Colin Renfrew on the Ancestral Pueblo Sites of Chaco Canyon

Excerpts from the Paper

Colin Renfrew on the Ancestral Pueblo Sites of Chaco Canyon
This paper evaluates the proposition, put forward by Colin Renfrew in 2001, that the ancestral Pueblo sites of Chaco Canyon are locations of high devotional expression. The paper explores a number of items that such an assertion raises: what exactly does the term mean and how have other archaeologists – such as Ruth van Dyke and Barbara Mills – interpreted trade and exchange in the area, as well as notions of ritual and complexity? The paper shall commence by looking at what Renfrew means and it will be established that he really means that such sites are places where important religious and secular duties and activities are often carried out; the secular aspects of Renfrew’s...

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