NotesArchaeologists studying the Ancestral Puebloans are extraordinarily prolific and we've attempted to read most of their recent research. We've also interviewed Hopi and Navajo elders and met with representatives of several surviving Pueblos. While volunteering at Pipe Spring National Monument, Aztec Ruins National Monument and Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Eric was able to read many unpublished works as well as closely guarded site files. He also visited sites that are off limits to most people and chatted with leading southwestern archaeologists.We considered using standard footnotes to record our research, but decided that it made more sense to post this summary. Including references in the published edition of The Ancestral Puebloan Primer would have increased its size and cost dramatically and made it more difficult for readers to use Internet links. We have also left out references to obscure, out of print and confidential sources because they would be extraordinarily difficult for typical readers to locate. If looking at generally unavailable materials appeals to you, more are referenced in The Anasazi Guide. |
Chapter 1: Who Were the Ancestral PuebloansWhile older and more specialized works continue to call the Ancestral Puebloans "Anasazi," many of their descendants are offended by the name. The National Park Service and other agencies use the more culturally sensitive name "Ancestral Puebloans" and we have followed suit. If you would like to know more about the issues associated with the older name, please see the essay, "What's In A Name." Several very good texts summarize recent research on the Ancestral Puebloans. J. J. Brody, Anasazi (New York: Rizzoli,1990) combines compelling text with engaging images. David Stuart, Anasazi America (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000) is an extraordinarily readable volume that aptly bridges the gulf between textbook and enjoyable reading. Stephen Plog’s Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1997) is among our favorites.We have relied on him for description of differentiation as well as population growth on Black Mesa. Figure 1.3 is adapted from Plog's work with his permission. Linda Cordell, Archeology of the Southwest (2nd ed; San Diego: Academic Press, 1997) is a comprehensive introduction to peoples of the southwest and the footnotes are an excellent guide to current literature. Three somewhat more demanding volumes may also be of interest. Paul F. Reed, ed., Foundations of Anasazi Culture (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2000) contains a number of essays that explore the relationship between Basketmaker and Anasazi eras. Michael A. Adler, ed., The Prehistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1150-1350 (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996) and E. Charles Adams; Andrew I. Duff, eds., The Protohistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1275-1600 (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2004) summarize much of what we know about Ancestral Puebloan sites. Contemporary genetic analysis also contributes to our understanding of the Ancestral Puebloans and their predecessors. Before you tackle the specialized reports, we recommend that you read Bryan Sykes, The Seven Daughters of Eve (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001). Sykes' explanations provide a foundation for interpreting some seminal studies including Nestor O. Bianchi, et. al., “Characterization of Ancestral and Derived Y-Chromosome Haplotypes of New World Native Populations,” American Journal of Human Genetics (1998), 1862-1871; Michael D. Brown, et. al., “mtDNA Haplogroup X: An Ancient Link between Europe/Western Asia and North America?" American Journal of Human Genetics (1998), 1852-1861; Shawn W. Carlyle, et. al., “Context of Maternal Lineages in the Greater Southwest,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2000), 85-101; Frederika A. Kaestle and David Glenn Smith, “Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Evidence for Prehistoric Population Movement: The Numic Expansion,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2001), 1-12; Ripan S. Malhi, et. al., “The Structure of Diversity within New World Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups: Implications for the Prehistory of North America,” American Journal of Human Genetics (2002), 905-919; Jason A. Eshleman, et. al., “Mitochondrial DNA Studies of Native Americans: Conceptions and Misconceptions of the Population Prehistory of the Americas,” Evolutionary Anthropology (2003), 7-18; D. Andrew Merriwether, et. al., “Distribution of the Four Founding Lineage Haplotypes in Native Americans Suggests a Single Wave of Migration for the New World,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2005), 411-430; Marina L. Sardi, et. al., “South Amerindian Craniofacial Morphology: Diversity and Implications for Amerindian Evolution,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2005), 747-756. For brief synopses and and links to the most current research reports, visit the Southwestern Archeology News page. |
Chapter 2: Homes of Earth and StonePit houses, pueblos and other structures are described in the general works mentioned above. Brody, Cordell, Plog and Stuart all include apt descriptions. More focused descriptions of Ancestral Puebloan structures can be found in Arthur H. Rohn and William M. Ferguson, Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006); William N. Morgan, Ancient Architecture of the Southwest (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994); and Baker H. Morrow, V. B. Price, and Robert C. Heyder, Anasazi Architecture and American Design (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997).For details beyond those mentioned in the synoptic works, it is necessary to examine reports of research at specific sites. Online postings include sample reports by the State Museum of Arizona, Woods Canyon Consulting, Fort Lewis College, Primtech and Crow Canyon. Nordby’s research at Cliff Palace is described in Larry V. Nordby with Joel M. Brisbin and Jim Mayberry, Archaeological Research Series: Architectural Studies Number 4 Prelude to Tapestries in Stone: Understanding Cliff Palace Architecture (Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado: Mesa Verde National Park Division of Research and Resource Management, 2001) and E. Charles Adams, “Homol'ovi: An Ancestral Hopi Place,” Archeology Southwest (Fall 2000) is also available online. Published descriptions are typically available at larger parks and in better libraries. Here are a few that you may enjoy reading.
For the distinction between courtyard and plaza layouts, see Peter J. Pilles, Jr., "The Pueblo III Period Along the Mogollon Rim: The Honanki, Elden, and Turkey Hill Phases of the Sinagua," and other essays in Michael A. Adler, ed., The Prehistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1150-1350 (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996). A number of factors confound efforts to establish hard
and fast dates
for landmark structures listed in Figure 2.1. Many were constructed
over extended periods, several were
excavated before modern dating techniques were available, and even the
most modern techniques have an
error margin . For this table, we relied on dates from the
appendix to Michael A. Adler, ed., The
Prehistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1150-1350
(Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996), pp. 254-272
as
well as R. Gwinn Vivian and Bruce Hilpert, The Chaco
Handbook (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah
Press, 2002). |
Chapter 3: Ancestral Puebloan Survival StrategiesA few summary pieces describe particular aspects of
Ancestral Puebloan survival strategies. For example, L. S.
Cordell,
“Anasazi Agriculture: Recipe for Success?” New
Mexico Journal of Science, November 11, 1999; V. B.
Price and
Baker H. Morrow, eds., Canyon
Gardens
(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006); and Kenneth R.
Wright, “Prehistoric
Mesa Verde Reservoir”
available from the American Society of Civil Engineers
as well as site reports available from
the Wright Paleohydrological Institute. Many details regarding the Puebloan's survival strategies come from site reports like those mentioned above. The reports typically discuss land form as well as associated structures including damns and terraces. In addition, lengths of occupation and diets can be inferred from refuse in ancient refuse piles called "middens." Area surveys are instructive because they make it possible to infer movement patterns. Only terminally curious people are likely to enjoy reading them, but here are some representative surveys that may be available at larger libraries.
|
Chapter 4: Building Ancestral Puebloan CommunitiesSome ethnographers attempt to understand Ancestral Puebloan communuities by cataloging behaviors of their descendants in Hopi villages and surviving pueblos. We are skeptical because abandonment of great villages at the end of the 13th century and Spanish conquest during the 15th century had traumatic effects. Nevertheless, an interesting sampling of enthographic research can be found online in the Gutenberg Project and the Internet Archive. Particularly interesting pieces include Hattie Greene Lockett, "The Unwritten Literature of the Hopi" (1933), Frank Hamilton Cushing, "A Study of Pueblo Pottery as Illustrative of Zuņi Culture Growth (1886), Adolphus Bandelier, Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico (1881), and numerous pieces by Jessie Walter Fewkes: Archaeological A few summer ceremonials at Zuņi pueblo (1892), The sun's influence on the form of Hopi pueblos" (1906), Designs on prehistoric Hopi pottery (1919), and "The Lesser new-fire ceremony at Walpi" (1901). Contemporary scholars use ethnographic research very selectively. Solid examples are found in David E. Doyel, ed., Anasazi Regional Organization and the Chaco System (Albuquerque, New Mexico: Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, 1992); Linda S. Cordell, W. James Judge, and June-el Piper, eds., Chaco Society and Polity (Albuquerque: New Mexico Archaeological Council, 2001); and Stephen H. Lekson, ed., The Archeology of Chaco Canyon (Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 2006). Our understanding of features which define individual communities is derived from site reports like those referenced in Chapter 2. Unfortunately, early archeologists destroyed mounds inclosing Una Vida, Hungo Pavi, and other sites. Conteporary archeologists recognize the significance of the mounds and chart them with care. Happy examples include Catherine M. Cameron, “Sacred Earthen Architecture in the Northern Southwest: The Bluff Great House Berm,” American Antiquity, 67 (2002), 677-695 and Linda Wheelbarger, "Puebloan Communities on the South Side of the Middle Juan Juan River," in Paul F. Reed, ed., Chaco's Northern Prodigies (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2008). Reports on Chaco’s amphitheatre remain unpublished. We have relied on Eric's observations and Richard W. Loose, “A Report on Tse’ Biinaholts’ a Yatli,” revised April 24, 2005, on file at Chaco Culture National Historical Park. In just the last few decades, scholars have realized that communities extended beyond geographic boundaries. Irwin-Williams speculations about the role of great kivas are recorded in annual reports including The Structure of Chacoan Society in the Northern Southwest/Investigations at the Salmon Site, 1972 ,The San Juan Valley Archaeological Program: Investigations at the Salmon Site, 1973; The San Juan Valley Archaeological Program: Investigations at the Salmon Site, 1974; The Structure of Chacoan Society in the Northern Southwest Investigations at the Salmon Site: 1974-1975; San Juan Valley Archaeological Resource Development Program Salmon Ruin Development: 1977 (Report to the Four Corners Regional Commission) and the five-volume 1980 report to funding sources: Investigations at the Salmon Site: The Structure of Chacoan Society in the Northern Southwest. Other scholars have charted structures that bear the hallmarks of Chacoan building practices. Noteworthy examples include David R. Wilcox, “Data on Chacoan or Chacoan-Like Great Houses,” Nancy M. Mahoney and John Kanter, “Chacoan Archeology and Great House Communities,” in John Kanter and Nancy M. Mahoney, eds., Great House Communities Across the Chacoan Landscape (Tucson, The University of Arizona Press, 2000), while much information regarding Chacoan outliers comes from Robert P. Powers, William B. Gillespie, and Stephen H. Lekson, The Outlier Survey: A Regional View of Settlement in the San Juan Basin (Albuquerque: Division of Cultural Research, National Park Service, 1983). Ruth M. Van Dyke, “Chacoan Ritual Landscapes, The Red Mesa Valley,” and Winston B. Hurst, “Chaco Outlier or Backwoods Pretender? A Provincial Great House at Edge of the Cedars Ruin, Utah,” both in John Kanter and Nancy M. Mahoney, eds., Great House Communities Across the Chacoan Landscape (Tucson, The University of Arizona Press, 2000). Popular descriptions of ancient roads are legion, but many have more enthusiasm than substance. The most reliable description is John R. Roney, “Prehistoric Roads and Regional Integration in the Chacoan System,” in David E. Doyel, ed., Anasazi Regional Organization and the Chaco System (Albuquerque, New Mexico: Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, 1992), pp. 123-131. Two essays by R. Gwinn Vivian, “Chacoan Roads: Morphology” and “Chacoan Roads: Function,” both in Kiva, 63 (1997) pages 7-67 are also very informative. Anna Sofaer and her colleagues explore the spiritual significance of roads in “The Great North Road: A Cosmographic Expression of the Chaco Culture of New Mexico,” in A. F. Aveni, ed., World Archaeoastronomy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 365-376. Online resources include a thorough discussion of modern techniques for tracing ancient roads and John Kanter’s “Evaluation of Chaco Roads” which includes a comprehensive bibliography. The groove displayed in Figure 4.5 comes from a NASA remote sensing project and is reproduced with Tom Sever's permission. The photograph of the Jackson Stairway in Figure 4.6 was provided by Russ Bodnar, Director of Interpretation at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, and reproduced with his permission. |
Chapter 5: Stories in ClayCeramic fragments are among the most durable Ancestral Puebloan artifacts and they are abundant at all sites except temporary camps. Most of the site reports mentioned in Chapter 2 and elsewhere have one or more chapters tabulating recovered sherds and describing their significance. Discussion in many site reports and specialist volumes is too technical to interest even well informed laymen. Tom Windes' chronology of Chacoan types is a happy exception; see T. C. Windes, “Chaco Chronology as updated by T. C. Windes,” in Francis Joan Mathien, ed., Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin (Santa Fe, New Mexico: National Park Service, 2005), pp. 366. Alfred E. Dittert, Jr. and Fred Plog, Generations in Clay (Flagstaff, Az.: Northland Publishing, 1980) is a more general reference and Norman T. Oppelt, List of Southwestern Pottery Types and Wares (Greeley, Colorado: Oppelt Publications, 2002) is a handy catalog. A growing number of reference works is available online. My favorites include San Juan College’s “Ceramic Typology,” Mark D. Varien, “Analytic Criteria for Pottery Types,” Beloit Colleges description of “Painting Styles,” and Northern Arizona University’s ceramic guide. In addition, Crow Canyon's multisite database has abundant examples of ceramic fragments . Coincidentally, you may wonder why there are so many ceramic fragments at Ancestral Puebloan sites. Pottery is fragile and the inhabitants used it for cooking, food storage, and fetching water among other things. If dropped, a plate or pot might break into 50 or more pieces and it’s reasonable to think that each resident might break at least one piece a year. With 20 residents of a small pueblo, that would be about a thousand fragments a year and many sites were occupied for fifty or more years. Multiply the total by 10 to approximate the population of larger villages and you can see why there are so many fragments at many sites. Finally, this chapter has drawn from two technical works that are available to general readers; Lori Reed, et. al., "Tracking the Trachyte: Origins and Development of Chuska Pottery Technology," Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archeology (New Orleans, 2001),and Dorothy Washburn, "The Position of Salmon Ruins in the Middle San Juan, ad 1000-1300," in Paul F. Reed, ed., Chaco's Northern Prodigies (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2008). |
Chapter 6: Stories in StoneLike pottery fragments, stone artifacts are far more
durable than organic ones. Most of the site reports mentioned in
Chapter 2 and elsewhere have one or more chapters describing their
significance and an outstanding example is Francis Joan Mathien, ed., Ceramics, Lithics, and
Ornaments of Chaco Canyon, Volume 2 (Santa Fe:
National Park Service, 1997). In recent years, archeologists have learned a great deal from efforts to reproduce and use stone tools. Numerous texts provide well documented directions for modern hobbyists and our favorites are Bob Patten, Old Tools—New Eyes (Denver: Stone Dagger Publications, 1999); and John C. Whittaker, Flintknapping (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994). Interested readers may also want to scan issues of The Journal of Primitive Technology published by The Society of Primitive Technology. Finally, the evolution of stone points and their use in conflict is admirably described by Steven A. LeBlanc, Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 1999). |
Chapter 7: Images on StoneSpecialists distinguish between pictographs created by painting on surfaces and petroglyphs formed by carving through surface patina. Unless the context demands specificity, we use "glyphs" and "rock art" to refer to both types. Rock art is abundant in the southwest and you can see substantial galleries at most national parks and monuments as well as many state parks in the four corners region. Especially appealing sites include Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Petroglyph National Monument and the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, all in New Mexico. More may be seen at Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Homolovi Ruins State Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Bandelier National Monument, and Hovenweep National Monument. Our forthcoming America's Southwestern Treasures lists many more sites. Significantly, today we see only a fraction of the rock art that once adorned boulders and cliff faces. The best preserved samples are found on protected surfaces while those on exposed surfaces have weathered away. Others have been destroyed by vandals and unscrupulous developers Excellent books about southwestern rock art include Poly Schaafsma, Indian Rock Art of the Southwest (Santa Fe: School of American Research, 1980); Kenneth B Castleton, Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Utah; volumes 1 and 2 (Salt Lake City: Utah Museum of Natural History, 1985 and 1993); David Muench and Polly Schaafsma; Images in Stone (San Francisco: Brown Trout Publishers, Inc., 1994); Polly Schaafsma, Warrior, Shield, and Star/Imagery and Ideology of Pueblo Warfare (Santa Fe: Western Edge Press 2000); and Sally Cole, Legacy on Stone (Boulder: Johnson Books, 1990). Internet resources include The
Utah Rock Art Research Association, the American
Rock Art Research Association, and Minnesota State University-Mankato.
Additional links are listed on each site. |
Chapter 8: What Happened to the Ancestral Puebloans?The opening image in this chapter was captured by Edward S. Curtis and obtained from the Library of Congress. The Simpson quotation on page 67 comes from James H. Simpson, Journal of a Military Reconnaissance from Santa Fe New Mexico to the Navajo Country in 1849, Senate Ex. Doc. #64 31st Congress, 1st Session Rep Sec of War, p. 34, and Timothy O’Sullivan's remark is reproduced from Paul F. Reed, ed., Chaco's Northern Prodigies (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2008), p. 8. While it is common to say that the Ancestral Puebloans "abandoned" their homeland, the phrase is a bit misleading. Regular movement was a feature of their lifestyles as we explained in Chapter 3. They moved further than usual during the final decades of the 13th century, but shorter moves were commonplace. Linda Cordell, Archeology of the Southwest (2nd ed; San Diego: Academic Press, 1997) explains the process as do Kurt F. Anschuetz , “Tewa Fields, Tewa Traditions,” in V.B. Price and Baker H. Morrow, eds., Canyon Gardens (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 2006), 57-73 and Ward Alan Minge, ACOMA: Pueblo in the Sky (revised edition; Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002). For more on migrations, see Stephen H. Lekson, “Flight of the Anasazi,” Archeology (September/October 2001) and “Migration in the Southwest: Pinnacle Ruin, Southwestern New Mexico,” Kiva (2002), 73-101, as well as Patrick D. Lyons, Ancestral Hopi Migrations (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003); Jeffery J. Clark, Tracking Prehistoric Migrations (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2001); Wesley Bernardini, Hopi Oral Tradition and the Archaeology of Identity (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2005); Andrew I. Duff, Western Pueblo Identities (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2002); and David A. Gregory and David R. Wilcox Zuni Origins (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2007). The most reliable data regarding climate change during the Ancestral Puebloan era comes from the National Climatic Data Center which also includes informative discussions of rainfall, drought, and effective moisture. In spite of a generally less favorable climate in the 13th century, water continued to flow in larger streams such as the Animas and San Juan Rivers. Some large areas remained habitable and Carla Van West has studied available moisture throughout the northern San Juan region. A popularized version of her findings online and more technical references include Kohler, Timothy A., George J. Gumerman, and Robert G. Reynolds Simulating Ancient Societies. Scientific American (2005), 77-84, Through the early 1990s, the general public romanticized the Ancestral Puebloans as "peaceful farmers," and few archeologists confronted this popular fiction. Four seminal works published during the decade suggested a more realistic view. Jonathan Haas and Winifred Creamer, Stress and Warfare Among the Kayenta Anasazi of the Thirteenth Century A. D. (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1993) demonstrated that violence was everpresent. They expanded their demostration in 1996 with publication of “The Role of Warfare in the Pueblo III Period,” in Michael A. Adler, ed., The Prehistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1150-1350 (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996). Steven A. LeBlanc, Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 1999) presented an eloquent summary of previous research while Christy G. Turner II and Jacqueline A. Turner, Man Corn (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999) ignited a firestorm with their reanalysis of human remains from 76 sites. Details regarding the destruction of Salmon Pueblo can be found in Paul F. Reed, ed., Chaco's Northern Prodigies (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2008) while the catastrophic attacks on Castle Rock and Sand Canyon Pueblos are included in Crow Canyon's online reports. Coincidentally, weapons recovered at the sites tell us that there were no foreign invaders. Arrowheads, axes, and clubs—some still bearing traces of their victims blood—are all of Puebloan design. Had outsiders attacked, recovered weapons would have been of alien manufacture. Drought, disease, and conflict exacted a terrible toll from the Ancestral Puebloans and David Stuart, Anasazi America (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000) summarizes effects on population levels. At the same time, survivors who moved to smaller settlements effectively disappeared from the archeological record. Small settlements leave fewer traces and are less likely to be excavated. Only villages with 50 or more rooms figure prominently in the principal survey volumes; Michael A. Adler, ed., The Prehistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1150-1350 (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1996), and E. Charles Adams; Andrew I. Duff, ed., The Protohistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1275-1600 (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2004). The impact of Spanish colonization are summarized by Marc Simmons, “History of Pueblo-Spanish Relations to 1821,” and population counts are discussed by Albert H. Schroeder, “Pueblos Abandoned in Historic Times,” both in William C. Sturtevant, Handbook of North American Indians IX (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1979). For information about visiting the Ancestral Puebloans' descendants, check out the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, The Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, or pick up a copy of our forthcoming America's Southwestern Treasures. |