Planning, Growth, and Functional Differentiation at a Prehistoric Pueblo: A Case Study from sw Colorado

Abstract

Intensive architectural and dendrochronological analysis of Sand Canyon Pueblo, a large, late 13th-century Anasazi site in sw Colorado, has provided evidence of distinct building patterns. Although the principal pattern seems to be accretionary, there is evidence of planning both at the architectural unit scale and in the site as a whole. Evaluation of construction-labor intensity and spatial analysis have allowed the identification of functional architectural differentiation within the site. Site planning, community-scale building episodes, massive architectural style, and special function buildings and spaces point to the probability that Sand Canyon Pueblo served both as a large-scale dwelling place (e.g., a village) and as an integrative center for an outlying community. This organizational pattern may be a continuation or revival of the specialized Chacoan regional organization seen in the northern Southwest in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, or it may be an expression of more generalized Anasazi settlement aggregation.