Reexamining the Organization of Ornament Production at Chaco Canyon: Insights from Pueblo Bonito’s Lapidary Tool Assemblage

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Several decades ago, the NPS Chaco Project revealed evidence for widespread, small-scale ornament manufacture at small house sites in Chaco Canyon, as well as possible workshop-scale production at two locations. As consumption of finished jewelry items is clearly concentrated at great houses, it was suggested that lapidary production was part of a larger corporate political strategy wherein goods produced in surrounding small houses were used to sustain communal events related to construction activities and ritual performances at great houses. The idea that ornaments, especially those made from turquoise, were primarily made in small house communities but used at great houses has prevailed for the last 20 years. And yet, until now, there hasn't been a systematic attempt to identify and analyze lapidary tools from canyon great houses in order to test this hypothesis. This paper presents the results of my research on lapidary tools from Pueblo Bonito, including implements such as microdrills, lapidary abraders, files, reamers, and tabular saws. Based on this data, I characterize the configuration of on-site ornament manufacture at Pueblo Bonito and discuss its implications for our understanding of the organization of jewelry production in Chaco Canyon.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36647.0