The Archaeology of the Bonito Paleochannel Cycle at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico: Implications for Communal and Household Level Investment in Water Management

Abstract

This study examines the archaeological record for water management in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, in relation to the Bonito Paleochannel cycle, ca. AD 1075–1150. We present evidence for a canal system at Pueblo Bonito that was destroyed by the entrenchment of the paleochannel. This canal system is associated with the peak of great house construction. Other water control features throughout the canyon were small and date to the period of paleochannel aggradation or afterward. We suggest that while the Pueblo Bonito canals represent some degree of corporate group investment, small features were managed at the household level. The limited archaeological evidence for formal water control infrastructure can be explained at least in part by the physical geography of Chaco Canyon, which we view as essentially a regional-scale water harvesting structure.