University of Colorado, Boulder CU Scholar Anthropology Graduate Theses & Dissertations Anthropology Spring 1-1-2012 Chimney Rock, an Eleventh Century Chacoan Great House: Export, Emulation, or Something Else? Brenda Kaye Todd University of Colorado at Boulder, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.colorado.edu/anth_gradetds Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Todd, Brenda Kaye, "Chimney Rock, an Eleventh Century Chacoan Great House: Export, Emulation, or Something Else?" (2012). Anthropology Graduate Theses & Dissertations. Paper 20. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Anthropology at CU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Graduate Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of CU Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHIMNEY ROCK, AN ELEVENTH CENTURY CHACOAN GREAT HOUSE: EXPORT, EMULATION, OR SOMETHNG ELSE? by BRENDA KAYE TODD B.A., Fort Lewis College, 2003 M.A., University of Colorado, 2005 A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology 2012 This thesis entitled: Chimney Rock, an Eleventh Century Chacoan Great House: Export, Emulation, or Something Else? written by Brenda Kaye Todd has been approved for the Department of Anthropology Stephen H. Lekson Catherine M. Cameron Douglas B. Bamforth Arthur A. Joyce Gregory B. Johnson Timothy R. Pauketat Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we Find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards Of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. Todd, Brenda Kaye (Ph.D. Department of Anthropology) Chimney Rock, an Eleventh Century Chacoan Great House: Export, Emulation, or Something Else? Thesis directed by Professor Stephen H. Lekson. This dissertation asks the question: was Chimney Rock Great House an “export” or an “emulation” of Chaco Canyon? This question – a classic formulation in Chacoan studies, is addressed by a controlled comparison of specific variables of the architecture and ceramic assemblages from Chimney Rock Great House, Pueblo Alto in Chaco Canyon, and the Bluff Great House in Utah. Each Great House is compared to an associated, smaller community site (29SJ 627 in Chaco Canyon, the Ravine Site near Chimney Rock, and the Corral Canyon Site near Bluff) to determine if there are significant differences in architectural traits or ceramic assemblages warranting their designation as disparate site types (Great House vs. community site). Ceramics at the six sites are compared for ware category, vessel form, and temper type. Results of the ceramic analysis indicate that sites outside of Chaco Canyon obtained the bulk of ceramics locally, but that Great Houses had access to similar trade networks as sites located in Chaco, and to more exotic goods than smaller sites. Architecture at each of the six sites was investigated for a suite of Chacoan architectural characteristics (Great House; formality in layout and design of the Great House; Great Kiva and specific floor features associated with Great Kivas; Chacoan roads; earthen architecture; Chacoan round rooms; formal plaza), room sizes are compared, the scale of construction events are compared, and architectural histories explored. Results of the architectural analysis indicate that Chaco-era sites are variable, but that there is a distinct difference between Great House sites and small sites. The conventional methodology of iii the “export vs. emulation” framework is critiqued and alternative approaches that may be better suited to explore the diversity documented in the Chacoan World are presented. These approaches include investigating the rare components of artifact assemblages, considering the architectural history of buildings, and looking at relationships between political capitals and provinces in other prehistoric civilizations as possible models for interaction in the Chaco World. iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank Julie Coleman of the USDA Forest Service for asking the University of Colorado to be a part of the Chimney Rock Stabilization Project, and the Chimney Rock Interpretive Association for supporting the work (with funds from Colorado State Historical Fund, Tourism Cares for Tomorrow, Save America’s Treasures, and the Gates Family Fund). In addition, the University of Colorado Department of Anthropology and Museum of Natural History provided significant support. Thank you to Wendy Sutton (San Juan National Forest) for her support and guidance during the project. Thank you to Glenn Raby for your long time dedication to the protection and understanding of Chimney Rock. A big round of applause is due to the volunteers of the Chimney Rock Interpretive Association. If only every archaeological site had such a group of dedicated volunteers, the world would be a better place. Thank you CRIA for your hospitality, interest, and assistance! Thank you to Jerry Fetterman and Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants, Inc. for lending us CU alum Jason Chuipka and for lending us equipment. Another thanks to Jason for generously sharing several of the figures that are used in this dissertation. Thanks are due to the hardworking graduate students (Erin Baxter, Alison Bredthauer, Jakob Sedig, and Kellam Throgmorton) from the University of Colorado. Thank you to Richard Krahenbuhl and the students of the Colorado School of Mines for their good work and expertise. Thank you to Jonathan Till for providing me with the report for the Corral Canyon Site included in this dissertation. I would like to thank my advisor, Steve Lekson, for allowing me to direct the work at Chimney Rock and for mentoring me during both my Master’s degree and Ph.D. (and for reading and re-reading various versions of this dissertation!). Thank you to my committee for their careful reading and thoughtful comments on my dissertation. This feedback has greatly v improved my work. I am forever grateful to Dr. Jeffrey Luftig at the College of Engineering and Applied Science at CU for taking time out of his summer to work with me on identifying and executing the appropriate statistical analyses for my data. A big thank you to Cathy Cameron for the use of your office for the storage and packing of the Chimney Rock collections. My research and writing were facilitated by the receipt of a Summer Dissertation Fellowship from the Graduate School. I would like to thank the Department of Anthropology and the Graduate School for numerous travel grants that allowed me to travel to conferences to present my work. I would like to thank my family and friends for their support and friendship throughout this process. I am very grateful to my coach, Ellen Fox, for helping me to persevere and to maintain my sanity during the final phases of the dissertation process. Most especially, I would like to thank my husband, Adam Reynolds. Adam, you were by my side from start to finish and I appreciate your support and encouragement more than you will ever know. Any mistakes or omissions are solely my own and are unintentional. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I .................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 1 The Problem .................................................................................................................................................................. 2 The Difficulty of Distance and the Challenge Of Complexity .................................................................................. 6 A Century of Interpretation at Chaco Canyon ........................................................................................................ 11 Chaco and Communities outside the Canyon .............................................................................................................. 19 Outlier Communities .......................................................................................................................................... 22 The Chaco World ............................................................................................................................................... 24 Outlier Function and Origins ............................................................................................................................. 25 Subsequent Chapters ............................................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER II ................................................................................................................................. 30 Style in Archaeology ................................................................................................................................................... 30 Export vs. Emulation: Theoretical Underpinnings .................................................................................................. 31 Ethnicity and Archaeology ..................................................................................................................................... 32 Material Culture Studies in Archaeology ...............................................................................................................