Chaco CanyonTheories for RoadsWhy Roads Into Chaco? What was going on?Estimating Population in ChacoWhy does population matter?‘Absolute’ Dating TechniquesDendrochronology at Chetro KetlANTY 101D 1st Edition Lecture 31Chaco Canyon Theories for Roads-Transportation of logs (no drag marks, why parallel?)-Energy Expenditure• 1970s= yes• 1990s= no -Exchange Routes-Map/Cardinal Directions • Map of the world, engineering buildings along N, W, E, S-Processions• Public ritual and displays, demonstrating their entrance; ceremonial -Clan Migration Why Roads Into Chaco? What was going on?-Started there; seems to be the ‘center’ of something.. • Political? Economic? Religious?-How do we answer this using archaeological data? -No text1-Compare to cross cultural information -How big was Chacoan society?Estimating Population in Chaco -800 room pueblo; largest apartment in U.S. in the 1920s• National Park Service estimated 1,000 un Pueblo Bonito• 7,000 in Chaco Canyon (6,000-20,000) people-Hayes estimates based on historical pueblo ethnographics:• Chacoan Families= 4.5 people and occupy a 3 room suite• Maximum population of 6,000-Problems• Only 18 rooms had hearths (ground floor only)• Very few burials -Tom Windes:• One fire pit per household= 17 to 45 households at pueblo Bonito • Max population of only 100 people at PB at any one time• Very few burials in the canyon (only 700 over 4 centuries) Why does population matter?-Bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states -Correlation of social stratification and population size don’t apply in Chaco2-Monumental Architecture in an egalitarian society-Population size estimates depend on length of occupation • Were all rooms occupied at the same time? ‘Absolute’ Dating Techniques -measuring tree rings=> Dendrochronology • A.E. Douglas -Tree-ring dating -Climate changes -Sunspot 11 year cycle• “birth” date• death date• Regional master chronologies -Require certain trees/climates• Pueblo Bonito -A.D 919-1125 (several phases)-Constructed over a course of over 200 years• Chetro Ketl-3 periods: AD 945-11163Dendrochronology at Chetro Ketl-Tree rings dates for room 42• 934,1046,1045,1047,1109• These are al cutting dates (death dates)-How do you interpret the dates for that room ?-Middle dates indicate constuction; later dates for repairs/reconstruction, early dates from a salvages and
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