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Tree Rings, Valley Floor Deposition, and Erosion in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Donovan Senter
Donovan Senter*
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico
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Extract

Excavations made in 1928 at the north wall of the large pueblo of Chetro Ketl in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, indicated that there had been fourteen feet of sandy fill in the canyon at that point since the foundations of the pueblo were laid. Sherds in the walls of the Chaco arroyo likewise pointed to considerable fill since the occupation of the large Chaco pueblos in the late 9th to early 12th centuries. This has raised the question of rate of deposition on the valley floor and of land surface levels during and since the time of prehistoric occupation. Linked with the problem of old land surfaces was that of burials, which have been notable for their scarcity in this canyon, and it seemed that an investigation of these old surfaces might yield some information on the possibility of burial grounds deep below the present surface.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , July 1937 , pp. 68 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1937

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References

Douglass, A. E. 1929. The Secret of the Southwest Solved by Talkative Tree Rings. National Geographic Magazine, Vol. LVI, No. 6, Washington.Google Scholar
Douglass, A. E. 1935. Dating Pueblo Bonito and Other Ruins of the Southwest. National Geographic Society, Technical Papers, Pueblo Bonito Series, Number 1.Google Scholar
Hawley, Florence M. 1934. The Significance of the Dated Prehistory of Chetro Ketl, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The University of New Mexico Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 1, Monograph Series.Google Scholar
Hawley, Florence M. 1936. Field Manual of Southwestern Pottery Types. University of New Mexico Bulletin, Anthropological Series, Vol. 1, No. 4, August 1, 1936.Google Scholar