Shades of Meaning: Relating Color to Chacoan Identity, Memory, and Power at the Aztec Great Houses

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Coloring the World: People and Colors in Southwestern Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Ancient Puebloan occupation of the Aztec complex in northwest New Mexico spanned a tumultuous two and a half centuries that saw the arrival of Chacoan people and Chacoan ways in the Animas Valley in the late 11th century C.E., followed by the waning influence of Chaco by 1140, and a new era of Aztec-centered power in the post-Chacoan period. Each of the three great houses at Aztec had its own unique history and represents a particular stage in the evolving relationship to Chacoan power in the Middle San Juan region. Over time, leaders at Aztec worked to establish and support Chacoan identity and power, to negotiate new relationships to the Chacoan polity, and ultimately to maintain the memory of a Chacoan past that legitimized their own power. These efforts can be traced through changes in architecture and material items. Our research examines the role color played in establishing, maintaining, altering, and revitalizing Chacoan identity and power at Aztec.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Coloring the World: People and Colors in Southwestern Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24993