Chacoan Archaeology and Great House Communities

After some eight centuries, the monumental masonry structures in Chaco Canyon still stand several stories tall almost in defiance of our ability to explain why they were constructed and the activities that occurred within them. In the centuries between A.D. 850 and 1150 (Fig. 1.1), at least 18 puebloan-style buildings known as “great houses” were constructed in and around Chaco Canyon, a relatively barren wash located in the arid San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico (Fig. 1.2). These structures remain some of the most massive and beautiful architectural features ever constructed in the ancient Southwest. Even less well understood