With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Andrew Duff and a team of researchers and students from Washington State University will conduct three seasons of archaeological and laboratory research exploring aspects of the "Chaco Phenomenon," one of the more intriguing developments in the precontact American Southwest. Chaco Canyon, now a National Historic Park in northwestern New Mexico, is home to several 11th and 12th century "Great Houses," impressive masonry buildings of unparalleled size and importance. Those who resided in Chaco Canyon came to control or influence settlements located throughout the Four Corners area, one of the largest prehistoric social developments in what is now the United States. Great Houses regularly inspire and fascinate adventurous visitors to the park, prompting them to ask the following: "Why did they build these tremendous buildings? Why here? How could such a fantastic civilization develop in this harsh desert? And how did it work?" Archaeologists have been asking these same questions for about a century and Duff's research project is designed to help provide answers. However, he will do so not by working in Chaco Canyon itself, but by looking at archaeological sites located some 120 miles south of Chaco Canyon that were part of the "Chaco Phenomenon."
Although Chaco Canyon has a long history of research, archaeologists still have relatively few case studies from outlying Great Houses and their associated communities despite the fact that the rationale for Chaco Canyon having been the center of a "regional system" implies links between the canyon and these distant communities. Duff and his research team will investigate a group of Great House communities on the southern frontier of Chaco's reach, providing data used to build a sound understanding of settlement chronology, community size, environmental conditions, and community interactions. The research includes: archaeological survey around, and systematic excavations at two Great Houses and their associated communities; a program of visitation and mapping of all reported Great Houses in the project region; investigation of Great House function through analysis of artifacts and botanical remains; and examination of local, regional, and inter-regional trade of ceramics and obsidian used to monitor exchange relationships.
This innovative and interdisciplinary research will not only provide new data relevant to understanding the Chacoan system, but also serve to promote appreciation for the precontact history of Native Americans because Chaco Canyon serves as a case study in North American archaeology courses, in textbooks, in the popular press and videos. Chacoan research regularly receives regional and national media coverage. Project results will be disseminated through class instruction, publication, and outreach, and they have the potential to reach the broader public via popular press and visitation to Chaco Canyon National Historical Park. Several undergraduate and graduate students will receive hands-on training and mentoring while being directly involved with project field work and post-field analyses. Broadly conceived this work will reach the interested public while helping to promote an appreciation for archaeological resources, their preservation, and for the Native Americans who created them.
