HOUSES OF THE SUN AND THE COLLAPSE OF CHACOAN CULTURE (original) (raw)
Related papers
Astronomy and the Design of Late Bonito Great Houses at Chaco Canyon
The six Late Bonito Great Houses of Chaco Canyon stand apart from the Classic Bonito structures due to their single-phase construction to planned designs. During the 1970‘s it was determined that two were placed to complete formal lines of cardinality through the center of the canyon. Research during the 1990‘s determined that two were sited and designed to operate as December Solstice calendrical stations. Cardinality and solsticial alignments demonstrate intentional application of astronomical observations to architectural design. New findings extend the association of astronomy and architectural design to the full set of Late Bonito Great Houses at Chaco.
Function of Chaco-Era Great Houses
Chacoan great houses have been a focus of research in the Southwest for well over a century. While models to explain these structures have ranged from great houses as residences to great houses as administrative centers, it is argued here that the evidence points to a ritual role for these structures. This evidence includes an analysis of avifauna from Chacoan sites. The analysis indicates that Chacoan great houses have a larger, more diverse assemblage of ritual avifauna than is found at nearby small house sites. It follows that more ceremonies using bird feathers took places at these structures. Further, there is considerable diversity in architecture and associated material culture among the great houses, both within Chaco Canyon and at the myriad outlying great houses across and beyond the San Juan Basin. In the absence of a centralized Chaco system, peer polity interaction is proposed as the mechanism whereby Chacoan ritual beliefs and practices spread throughout the region.
Ancestors and the sun: astronomy, architecture and culture at Chaco Canyon
Three architectural traditions with astronomical associations have been identified among the ‘Great Houses’ and ‘Great Kivas’ of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Great Houses and one Great Kiva built during the height of construction activity (AD 1020–1100), the Bonito Phase, include front-facing south-southeast (SSE) orientations, and cardinal north-south and/or east-west (NS/EW) alignments. We present ethnographic material supporting our previous proposal that the SSE orientation is probably linked to migration traditions and ancestor veneration. We also confirm that a majority of Late Bonito Phase Great Houses (built after A.D. 1100) exhibit a third astronomical tradition: five of the principal in-canyon Great Houses built at that time were positioned at or near observing locations that could have functioned as solstice calendrical stations. Through use of these locations for public ceremonies, the Chacoan elite could demonstrate astronomical knowledge and ritual power. These findings provide support for Van Dyke’s hypothesis that construction during this period was intended to reinvigorate a faltering system. One ‘Chaco halo’ Great House, Bis sa’ani, incorporates all three traditions. We suggest that temporal analysis of these traditions improves understanding of migration paths and shifting balances of power and social dominance among ancestral Pueblo culture groups.
The Astronomical Context of the Archaeology and Architecture of the Chacoan Culture
Astronomical analysis of 10th to 12th century A.D. cultural evidence at Chaco Canyon New Mexico began in the 1970s. Published work includes a variety of proposals including horizon calendars, solar calendrical constructs in architecture, cardinal North-South and/or East-West (NS/EW) alignments of architecture and roads, building alignments to lunar standstills or June solstice sunrise, wall alignments to equinox sunrise or sunset, and the positioning of structures at observation points for horizon calendrical stations. Within the published archaeoastronomy work attention to Pueblo ethnography, archaeological evidence including temporal data, statistical significance, and the consideration of multiple hypotheses has varied widely. The sample of Chacoan Great Houses assessed for astronomical associations was unchanged from the mid 1990s to 2007. There is active debate among archaeologists regarding the relative importance of political, ritual, and economic factors in the Chacoan regional system. Past archaeoastronomy work has had limited influence on such debate. Nonetheless, there is general acceptance among archaeologists of the idea that visual astronomy had a role in Chacoan culture, if for no other reason than to provide a calendrical system. This research expands on previous samples of Chacoan Great Houses to include all those identified within “downtown Chaco,” as well as a small sample of “halo” and “outlier” Great Houses. The field work, conducted under National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management permits, included compass survey, theodolite survey, and photography at a total of 28 sites. Survey results were assessed in the context of positional astronomy, Pueblo ethnography, and the archaeological record including published construction dates for the sites. I found no convincing evidence for previously proposed architectural alignments to lunar standstills, June solstice sunrises, or equinox events. I have found that a majority of the studied Chacoan structures to conform to one or more of four architectural traditions that have astronomical associations. These include front-facing south-southeast (SSE) orientation, front facing east-southeast (ESE) orientation, alignments to the cardinal directions of North-South and/or East-West (NS/EW), and the construction of Great Houses at workable calendrical stations with horizon foresights for solstice dates. Multiple Great Houses exhibit two of these traditions in combination. A single case is identified that may incorporate three of the traditions. The “halo” Great House at Bis sa’ani includes a cardinal North-South and East-West (“NS/EW”) structure, a possible SSE-facing room block, and a June solstice sunrise horizon foresight. Building upon Hayes’ and Lekson’s assessments of orientations, temporal analysis of these four traditions may improve our understanding of shifting patterns of multi-cultural collaboration and dominance among ancestral Pueblo groups. A majority of the Great Houses built before A.D. 1000 are front-facing to the SSE. The SSE orientation tradition continued during the peak of Bonito Phase construction activity (A.D. 1020-1100). Most of the putative lunar standstill and June solstice sunrise alignments comprise a subset of this SSE facing group. During the same period, the first cardinal NS and EW architectural alignments were also completed. Four ESE facing Great Houses were constructed within and in proximity to Chaco between A.D. 860 and A.D. 1090. This third orientation tradition may represent some form of cultural affiliation with contemporary Rio Grande Valley people based upon comparison to previous orientation studies conducted by Lakatos, or it may perhaps represent an alternative cosmological intent. The “new” Great Houses built during the Late Bonito phase at Chaco after A.D. 1100 are all either involved in inter-site cardinal NS alignments, or positioned at or in proximity to observing locations that can function as solstice calendrical stations. Workable solstice horizon calendars are now confirmed at Casa Chiquita, Kin Kletso, Headquarters Site A, Wijiji, Bis sa’ani, and 125 m from Roberts Small Pueblo at 29SJ 2538/2539. A potential calendrical station located in the vicinity of Peñasco Blanco’s McElmo ruin is yet to be confirmed. The Late Bonito “calendrical” Great Houses may have been intended as pilgrimage destinations where people could witness a dramatic solstice sunrise or sunset. During the same time period, SSE orientation was dominant in the Totah region to the north at sites including Aztec and Chimney Rock. The astronomical evidence presented supports the idea that people with at least three distinct cosmological intents collaborated at Chaco; it also supports Van Dyke’s hypothesis that Late Bonito phase construction at Chaco represented an attempt by a weakened ritual elite to reinvigorate their legitimacy and power. The consistency of cosmological and solstitial references among Late Bonito Phase Great Houses at Chaco indicates that the Late Bonito Chacoan elite’s power may have rested in part on esoteric astronomical knowledge, and an elevated cultural status for solar events. Under the terms of a U.S. National Park Service field research permit some location- specific site data has been deliberately redacted from this document, as required by the U.S. Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.
Houses Great and Small: Reevaluating the 'House' in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
2007
In recent years, a growing number of archaeologists have explored the potential of expanding Levi-Strauss’s concept of house societies to better understand specific archaeological contexts. Looking specifically at the classificatory distinction between “great houses” and “small houses” within Chaco Canyon (A.D. 850–1180), I suggest this theoretical model might yield new insights with regard to four symbolic dimensions of house construction: the use of wood, directional offerings, resurfacing practices, and the bones of ancestors. Using Puebloan ethnographic literature and cross-cultural comparisons, I suggest a house model analysis may serve to integrate anomalous “ceremonial” dimensions of house construction in an effort to better understand how these structures shaped and wholly reflected changing patterns of social organization through directional associations, differential access to origins, and cyclical processes of ritual renewal. If we are to fulfill one of our basic obligati...
One of the truly remarkable developments in the prehistory of North America was the construction of more than a dozen Great Houses—imposing multi-storied structures that were qualitatively different from the usual small, irregular, single-story homes—in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico from the early AD 800 to the 1100s. Beginning no later than AD 1000, scores of similar large pueblos, often referred to as Chacoan outliers, were erected throughout much of the southern Colorado Plateau in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. A small number of these outliers were connected by formal roads and many others participated in a broad network of exchange and ritual. The largest and most unusual of the Chaco Great Houses and one of the earliest to be built was Pueblo Bonito situated in the heart of the Canyon. Some of the most intriguing aspects of Pueblo Bonito are two clusters of human burials, almost certainly elites, found within its sandstone walls. We present here isotopic proveniencing data (strontium, lead, and oxygen) that situate these burials in a new and unexpected perspective. Our results suggest that almost all individuals interred in Pueblo Bonito had been born in Chaco Canyon or in nearby parts of the southern San Juan Basin. All of these individuals, moreover, likely belonged to the elite component of Bonito society, given their placement in special burial crypts within the walls of the pueblo. These conclusions suggest that the origin of Chaco Canyon Great Houses and the hierarchical society that organized their construction was more likely a product of local sociocultural dynamics than a result of migration of a group of new people into the Canyon from the northern San Juan Basin.