Chacoan Perishable Technologies in Regional Perspective - Edward A. Jolie

Between about A.D. 850 and 1140, the archaeology of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico reveals the rapid construction of large communal structures where smaller settlements had existed previously and shows that the locality became the core of an extensive regional system in the Four Corners region of the northern Southwest integrated by formal trails, the circulation of nonlocal goods, and the sharing of ritual items. Researchers debate the role of increased sociopolitical complexity in this development, but less attention has been given to questions of sociocultural diversity and its impacts. Guided by previous research suggesting the existence of sociocultural or biological diversity, I examined large numbers of baskets, mats and sandals seeking to distinguish patterned stylistic variability in woven artifact manufacture with implications for understanding sociocultural diversity within and across the Chaco system. This presentation focuses on the distribution of traditions of ritual basketry at Chaco Canyon and beyond to suggests linkages between the social entities that maintained them, first at Pueblo Bonito and, later, at outlying communities. Diversity in ritual practice emerges as a factor that likely both facilitated a shared Chacoan identity and integrated newcomers.