ARCH 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Ancestral Puebloans, Pueblo Iii Period, Puebloan Peoples

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Archaeology
• Course: ARCH 100
• Professor: David Maxwell

Document Summary

Occupation of mesa verde as old as chaco canyon. Around the time of the chacoan collapse & abandonment, mesa verde begins to grow substantially. Results in the creation of famous cliff dwellings. Mesa verde settlements move from top to cliffs ~ ad 1100. This is seen at other ancestral puebloan settlements. Houses situated in caves or below rock overhangs along canyon walls. Structures made of blocks of sandstone, typically plastered with adobe (mud). Reflects regional trend towards population aggregation and the use of highly defensible living areas during the ad 1200s. Not everyone in the region lived in cliff dwellings. Canyon rims are covered with multi-family structures, many of substantial size due to population increases. Both surface and cliff dwellings preferred to use window and door openings in a t-shape, a design first seen at chaco canyon. Some archaeologists have argued that this demonstrates the continuing importance of the.