The Chaco Wood Project: The Chronometric Reappraisal of Pueblo Bonito
Abstract
The inventory and analysis of 4,294 pieces of wood remaining in Pueblo Bonito are described. This site, long a keystone for interpreting the Chacoan Phenomenon in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico, reveals a fascinating history in the procurement, use, and reuse of wood through time. The long use of the site portrays a complex picture of wood procurement for construction from the A.D. 800s through the early A.D. 1100s, and its reuse in both prehistoric and historic times. Major construction periods are tree-ring dated to the mid-A.D. 800s, between A.D. 1047 and 1049, and between A.D. 1077 and 1082. Many of the construction events appear causally related to decade-long wet periods, when food surplus could accumulate. The use of wood at Pueblo Bonito mirrors a larger system of cultural behavior important for our interpretation of the development and demise of the Chacoan system.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Ancestral Puebloans probably abandoned Pueblo Bonito by the fourteenth century, although Navajo and Europeans later used the buildings at least periodically.
“Ancestral Puebloans probably abandoned Pueblo Bonito by the fourteenth century, although as Windes and Ford (1996: 297) emphasise, both Navajo and Europeans later used the buildings, at least periodically.”
From The complex history of Pueblo Bonito and its interpretation (2018) · cites this paper as Windes & Ford 1996: 297
Another 24 rooms were built between AD 1050 and 1070, and perhaps another 160-170 rooms between AD 1070 and 1100.
“Another 24 rooms were built between AD 1050 and 1070, and perhaps another 160-170 rooms between AD 1070 and 1100 (Windes & Ford 1996: 302-303).”
From The complex history of Pueblo Bonito and its interpretation (2018) · cites this paper as Windes & Ford 1996: 302-303
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The complex history of Pueblo Bonito and its interpretation
Crown, P. L., & Wills, W. H. (2018) · Antiquity · doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.138 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Windes, T. C., & Ford, D.
- Venue
- American Antiquity
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1996-04
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 295-310
- ISSN
- 0002-7316 (ISSN-L)
- 2325-5064
- OpenAlex
- W1979163145
- Cited by
- 102
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 1.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Antiquity (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Park Service
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Tree-ring climate responses
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Historical and Architectural Studies
- Keywords
- Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, dendrochronology, wood procurement, wood reuse, construction chronology, paleoclimate, wet periods, food surplus, San Juan Basin, prehistoric architecture
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
