Anthropology 201 - Critical Essay

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorUniversity, Bachelor's August 2001

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Critical Essay Anthropology 201 The Chaco Connection: Evaluating Bonito-Style Architecture in Outlier Communities This research article is an attempt to understand the patterns of architecture among the communities outside of Chaco Canyon. This type of architecture is characterized by a great house and it's characteristics. These houses are the central structure in a Chacoan community, they are marked by having large rooms and high ceilings in addition to being multistoried. The author is trying to establish a reason for the pattern of this architecture by using different aspects of Bonito-Style. He establishes data and reaches a somewhat unclear conclusion that only results in further question.

The author is attempting to answer the question of whether the architecture present in outlier communities is a result of a direct centralized Chacoan system, or are outlier communities only imitating the Bonito-Style Architecture in Chaco Canyon.

The author utilizes a comparative study of 61 great houses in 55 communities surrounding Chaco Canyon. The author is analyzing 5 low visibility attributes that occur in the great houses of each community. The first characteristic is a construction technique called core and veneer building. This construction consists of two walls offset from each other that are filled with rubble, earth , mud, or trash to increase the stability of the structure and are progressively thinner each successive floor. The second attribute is that of banded facing or the alternating of types of sandstone used in each course during the building up of a wall. The third characteristic analyzed is that of great house symmetry. The fourth architectural attribute is the presence of elevated kivas that are many stories high and are often one of the tallest structures in a great house. The fifth and final attribute analyzed among the outlier community great house is...