With a $200,0000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a team of researchers assembled by the Center for Desert Archaeology (CDA) is investigating the ancient pueblo towns of Aztec and Salmon in the Middle San Juan region of northwest New Mexico. In the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, Aztec and Salmon rapidly emerged as important regional centers near the end of Chaco's ascendancy. How did these communities develop? What factors account for Chacoan influence in the Middle San Juan region? Do the data support Chacoan migration or, rather, exchange and emulation of Chacoan traits by local groups?

Research by the CDA team indicates Chacoan influence in the Middle San Juan region by the late 11th century, with initial settlement at Salmon Pueblo, and later settlement of a larger group at great houses in the Aztec Community. In addition to these large sites, a number of smaller communities in the region exhibit evidence of Chacoan influence, including Jaquez, Flora Vista, and the Holmes Group. NSF-funded research by team members is focusing on architecture, ceramics, textiles, basketry, and other perishable artifacts from Aztec, Salmon, and smaller communities in the region. Drawing upon recent methodological advances using low- and high-visibility attributes of architecture and different artifact classes, processes of migration and emulation in the Middle San Juan will be discerned.

The study of Chacoan influence in the Middle San Juan will have a broad impact on the public's understanding of ancient Puebloan archaeology and history in the northwest New Mexico and across the Four Corners region. Prior interpretation of the ancient communities of Aztec and Salmon (and the surrounding Middle San Juan area) has emphasized waves of people: first from Chaco Canyon, and later, from the Mesa Verde area in southwest Colorado. New research has questioned these long-standing assumptions and suggests that local people played an important role in the development of these communities. The current research project brings together state-of-the-art research and study of existing collections to investigate the role played by the Chacoans in the origins of the Aztec and Salmon pueblos.

Chacoan Expansion or Emulation of the Chacoan System? The Emergence of Aztec, Salmon, and Other Great House Communities in the Middle San Juan:
NSF Research Grant Summary (PDF format)
Complete Project Description (PDF format)