The Greater Chaco Landscape Volume

Seashells and sound waves: modelling soundscapes in Chacoan great-house communities

“…Caches of unusual paraphernalia, including carved and painted birds and flowers, cylinder jars that held cacao, decorated baskets, and turquoise and shell jewellery indicate a rich body of religious practices and beliefs (Crown & Hurst 2009; Heitman & Plog 2015; Mattson 2016). These beliefs incorporated the celestial and terrestrial landscape, as indicated by astronomical alignments and rock art (Van Dyke & Heitman 2021).…”

“…About 200 additional great houses dot the ‘greater Chaco landscape’ (GCL) beyond Chaco Canyon over an area covering approximately 60 000 square miles (Kantner & Mahoney 2000; Kantner & Kintigh 2006; Van Dyke & Heitman 2021). These great houses are usually central to a community of small, domestic habitation sites, and they are often accompanied by a highly structured landscape comprised of additional monumental constructions: great kivas, earthworks, road segments and enigmatic rock features (ERFs).…”

“…These great houses are usually central to a community of small, domestic habitation sites, and they are often accompanied by a highly structured landscape comprised of additional monumental constructions: great kivas, earthworks, road segments and enigmatic rock features (ERFs). ERFs include elements such as shrines, crescents, stone circles, basins, herraduras, zambullidas, atalayas and cairns (see descriptions in Van Dyke & Heitman 2021: 135–79); they feature prominently in visibility studies (Van Dyke et al . 2016).…”

“…Out of more than 200 known GCL great houses, only about 30 have been fully explored and mapped and even fewer have been excavated. Much of the GCL is currently threatened by mining of coal and oil reserves under the San Juan Basin (Reed 2018; Van Dyke & Heitman 2021). Exploration of new methods in the study of Chacoan great-house communities is therefore vital—particularly methods that might shed some light on the nature of community cohesion and identity.…”

“…In a previous simulation involving two Chacoan communities (Van Dyke et al . 2021), the modelled reach of the conch-shell blast mapped neatly onto community boundaries as defined by known habitation sites. In the current study, we replicate and expand this work at additional Chacoan communities, using similar soundshed modelling tools.…”