Great! 159mentioning

confidence: 99%