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AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 3,2003

Figure 1. Major Sites in Chaco Canyon, New

construction of great houses and long-distance exchange in goods and materials (Crown and Judge 199 1 ; Lekson et al. 1988; Sebastian 1992). A variety of archaeological and biological evidence suggests co-residency in these settlements of multiple groups with distinctive historical origins, possibly different ethnic or linguistic affiliations (Akins 1986; Schillaci et al. 2001; Vivian 1990). This apparent merging of social groups occurred during a period of rapid population growth in the San Juan Basin, driven, in part, by immigrants from the San Juan River in southwest Colorado (Wills 2000; Wilshusen and Ortman 1999). Consequently, the Bonito phase represents complex demographic and social processes that, though still poorly understood, undoubtedly involved successful efforts to convert disparate group identities into powerful corporate structures.

In this study we argue that Pueblo Bonito, the most famous of the great houses, provides important archaeological evidence for understanding some of the means by which this conversion took place. Pueblo Bonito is probably the largest great house, with at least 600 rooms, and it had an extremely complex construction history reflected in repeated changes in the size, internal structure, and overall configuration (Judd 1964; Lekson 1984; Vivian 1990; Windes and Ford 1996). Included in this history are extensive foundation complexes

Mexico. Figure courtesy National Park Service.

that were apparently never utilized, and sections of original architecture that may have been inten- tionally preserved as repositories for ritual and mor- tuary material (Stein et al. 1999). The likelihood that this massive building was constructed by a number of distinct social groups united in a long- term corporate task makes the evidence for episodic architectural change and conservation of ritual material a likely source of information about how this coordination and cooperation took place. In this study we describe patterning in two aspects of the archaeological record from Pueblo Bonito and other excavated great houses, pottery, and nondo- mestic buildings known as "kivas," that we believe indicates a role for ritual renewal in maintaining group identity during the socially dynamic eleventh century, when most of the great-house building projects were initiated and completed.

The first great houses were usually multistory structures comprised of modular-like blocks of rec- tangular rooms fronting open plazas, while late versions consist of a small dense block of rooms, sometimes within a series of surrounding walled open areas. In the plazas and roomblocks were one or more circular, semi-subterranean, single-room structures that archaeologists call "kivas." The type site for the Bonito phase is Pueblo Bonito, the largest and most architecturally complex great house. Most of Pueblo Bonito was excavated in the

Crown and Wills] MODIFYING POTTERY AND KlVAS AT CHACO 51 3

Figure 2. Twelve cylinder jars from Pueblo Bonito housed at the Smithsonian Institution Museum Support Center. Vessel in left center is 21.5 cm in height (Marianne Tyndall, photographer).

late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and it remains the most fully excavated of the great houses in Chaco Canyon. Under the direction of George Pepper, the Hyde Exploring Expedition excavated 190 rooms from 1896 to 1900 (Pepper 1996 [1920]; Snead 1999). Most of the artifacts acquired by the Hyde project are at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Neil M. Judd and the National Geographic Society excavated another 138 rooms and extensive extramural areas between 1921 and 1927 (Judd 1954, 1964). Material from Judd's excavations is stored at the Smithsonian Institution. Subsequent archaeological work at Chaco Canyon has revealed that Pueblo Bonito is unique among the excavated great houses as a repository of human remains, caches of pre- sumed ritual paraphernalia, and sheer labor invest- ment in architecture. Two of the most striking characteristics of Pueblo Bonito involve pottery and kivas.

Pottery

Ceramics from Chaco Canyon include many vari- eties of painted and unpainted pottery. Most of the painted pottery has black painted designs on white slipped surfaces. Potters formed this pottery by building the pot of thin coils and then scraping away the coil joints. One of the most distinctive whiteware vessel forms is the cylinder jar (Figure 2). These ceramic jars have a roughly cylindrical shape, roughly flat base, and usually either handles

or perforations near the rim (Toll 1990:273). Approximately one-third of all known cylinderjars are slipped but have no designs (Toll 2001 :63). On decorated jars, designs are restricted to the exterior wall, with the interior characterized by only a nar- row band of slip at the rim. In a thorough overview of cylinderjars, Toll (1990) documents 2 10 known examples, and all but six of these come from Chaco Canyon. Even within the Canyon they are restricted in distribution, with 192 coming from Pueblo Bonito and 1 1 1 of those coming from a single cache in Room 28. All but 12 of the cylinder jars from Pueblo Bonito come from caches or burials within rooms at the site.'

Scholars continue to debate the function of the cylinder jars. Pepper (1909:251) suggested they were altar paraphernalia, perhaps to hold prayer sticks. Judd (1954:212) argued that the vessels he excavated were burial offerings. However, he also argued that the grouping of 11 1 vessels found by Pepper in Room 28 at Pueblo Bonito was in storage, while questioning whether they were "reserved for ceremonial use, as Pepper believed" (Judd 1954:2 13). Dorothy Washburn (1 980:7 1-72) suggested that the vessels were used for storing lux- ury items such as shell and turquoise, arguing that heavy usewear on the interiors of some jars likely came from storage of sharp, heavy objects. Steve Lekson (1999:97; Toll 1990:298) has suggested that they were ceramic drums. In his thorough examination of cylinder jar contexts, Toll

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(1990:296) suggests that the vessels were used for ritual and may have been stored in community houses between celebrations. Toll (1 990:287, Table 1) shows that some of the cylinder jars come from rooms with burials, but he questions whether they were grave goods because they were not associated with specific bodies.

Few sherds from cylinder vessels occur in any site context within the Chacoan region, although some came from trash areas or surfaces at sites in Chaco Canyon, including Pueblo Bonito, Pueblo del Arroyo, and Pueblo Alto. All but one of the sherds are black-on-white; a single plain white sherd comes from Bis sa'ani Pueblo located just outside of Chaco Canyon (Toll 1990:297). Based on our present knowledge, it appears that no complete plain white cylinder jar has been recovered outside of Pueblo Bonito. The restricted distribution of the vessels and unusual shape suggest that these vessels had a special purpose (Toll and McKenna 1987:214-216). We agree with several previous researchers that the cached vessels were placed in temporary storage in community houses and then pulled for use in rituals of some kind. As Washburn indicated, some of the jars have heavy interior usewear, but others lack heavy usewear, and yet others have what appears to be organic residue. On the basis of this variation, we suggest that the vessels were used in ritual for varied purposes.

Evidence for alteration of the designs on cylinder jars from Chaco came to light when one of the authors (Crown) examined museum collection vessels for a study of crafts learning. Careful inspec- tion of 16 cylinder jars from Chaco in collections at the Museum of Northern Arizona, Smithsonian Institution, and Peabody Museum at Harvard Uni- versity (totaling 13 from Pueblo Bonito and three from unknown proveniences) revealed that some of the vessels had surface modification that included either obscuring designs without repainting the designs or slipping and painting new designs over an earlier layer of sliplpaint. The 16 vessels represent only 8percent of the known cylinderjars, but there is no reason to believe that these jars are significantly different from the unexamined sam- ple (Toll 1990; Washburn 1980). Because this phe- nomenon was discovered coincidentally while conducting research for a different purpose, no effort was made to examine the patterning in a systematic way throughout the entire assemblage of

Chaco vessels. Furthermore. as described below, the evidence for altering these vessels may be visible to the naked eye only in instances where the slip is particularly thin so that earlier designs show through. For these reasons, we do not currently know the frequency of such vessel alteration or the full extent of its occurrence. A systematic study focusing specifically on this issue will undoubtedly reveal additional examples.

The Chaco vessels examined are primarily Cibola White Ware, manufactured between about A.D. 900 and 1150. As To11 (1990:285) notes, the latest designs on the vessels place them in the period from about A.D. 1040-1 125, but the underlying designs may indicate earlier manufacture dates for the v e ~ s e l s . ~ Most have a thin, chalky white slip, and, where painted, mineral black paint decora- tions. Thirteen of the 16 vessels examined are characterized by Gallup or Chaco Style (or Dogoszhi Style [Neitzel and Bishop 1990]), consisting of intricate hatched geometric designs. The designs are generally well executed, with fine line hatching. A single vessel has mineral paint and an Escav- ada (or Sosi) Style design, consisting of all solid motifs. One vessel has a thick white well-polished slip, with organic paint in a solid and hatched design; it is apparently Nava Black-on-white, produced in the Chuska Valley west of Chaco Canyon (Toll 1990:274). Finally, a single vessel has white slip and no black painted design.

Because the vessels examined were complete, it was not possible to discern aplastic inclusions. However, Toll (1990:29 1-29 1) discusses the range of aplastics found in cylinder jars, including both the trachyte temper characteristic of ceramics manufactured in the ChuskaValley 70 km west of Chaco Canyon and the possibly locally manufactured sand and sherd temper (see Toll [1990:292] for a discussion of the widespread use of sand and sherd temper in the San Juan Basin). An instrumental neutron activation analysis of Dogoszhi Style ceramics including the cylinder jars examined in this study (Neitzel and Bishop 1990) indicated that most of the jars clustered in a large compositional group that included many bowls from Chaco. Three of the jars did not cluster with any analytic group. On the basis of variability in jar paste, form, paint, and metric attributes, Toll (1990:295-298) argues that the whiteware cylinder jars derive from multiple sources. He suggests that individual commu-

Crown and Wills] MODIFYING POTTERY AND KlVAS AT CHACO 515

Table 1. Compilation of Data for Cylinder Vessels Examined in this Study.

Vessel Fireclouds Designs Paint Whiteware Flaked slip numbera under sli es with paint awith ima

A69 18 X X M A69 19 ? 0 A6921 M A336490 X M A336491 ? M A336492 X M A336493 X M A336494 ? M A336495 X M A336496 X M A336497 M A336498 X M A336499 ? M A336500 NONE X A334575 ? X M 2899lA 199 M X "The first three vessels come from the Peabody Museum at Harvard University, the next 12 from the National Museum of Natural History. and the final one from the Museum of Northern Arizona. hWhile all vessels were handled and photographed. time prohibited thorough examination of all of the vessels and some of the analysis was completed using the photographs rather than the pots. Where attributes are indicated with a "?'we are less confident of the results than where indicated with an "X." 'Vessels marked with M have designs painted with mineral paint. Vessels marked with 0 have designs painted with organic paint.

nities in the Chaco system might have contributed a cylinder jar, caching them within Pueblo Bonito for use in ceremonial events at that site. He further suggests that placement of these vessels at Pueblo Bonito might have taken place on a cyclical basis.

Technically, any vessel can be reslipped, repainted, and refired, but the slip must have a com- position and consistency that adheres well to the earlier surface of the vessel without excessive firing shrinkage.' Refiring is necessary after reslippinglrepainting to ensure that the sliplpaint adheres to the vessel and is not fugitive. Firing a vessel more than once will not alter the paste, as long as the original firing temperature is not exceeded and roughly the same atmosphere is maintained. If a vessel is refired to a higher temperature than orig- inally fired, the paste may alter in color, thickness, and hardness as the clay and aplastic minerals in the paste respond to the higher temperature. Refir- ing at a higher temperature thus has the potential to damage a vessel beyond repair through crack- ing, shrinking, or warping of the paste. It may also craze the slip, destroying any polishing luster. But careful refiring at the same or a lower temperature will not harm or alter the vessel fabric. If a vessel is refired using a substantially different atmosphere,

the paste and paint may alter in color and compo- sition. White ware vessels from Chaco were generally fired in the range from about 700-900" C. The vessels were fired in a neutral to reducing atmosphere, with a gray paste resulting from both carbonaceous material in the clay and reduced iron. In refiring experiments, chips from two cylinder jar sherds fired at 910" C in an oxidizing atmosphere (Toll and McKenna 1997: 115) turned pale orange as the carbonaceous matter burned out and the iron oxidized. Modem potters report successfully refiring individual vessels up to five times.

Evidence for reslippinglrepainting appears in several distinct ways on the cylinderjars (Table 1). On some vessels, the top layer of sliplpaint has chipped away through use, and a lower layer of paint is now visible underneath the top layer (Fig- ure 3a). On other vessels, lines of an earlier design are visible through the later slip (Figure 3b). We note that many of the cylinder jars have a thin slip that was wiped on in a rather cursory fashion. In some cases, the wipe marks combined with the gray underlying paste of the vessel can create the appearance of patterns under the latest slip. We are aware of this potential problem and did not include such random patterns in our analysis of designs

51 6 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 3,2003

Figure 3. Refurbished cylinder jars: (a) arrow shows black paint beneath flaking slip (Museum of Northern Arizona catalogue #2899/A6199); (b) arrows show areas where earlier design is visible beneath later slip and paint (Catalogue No. A-336493, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution); (c) firecloud beneath slip and paint (Museum of Northern Arizona catalogue #2899/A6199); (d) brownish stained area on "undecorated" white cylinder jar showing form of triangle or step with attached curvilinear scroll (Catalogue No. A336500, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution) (Marianne Tyndall, photographer).

under slips. However, on some vessels fireclouds are clearly visible underneath the final sliplpaint (Figure 3c). Fireclouds are blackened areas on the vessel surface caused by contact between fuel and vessel; they are round to tear-shaped. Fireclouds covered by later slip are easily distinguished from the grayish paste by their distinctive and discrete shape and by their darker color; in contrast, when paste shows through the slip, it appears as gray lin- ear streaks. Fireclouds represent the firing event of aparticular surface of the vessel. Because they cannot creep under a slip, the only way that a slip can occur over a firecloud is if the slip was placed on the vessel after the firing event that created the firecloud, indicating at least two separate firing events

for those vessels. Fireclouds can burn out when a vessel is refired in an oxidizing atmosphere (indeed, some modem refirings are done to remove offend- ing fireclouds); the fireclouds under the slip of these Chaco vessels did not bum out in refiring because the vessels were fired in a neutral to reducing atmosphere, so that there was no free oxygen to "remove" the fireclouds. The overlying slip also helped "pro- tect" the fireclouds from alteration in subsequent refiring.

The evidence indicates then that some vessels were reslippedlrepainted at least once; what remains unclear is if there were multiple events of reslippinglrepainting on single vessels. It is often difficult to be certain of the existence of even one

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Figure 4. Powdered turquoise-encrusted whiteware sherd from Pueblo Bonito (Catalogue No. A336072, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution) (Marianne Tyndall, photographer).

was conducted at the Smithsonian Center for Mate- rials Research and Education (SCMRE) at the Museum Support Center in Suitland, Ma~yland.~ Three cylinder jars from Pueblo Bonito and one Chaco pitcher were subjected to three types of non- destructive imaging analysis. Vessels were examined using an infrared camera, under ultraviolet light, and with x-radiography. Infrared imaging enhanced the underlying designs on one black-on- white cylinder jar, and ultraviolet light enhanced the images on the "plain" white cylinderjar. X-radiography confirmed only that the vessels were constructed by coiling.

Kivas

Among historical Pueblos, a "kiva" is a room or single-room building constructed and primarily used by groups of men for a variety of social functions, including religious activities. The nature of kiva groups varies among the Pueblos and can include clans, moieties, medicine societies, and other forms of sodalities (Eggan 1950; Mindeleff 189 1 ; Ortiz 1968; Parsons 1939). There is an extremely well-defined developmental history in kiva architecture, with strong continuity in physical similarity from the earliest examples dated

between A.D. 700 and 900 to those of the modem period. Despite the extensive ethnographic evidence that kivas are not specialized religious architecture, but rather communal buildings in which ritual took place, archaeologists often describe Chaco kivas as sacred architecture, and therefore treat the number of these structures as a measure of religious significance for the entire canyon community (e.g., Fritz 1978; Kantner 1996; Renfrew 2001). Adler (1989, 1993) has argued from ethnographic and cross-cultural data that this assump- tion is extremely unlikely to be correct for most southwestern kivas, and proposes instead that only exceptionally large examples (currently called "great kivas" in many areas) fit expectations for a dominant (but not exclusive) ritual function (see also Lekson 1988). We find Adler's argument com- pelling, and consequently we organize this section of our study with the presumption that variation in kiva characteristics is directly related to the nature of the user group, rather than a proxy for ritual or religious importance.

Historical kivas may be round, or square, subterranean, or aboveground, and it is apparent that this range was characteristic of the Bonito phase, although circular forms were the most common

Crown and Wills] MODIFYING POlTERY AND KlVAS AT CHACO 519

Pueblo Bonito Kiva Volume (cu. m.)

Figure 5. Histogram of Pueblo Bonito kiva volume.

(Judd 1964: 177-2 11;seven "society rooms" identified by Judd are not included in this discussion). The density of identified kivas is highest at Pueblo Bonito, the largest of the great houses, where researchers completely or partially excavated 37 kivas prior to 1930. However. this figure is less than the actual number of kivas built at Pueblo Bonito during its occupational history. For example, the National Geographic Society excavations in the 1920s encountered at least 24 kivas underneath residential rooms or associated with razed wall complexes that were not excavated and consequently not labeled or included in published descriptions of the site (see Judd 1964:Figures 5 and 11). Two size modes are present in the excavated kivas at Pueblo Bonito (Figure 5); archaeologists usually link the more numerous smaller kivas to community subgroups, such as clans or religious societies, and the larger kivas to public functions at the community level (Lekson 1984,1988; Vivian 1990; Vivian and Reiter 1965). No two Chaco kivas were identical, but most shared a suite of features, including a central firepit, a subfloor ventilator that drew air into the structure, and a low bench encir- cling the interior wall at floor level (in circular kivas). Chaco kivas were not the source of much material culture, except for caches of dedicatory objects, such as beads, embedded in architectural elements at the time of construction (Mathien 1997).

At least 22 of the 30 kivas excavated by Judd were constructed on earlier versions, or had been substantially rebuilt at least once. The establishment of new kivas on the remnants of older versions is

quite striking and occurred in one of two ways. Most commonly, the walls of an earlier kiva were razed almost to the level of the interior bench and the new kiva then built offset from the center of the original (almost always from west to east, or southwest to northeast) at a higher elevation, so that the old floor and bench curve under the new kiva walls (Figure 6a). In a few cases, new kivas were built inside the walls of the older structure by burying the original floor in construction debris, covering this deposit with a new adobe floor, adding a bench directly over the old one, and erecting new facing walls (Figure 6b). All these "revisions" were qualitatively different from simple remodeling efforts, such as replastering a wall, laying down a new floor, or replacing decayed roofing elements, as reconstruction involved the removal of the entire roof, destruction of walls, and excavation in the new location, followed by entirely new construction or reassembly of all of these elements.

The intentional rebuilding of kivas over older versions at Pueblo Bonito emphasized locational stability for these structures despite the massive amount of new surrounding construction as the size and configuration of the pueblo changed during the eleventh century (see Judd 1964; Lekson 1984; Windes and Ford 1996). Kivas lacking apparent predecessors were primarily late additions (after A.D. 1 100) set into or built over existing domestic rooms. Rebuilding was characteristic of both small and great kivas at Pueblo Bonito and at other great houses as well. One of the most impressive illus- trations of serial construction is Kiva G at Chetro Ketl, with eight distinctive rebuilding events (Fig- ure 6c), but other examples include the two great kivas at Chetro Ketl, the great kiva at Kin Nihas- bas, small kivas at Pueblo del Arroyo (Figure 6d), and Kiva 10 at Pueblo Alto.

Despite the clarity of kiva rebuilding as a physical process, and the extraordinary number of tree- ring dates from Chaco great houses, it is difficult to determine the time intervals between rebuilding events. Very few tree-ring dates have been obtained from Chaco kivas, and the poor quality of stratigraphic descriptions for these structures offers lit- tle chronological insight. However, there is some circumstantial evidence that suggests a periodicity less than a human generation. For example, the final version of Kiva G at Pueblo Bonito had at least 21 distinctive layers of whitewash on the interior

AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 3, 2003

Figure 6. Examples of four "revised" ki\as in Chaco Canjon: (a) Kiva D at Pueblo Bonito; (b) Ki\a G at Pueblo Bonito; (c) K i ~ aG at Chetro Ketl; (d) Ki\a E at Pueblo del A r r o ~ o (Sources: [a] and [b], Judd 1964:Figures 18 & 19; [cl, Lekson 1983:Figure II:13; [dl, Judd 1959:Figure 16).

wall (Judd 1964: 194). Kivas at modern Hopi pueblos are replastered during an annual ritual event each spring (Mindeleff 1891: 130): such a cycle at Chaco would point to a 20-year-or-so use life for Kiva G. A similar time span is likely for Kiva L at Bonito, which has tree-ring cut dates indicating construction in the A.D. 1060s with some wood from an earlier building episode in the late A.D. 1040s (Judd 1964:183), although it is impossible to know whether the older wood was part of the kiva that preceded Kiva L.

Overall, the wholesale destruction and reconstruction of kivas in great houses appears to have occurred two to four tirnes per kiva during the Bonito phase. There is a possibility that some kivas built during the tenth century at Pueblo Bonito were remodeled in the eleventh century following

a period of site abandonment (Kiva R is an example), or at least a prolonged cessation of nearly 100 years in construction activity (Wills 2000:41; Windes and Ford 1996:299). and the "Court Kiva" at Chetro Ketl may have been disused for some time before its second reconstruction (Lekson 1983; Vivian and Reiter 1965). In these cases, it niay be incorrect to assume rebuilding by the same user group. but other than the Chetro Ketl example. there is no physical evidence that suggests kivas were not in use during this interval. Accord- ing to the construction history presented by Lek- son (1984), most kivas at Pueblo Bonito appear to have been initially built after A.D. 1040. and consequently were razed and rebuilt during a period of continuous settlement occupation and, indeed, exceptional growth.

Crown and Wills] MODIFYING POTTERY AND KlVAS AT CHACO 521

Pentimento, Restoration, or Renewal?

The cases of pottery redecorating and kiva rebuilding demonstrate expense of labor and resources, albeit at different scales; such expenditure raises the question of why the population at Chaco went to such effort to revise specific forms of pottery and architecture over time. Here we consider three possible explanations for this patterning: pentimento, restoration of usedldamaged materials, or ritual renewal. Pentimento is Italian for repentance. It is a term used by art historians to describe situations where images overpainted with different subject matter become visible as the upper layer of paint becomes transparent through age. Among art historians, pentimenti are thought to represent situations where the artist had second thoughts about hisher work or made a mistake, and revised it by overpainting. In the Chacoan case, it is possible that revisions to pottery and kivas were made when errors in construction or in decoration were discovered. Alternatively, it is possible that the pottery and kivas had become damaged or worn with age, and the alterations were made to restore them to newer appearance. Finally, it is possible that the revisions represent renewal made as part of ritual performance in Chacoan society. We evaluate each of these explanations below.

Pentimento

If the revision of ceramic vessels and kivas in Chaco represents correction of errors made and fixed during the production process, we would expect evidence that the earlier versions contained "errors" of some sort that were rectified by the revisions. In addition, we would expect evidence that the methods of revision were those typically used to correct errors.

It is unlikely that most of the reslippinglrepainting of ceramic vessels represents true instances of pentimenti, where the artisan repented of the original design and decided to repaint it. First, potters would presumably notice any errors made in painting a vessel before the vessel was first fired and deal with them, rather than firing the pot and then imme- diately modifying it. Second, as noted above, in some instances, the designs on vessels were obscured and never repainted leaving a white surface only, indicating that the refurbishing was not merely to replace a muddled design with an error- free design. Third, Chacoan potters dealt with errors

Figure 7. Arrows indicate erasures where errors were made in linework on cylinder jar. Lines were erased by grinding paint off of vessel (Museum of Northern Arizona Catalogue #2899/A6199) (Marianne Tyndall, photographer).

before firing vessels in a variety of ways, including painting directly over the error to cover it up before firing, scraping off the minor errors (such as overshooting framing lines with hatching), or scraping off entire designs and then applying a new layer of slip and paint. Figure 7 shows an example of a design that had minor errors eradicated by scraping off the paint; this is the most common means of dealing with minor design errors.

However, there is one vessel in the assemblage (Figure 8a) that has an earlier design clearly visible under the slip, but it appears that the potter never completed the design before applying a new layer of slip and painting a different design. The absence of visible fireclouds under the last slip suggests that the final design was applied before the old one was fired, suggesting that the potter changed hisher mind about the design, applied new slip and began again. This is an example of pentimento on Chaco ceramics. Figure 8b shows the original underlying design for this vessel; it is clear that these lines represent quite a different design than the final design and one that was never completed (none of the framed areas were filled by hatching or solid black paint).

It should be noted that there are many Chaco vessels that have errors of one sort or another that were never fixed. For instance, Toll (1990:276, Fig- ure 3b) illustrates a jar with portions of the design left unhatched. It appears then that sometimes


Figure 8. Cylinder jar with pentimento: a) shows one half of vessel, which has four repetitions of the basic stacked triangle design; b) black lines show where original design framing lines were placed before this portion of the jar was reslipped and repainted with a different design. Height of vessel is 23.8 cm (Catalogue No. A336493, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution) (Marianne Tyndall, photographer).

errors were not of concern to Chacoan potters, but cating that constituents remained acceptable. The when errors were of concern they were corrected revisions involved moving the kivas only slightly, before firing by overpainting the error or by goug- but the process required tearing down the origi- ing out the inappropriate portion of the design; nal building, enlarging the pit, and reconstructing these are methods that are less time-consuming and the building in the new location, all of which sug- required less expense (particularly in fuel) than gests that kivas were not revised due to building reslipping, repainting, and refiring. While a single mistakes. instance of pentimento does exist in this assemblage, the vessels with clear evidence for having beenjired more than once do not seem to have been altered due to errors in the original designs.

It is also unlikely that kivas were torn down and moved because errors had been made in construction. Like pottery, errors in kiva design or construction would have been noted early and corrected during the construction process. In addition, many of the durable building materials were apparently reused to build the new kivas (Judd 1964:2 1 1 ; Windes and Ford 1996:30 1 -302), indi-

Restoration of DamageAKear

If the revisions of Chaco pottery and kivas were done to restore damaged or worn parts of these structures, we would expect evidence for considerable use of the pottery or buildings before they were refurbished. Ideally, such wear would some- how impede use of the vessel/structure so that the costs of refurbishing them were offset by the continued use life.

It is difficult to evaluate use and wear on the exterior of the pottery, because reslipping the vessel

523 Crown and Wills] MODIFYING POTTERY AND KlVAS AT CHACO

covered any early exterior usewear. There is no question that vessels continued to be used after they were refurbished though, because the latest exterior surface of most vessels shows clear evidence of use. Interior usewear is still visible because the cylinder jars were not slipped on the interior. As Washburn noted (1980), the jar interiors show usewear, particularly abrasion. However, it is impossible to determine if this use relates to the first slipping event or a later slipping event. Organic residue is present on two cylinder jars, but probably represents late use, as organic residues would carbonize in refiring the vessels. The use life of cylinder jars is not known, although they are probably most analogous to storage vessels. Cross-cul- turally, storage vessels have uselives of 1.2-12.5 years (Mills 1989: 137). Because the cylinder jars were apparently stored in relatively untrafficked areas between use events, they probably had longer use lives. There is currently nothing to indicate that the vessels were revised to restore worn surfaces.

In the case of Chaco kivas, the process of rebuilding did more than reproduce the original structure; it destroyed the original and then incor- porated its foundation beneath the new kiva, estab- lishing a lineal connection. If this process served a simple utilitarian purpose, such as replacing a rotten roof, we would expect conservation of the basic architectural structure. Instead, we see the regen- eration of form at considerable cost; the kiva is not merely repaired but rebuilt, partially within the con- fines of the dismantled kiva. Because floors were plastered adobe and walls were stone masonry covered with thick plaster coats, these basic construction elements did not wear easily; worn floors were simply patched or covered with thin layers of adobe (see Windes 1987). Rotten timbers were replaced when necessary, as evidenced by anomalies in tree- ring-dated roof elements (Dean and Warren 1983), but such remodeling did not require dismantling the entire structure and moving it. Furthermore, while pests (insect or rodent) might be a potential reason for abandoning pueblo rooms, moving a kiva a few meters laterally probably would not solve the problem. It is conceivable that kivas experienced some severe structural failure requiring new construction, such as water seepage behind the walls. Vivian and Reiter (1965) argued the Court Kiva at Chetro Ketl suffered repeated water damage along one wall requiring patching, but this is apparently the

only example where researchers noted such a problem. In cases of kivas rebuilt inside the original structure, there are no indications of engineering problems in the earlier walls, and none of the final kiva forms except the Court Kiva show indications of wall failure prior to abandonment; Hewett (1936:85) actually called attention to the superior quality of masonry and design in the first version of the great kiva at Chetro Ketl. Therefore, we con- clude that there is no obvious utilitarian explana- tion for the extensive patterning of complete dismantling of kivas and subsequent limited spa- tial displacement.

Ritual Renewal

If populations at Chaco did not refurbish pottery and kivas in order to correct errors or to repair damaged buildings/vessels, what could cause such apparently unnecessary labor expense?

The pottery presents a situation for which we do not have good ethnographic analogs. Chaco potters apparently redipped, repainted, and refired vessels that were still in use and usable, altering the designs. This act created layers, some hidden, some visible, on the pottery, preserving the past while covering and obscuring it. On the black-on-white vessels, the designs remained intact and visible until they were covered and repainted. The jars themselves were stored in abandoned early rooms at Pueblo Bonito, hidden from view. There is no evidence that the past designs were repudiated, because the new designs appear to be of the same design style. Instead, it appears that the process of repainting made these jars into vessels of collective memory (cf. Toll's [1990:297-2981 discussion of the cylinder jars as symbols of participation in the Chaco system with Pueblo Bonito as a system repository). Designs and vessels were not destroyed by purposeful breakage, but rather vessels were kept intact and designs hidden in successive layers. The individual layers might represent successive phases in the life of a single artisan, or they may be the work of a sequence of individuals. In either event, some individuals remembered the earlier designs, while others encountered the vessels only in their latest form. This process of keeping while covering, rather than simply discarding the vessels and their designs and beginning anew, must have had significance. It appears to have been important to maintain the continuity of materials

524 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 68, No. 3,2003

and form of the object, while renewing the designs. By placing one design over another, the new image may have gained potency in part from the earlier image (Young 1988: 185).

The "plain" white vessels present a slightly different picture. Because the loci of recovery indicate that most of these vessels had been placed in temporary storage prior to use in rituals (Toll 1990), the jars were apparently cleansed of their designs sometime before they were placed in storage, either by refiring to burn out organic paint or simply wip- ing off fugitive colored paints. Eradicating the designs on these jars may have been an important part of the entire process of their use, so that not only were the jars placed in storage in an obscure portion of the site, but also the designs were removed so that they were not visible even to who- ever had access to those storage rooms. As noted above, white jars are known only from Pueblo Bonito, and hence may represent the most "eso- teric" of the vessel forms, a restricted form within an already restricted form.

Although renewal of pottery designs is not discussed in ethnographic accounts in the American Southwest, there are alternative analogs. Renewal of these pottery designs is most analogous in the southwestern past to the renewal of kiva murals, documented through the multiple layers of designs found on prehispanic kiva walls in several southwestern sites. In discussing historic Pueblo cere- monialism, Watson Smith (1990:41) notes,

Usually these ceremonials are of several days' duration and special preparations are made for each one, including sand paintings on the floor, vertical altars with a wide variety of sacred and symbolic objects, and sometimes ceremonial paintings upon kiva walls. After the conclusion of a particular ceremonial, the accoutrements are removed and stored in secrecy, and the mural paintings are obliterated by being washed from the walls.

Some excavated prehispanic kivas in the South- west had up to 100 layers of plaster, and those excavated in Chaco Canyon had from 10-31 layers (Smith 1952: 17). Designs on historic kiva walls were obliterated by washing off fugitive paint, covering designs with fresh white plaster, or rub- binglscraping designs to eradicate them (Hibben 1975:34; Smith 1952:20-21; Young 1988:192). Watson Smith (1952:19-20) considered four possible reasons for cleansing or replastering kiva

walls, including repairing disintegrating walls, refurbishing a soot-blackened portion of the wall, periodic spring cleaning, and ceremonial oblitera- tion after rituals. He describes the seasonal renewal of kiva plaster at modem Pueblos in association with specific ceremonies. At Zuni, paint scraped off kiva murals was buried in a sacred place outside the pueblo (Young 1988:192). Likewise, most katsina masks at Zuni were renewed each time they were worn, by scraping off old paint and repainting them (Bunzel 1932:858). The old paint was deposited in a shrine; the pigments make the mask sacred (Parsons 1939:341).

We suggest that the plain white cylinder vessels may have been decorated in a way particularly similar to prehispanic kiva murals and either refired after use to remove designs from view or carefully cleansed of multicolored fugitive-paint designs before placement in storage. Indeed, the cylinder shape echoes the circular walls of kivas. After use in ritual, all of the jars were removed from ceremonial areas and stored in inner community rooms awaiting the next ritual use. Repainting these jars probably occurred as part of the preparation for their ritual use.

In the absence of other explanations, we argue then that the modification of vessels with new designs, expending unnecessary labor, materials, and fuel, and removing vessels from use during the procedure, indicates that renewal of these vessels was an important process in the life history of the vessel. Because the vessels identified to date with renewed designs were special vessels found in ritual contexts, this renewal was almost certainly rit- ually related. Repainting might be done in response to particular social events in the life of the community or on a calendrical basis. Furthermore, the presence of as-yet-unrenewed white vessels suggests that it was important to remove some designs as closure to the ritual and before storage of the vessels. All cylinder jars did not need to be painted at any one point in time. These vessels were then stockpiled in communal ritual storage rooms, awaiting some event when their decoration would be renewed and they would reenter the ritual arena.

We suggest then that renewal of cylinder jars was an important part of at least some rituals that took place almost exclusively at Pueblo Bonito. The use of the white cylinder jars appears to have been restricted to Pueblo Bonito. We suggest that


this process is analogous to replastering and repainting of kiva walls in preparation for particular rituals and that the designs were changed as those rituals changed. The expense of renewing these objects was borne because the dual concepts of rebirth and continuity were equally important; completely new vessels were not equivalent to these heirloom vessels (or inalienable objects [Mills 2000; Weiner 1992]), but old designs were not equivalent to the renewed designs. By renewing these vessels through time, Chacoans maintained their continuity with the past while giving the vessels a new appearance. The hidden layers of designs probably added to the power of the latest design. Renewed by labor, imagination, slip, paint, and fuel, the vessels became repositories of collective memory and historical continuity between past and present. If renewal of the cylinderjars is most analogous to replastering kiva walls, how does this type of refurbishing of material culture relate to the kiva rebuilding at Chaco?

Kiva rebuilding at Chacoan great houses is an example of repeated acts reproducing a similar pat- tern, or adherence to form, and so we suggest that the entire construction process constituted a ritual. Ethnologists often downplay physical efficacy in ritual relative to structural relationships among par- ticipants (e.g., Rappaport 1999:27), but there are striking ethnographic cases where the creation of architecture is an explicit ritual act. For example, the important Shinto shrine at Ise, Japan, is a complex wooden building that has been rebuilt every 20 years in a renewal cycle that began more than 1,200 years ago. Every architectural element and every religious object in the shrine at Ise is replaced in a process of "perpetual renewal, which ensures continuity through reproduction rather than conservation" (Coulmas 1994:38). Similarly, the lay- ering of new architecture over older temples in Precolumbian Mesoamerica, and the repeated enlargement of earthen mounds in the prehispanic eastern United States, have been interpreted as ritual acts (Buikstra et al. 1998; Mock 1998). The New Fire Ritual in northern California was a renewal ritual that included partial rebuilding of the structure where the ritual occurred, and this phase of the ritual was accompanied by the lighting of a new fire by a shaman (Furst 1992:31). Similarly, the Aztec New Fire Ritual was the termination of a 52-year cycle and entailed in part rebuilding ceremonial

structures after a chaotic five-day period of uncer- tainty in which people put out their fires, broke all of their household pottery, cleaned their houses, and threw images of gods into the water (Furst 1992:33). Renewing the ritual structures at the end of this period accompanied the restoration of bal- ance and harmony in heaven and earth with the lighting of the New Fire (Furst 1992:34).

Because kivas were corporate buildings, the time span during which one was dismantled and rebuilt must have been a lilninal period in the life history of the user group. It is unclear how long such a transitional state might have lasted, but Street (2001) argued from dendrochronological data that a small kiva at Long House, a thirteenth-century cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde, Colorado, was constructed during winter months over a three-year period. It may be that three years was too long an interval in open-air contexts like Chaco Canyon, but it seems certain that kiva reconstmction required a significant amount of time for the acquisition of timber and other materials, as well as the demoli- tion and new site-preparation activities. Conse- quently, we think it is likely that if kiva reconstruction was undertaken solely by the user group, the process would have taken up to several months, possibly extended across one or more annual cycles. Such intervals must have meant some discontinuity in the social functions of the kiva and therefore the decision to initiate a replacement would have been of considerable importance.

It has been suggested that great kivas at Pueblo Bonito were built when the pueblo as a whole underwent extensive architectural change. At least five major construction events or "stages" are documented for Pueblo Bonito betweenA.D. 1050 and 1 100, mostly to create multistoried roomblocks. According to Stein et al. (1997), great kivas were built at the initiation of several of these construction stages, although Lekson (1984) argued that most kivas (of all sizes) were built after the com- pletion of roomblocks. There are no chronometric or stratigraphic data to confirm either interpretation. Nevertheless, both models assume a linkage between community-wide periods of building and the establishment of new kivas. We feel that a sys- temic relationship between kiva rebuilding and larger corporate projects is plausible, but impossible to ascertain,%nd there is an equally likely alternative that should be considered, which is that the


periodicity in kivarebuilding was triggered by internal dynamics within the user group, such as membership changes or significant alteration in group structure.

The temporal patterns evident in the rebuilding of Chaco kivas do not indicate natural cycles cor- responding to seasonal or annual events. Instead, the replacement of kivas appears to have been deter- mined by "something happening." One possibility involves an analogy to life crises that occur with certainty or near certainty, such as death or mar- riage, but in an unpredictable manner. In other words, the ritual rebuilding of a kiva was not like the annual replastering of walls within a kiva, or the analogous repainting of ceramic vessels that we propose in this study, but rather an event that took place but rarely in the lifetime of any individual per- son. Mindeleff (1 89 1:134) reported that the Hopi assigned only two possible reasons for building a new kiva: either the user group had grown too large and subdivided, or the group became factious and split.

Another possibility would be a long-term calendrical renewal, similar to the Aztec New Fire ritual described above or other world-renewal ritual. However, tree-ring dating of the kivas fails to reveal any synchronicity in the rebuilding of multiple kivas, as might be expected if the rebuilding matched some important calendrical event.

However, any kiva groups that were kin-based may have experienced extinction, perhaps trigger- ing the retirement of the kiva (see Eggan 1950; Levy 1992). This raises the question of whether the dismantling of earlier kivas was a form of termination of those kivas with subsequent rebuilding by a different user group. There is an influential lit- erature that identifies kiva abandonment with evidence for burning, particularly the roofing elements, as a form of termination ritual (Walker and Lucero 2000; Wilshusen 1986). At Pueblo Bonito several kivas were apparently burned, each the last in a sequence with earlier unburned versions (Judd 1964: 186,196, 199; also Hewett 1936:80). No researchers reported burning in any of the kivas that preceded the final structures exposed by excavation. In fact, compared to many parts of the Southwest, the Bonito phase kivas are collectively distinctive for the low incidence of destruction by fire. In our view, the physical replacement of kivas evident archaeologically at

Chaco reflects an intentional effort to maintain continuity between the different versions almost certainly by the same user group, as distinct from the burning and termination apparent in later kivas that were purposefully abandoned.

Discussion

Although we have concentrated on the renewal ritual in cylinder jars and kivas, there is additional physical evidence for renewal during the Bonito phase. For instance, there are individual examples of ceramic renewal that include a tall pitcher, a bowl, and a jar from Chaco Canyon or of unknown provenience but probable Chaco origin. The pitcher shown in Figure 9 is a particularly clear illustration of design renewal, with both fireclouds and paint showing through a later slip. Likewise, there are additional examples in architecture of rebuilding that may have ritual motivation, such as in-filling plazas with sediment to create new surfaces. In this section we consider the implications for the Bonito phase that follow from the recognition of a poten- tially broad range of renewal rites.

One of the more obvious implications stems from the interest that southwestern archaeologists have shown for unusually high frequencies of non- local pottery found in Chacoan ceramic assem- blages, particularly vessels manufactured in the Chuska slope area 70 km west of Chaco Canyon (Mills et al. 1997; Neitzel and Bishop 1990; Shep- ard 1954; Stoltman 1999; Toll 2001). A number of scholars have argued that this high incidence of exotics is best explained by the depletion of fuel resources in Chaco Canyon proper. Thus as wood was depleted for construction and fuel, residents of Chaco came to rely on potters working in outlying areas for their pottery. If the depletion of fuel accounts for the high exchange in pottery, the refiring of some Chaco vessels becomes particularly intriguing. Refiring these vessels inside the canyon would consume approximately the same fuel as an original firing. So if vessels were imported, but then refired, no fuel would be conserved. Indeed, refiring the vessels under conditions of low fuel resources suggests that the process of using pre- cious fuel in this way added value to the pots. It is possible also that use of fugitive paints that could be renewed by washing and repainting might help alleviate fuel use for ceremonial renewal.

If local potters renewed vessels made in distant

Crown and Wills] MODIFYING POlTERY AND KlVAS AT CHACO 527

Line visible under slip

Line visible under slip Firecloud under slip

Figure 9. Chaco Black-on-white pitcher of unknown provenience. Earlier design and firecloud clearly visible through later slip and design (Catalogue #A375876, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution) (Marianne Tyndall, photographer).

locales, the jars combined the work of multiple hands in a work that was always in progress. Hence, the final design may not be a good indicator of the initial production date of the vessel. Interpretations of production locale or the organization of production based on designs alone may be called into question as well, because the final design may have been painted in a different place by a different potter than the initial design.

A similar temporal distance between producers probably characterized kivarebuilding as well. The prolonged interval between reconstruction events and the necessity of group labor in the construction process has to mean that each renewal episode involved a new or different set of individual par- ticipants. Moreover, as the scale and complexity of reconstruction events increased (as would be the case for great kivas), the more complicated were the structural relationships between builders. Con- sequently, the physical record of continuity implies a connection between architectural structure and group identity within a history of fluctuating individual membership. On this basis, we may be safe in assuming that increasing scales of participation involved continuity in the structural relationships

between larger sets of community subgroups. The kinds of construction efforts during the

Bonito phase that had an inherent need for corporate effort at large social scales and exhibit patterns consistent with renewal include the possibility of simultaneous reflooring of multiple domestic habitation suites at Pueblo Alto (Windes 1987), and the repeated episodes of plaza in-filling evident at Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl (Lekson 1983), and Pueblo Alto. But perhaps the most impressive examples of communal participation in renewal rites might be the distinct construction stages at Pueblo Bonito. Researchers tend to describe Pueblo Bonito as a building that grew continually through the addition of massive roomblocks and associated features (e.g., Lekson 1984; Windes and Ford 1996), but it is clear from excavations that the construction history for this building cannot be considered a simple cumulative process. An extraordinarily complex (and poorly understood) series of rooms and foundation walls underlie Pueblo Bonito, and extend beyond the architectural envelope visible today (Figure 10). The artic- ulation of these earlier structures with later architecture indicates that new "stages" involved


the extensive destruction of older buildings. In ways that seem very much like reconstruction at the level of individual kivas, whole sections of rooms were torn down to make way for new sets of rooms, but remnants of that earlier architecture were left in physical contact with the replacement structures. Building on top of older structures is common in southwestern sites with long occupation spans, but Pueblo Bonito seems qualitatively different, since older rooms were seldom used as platforms for newer architecture (see Kidder 1958).

If the large-scale changes in community architecture at Pueblo Bonito did constitute a corporate renewal ritual or effort, then the implications for archaeological interpretations of site function are intriguing. For example, in a renewal context the

total number of kivas would not represent ritual density per se, as so many researchers seem to assume, but rather would reflect the individual life histories of various community subgroups. Also, renewal processes that may have been intended to preserve older sections of architecture for reasons of group identity would certainly confound simple archaeological interpretations such as "storage room" or "habitation space." But from our perspective, one of the most interesting implications is that the destruction of architecture may be just as important to understanding community history as the addition of new buildings.

Although Pueblo Bonito is nearly synonymous with Chaco Canyon archaeology, it is unique among the excavated great houses and archaeolo-


gists are in substantial agreement that much of this uniqueness stems from ritual functions (Mills 2002; Vivian 1990). For the most part, this interpretation of ritual significance comes from the sheer amount of material that archaeologists consider to be religious in nature, including kivas, burials, and deposits of unusual objects, such as cylinder jars. However, density provides only a partial understanding of ritual process; we believe the evidence for renewal at Pueblo Bonito and other great houses can be a means to examine ritual processes that produced a real efficacy in the life history of the Chaco community.

Summary and Conclusions

In this paper we have presented evidence for reslip- pinghepainting of vessels and rebuilding of kivas in Chaco Canyon, and considered three different explanations for these patterns. There is no evidence that kivas were revised because of errors made in the original architecture, but one cylinder jar was modified because the potter decided to change the design before firing the jar, perhaps because of errors in the initial design. Neither vessels nor kivas were modified because of excessive wear. Instead, the expenditure of resources and labor in refurbishing most cylinder jars and kivas is such that it represents renewal of these significant aspects of ritual life in Chaco. By analogy with Puebloan forms, ritual specialists may have renewed the vessels as required for specific ceremonies or on a calendrical basis. Kiva walls may have been replastered on such a periodic basis as well. In contrast, we posit that kivas were dismantled and rebuilt in response to specific events within the life of the pueblo or user group, renewed for continued use.

The Bonito phase was a relatively brief period of extremely concentrated social energy in Chaco Canyon, a time of unprecedented change in the ancestral Pueblo world characterized by rapid settlement growth, long-distance exchange in goods and materials, and enormous allocation of labor to corporate endeavors in architecture and agricul- ture. Human osteological research indicates that Pueblo Bonito was used for burial by at least two distinct genetic populations (Akins 1986;Schillaci et al. 2002), which lends support to long-standing hypotheses for co-residency among multiple linguistic or ethnic groups (Ford et al. 1972; Vivian

1990). In light of these patterns, we argue that the evidence for renewal in the Bonito phase is essen- tially a record of conservation efforts that estab- lished lineal connections between groups within the Chaco community and the canyon itself. These connections probably comprised a historical basis for the role of the subgroup in a volatile mix of changing community members and relationships. We think it is possible that the rapid growth of the Chaco community promoted an emphasis on ritual renewal through the conservation of tangible material connections to the past. Such conservation may have offered a foundation in collective memory (cf. Thomas 1999) that was acritical element in the way this community responded to a fast-moving period of novel and unpredictable social change.

Acknowledgments. Crown's examination of the vessels described in this paper was conducted as part of a broader study of crafts learning in the American Southwest conducted from 1998-2000. That research was completed with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (RZ-20362-98). the Wenner-Gren Foundation (Grant #6318). and an American Philosophical Society Sabbatical Fellowship. The vessels discussed are curated at the Museum of Northern Arizona, Smithsonian Institution/Museum Support Center, and Peabody Museum at Harvard University. Crown wishes to thank the museum personnel who facilitated this research: David Rosenthal. Felicia Pickering, Susan Crawford, and Deborah Hull-Walski at the Smithsonian Institution; David Wilcox and Tracy Murphy at the Museum of Northern Arizona; and Gloria Greis and Stephen LeBlanc at the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. All photographs were taken by Marianne Tyndall. Wendy Bustard of the National Park Service found cylinder jar sherds in the collections of the Chaco Center aud permitted us to examine those. A Smithsonian Institution Short-term Visitor Grant funded Wills's examination of Chaco architecture. He wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Jake Homiak of the National Anthropological Archives. The Research Allocations Committee of the University of New Mexico funded a return visit to the Smithsonian Institution in July 2002. David Rosenthal and Bruce Smith of the Smithsonian facilitated this visit. The pilot study using imaging conducted in the SCRME facility at the Museum Support Center was arranged by the Director, Lambertus Van Zelst. Roland Cunningham conducted the IR. UV, and x-ray imaging of four cylinder jars. Comments from Eric Blinman, Joan Mathien, Rae Miller, Scott Ortman, Steve Plog, Wolky Toll, Gwinn Vivian, Katherine Webster. and Tom Windes were extremely useful in revising the paper. Barbara Mills provided a key piece to the puzzle. We are especially grate- ful to Eric Blinman for volunteering to conduct replication experiments that demonstrated that refiring would not neces- sarily harm vessels and that it would leave the effects seen on these vessels.


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Notes 1. In addition to the whiteware cylinder jars, four polished

redware jars were recovered at Pueblo del Arroyo (3) and Pueblo Bonito ( I ) (Judd 1959:Plate 55). These jars have a dis- tinctly different shape from the whiteware jars, most resem- bling large forms of vessels called "beakers" in the Hohokam area. Washburn (1980) argued that these jars came from Mexico. We agree with Toll (1990:293-294) that these jars are intrusive to Chaco, but their origin may lie within the more southerly southwestern U.S. (perhaps the Mogollon area: they were constructed by coiling and thinned by scraping). Examination of these vessels reveals that they do not share the distinctive patterns of reslipping and they were never decorated. These redware jars are not considered further in this study.

2. There is a Red Mesa Black-on-white vessel in the collections of the Museum of New Mexico with a slightly out- curving form that may have evolved into the straight-sided cylinderjar form (Peckham 1990; Whiteford et al. 1989: 110).

3. One reviewer of this manuscript questioned the tech- nological possibility of the repainting and refiring sequence in the context of Ancestral Pueblo pottery technology. To explore this further, Eric Blinman, ceramist and pottery repli- cator at the Museum of New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies, performed an experiment (personal communication, 2002). For the experiment, he used a small jar he had slipped with Dakota Sandstone clay (a common source for Cibola Whiteware ceramics), painted with a variety of different mineral paints, and fired between 800 and 850" C. This vessel had an intense firecloud along one side. He applied two white slips (Dakota Sandstone and Las Madres sources) over the earlier sliplpaint on the vessel exterior. An effort was made to vary the thickness of the slip layers. Both slips adhered well to the fired surfaces of the vessel, but thickly applied slips tended to crackle and flake off over two of the paints. Mineral and organic paints were applied over the slips (the mineral paint was applied with an organic binder). The vessel was fired in a pit kiln modeled on well-burned features noted on surveys of Cibola region Pueblo I1 and Pueblo I11 era sites. The firing sequence replicated what is known of Pueblo firing regimes and temperatures reached the mid 800 degrees C. The atmosphere was strongly reducing during the early stages of the firing, but the end stages had moved toward neutral- oxidation conditions prior to quenching of the firing with the earth. The paints that had been red and brown after the original firing were now black and brown. and the new mineral paint was very dark brown to black. New fire clouds were produced sporadically over the surface of the jar. Old fire clouds were completely removed or almost completely

removed from the unslipped portions of the vessel. When samples of the new slip were scraped off of the vessel surface, the underlying paste retained traces of the original fire clouds, but they were reduced from deep black to medium gray. The original painting of the test jar was visible under areas where the new slips were thin. Visibility appeared to vary directly with slip thickness. Blinman concluded that refiring any vessel poses risks to the integrity of the vessel, but stn~ctural damage is a risk not a certainty. If the motivation to rejuve- nate a vessel was strong. the risk was probably viewed as minor. If a repainted vessel failed in the refiring, it would not have been reintroduced into the ceremonial context. thus only successful repaintings and refirings would be found in the ceremonial caches. There are no technical impediments to reslipping and repainting an already fired jar, although thick slip5 would have to be avoided. Any time the slip was thin or inconsistent. the underlying design will be detectable through the overlying slip. but a moderately thick slip will obscure the design completely (without the crazing problems noted when too thick a slip is applied over nonporous paint). Original fire clouds may be preserved under some circumstances, but original firing clouds can also be completely erased by the second firing. Depending on the skill of the potter's control of the firing. detecting earlier fire clouds is a perfectly posrible event.

4. The analysis was conducted by Roland Cunningham, Senior Paintings Conservator in the Analytical Support Group, through arrangements made by Lambertus van Zelst (Director of SCMRE) and archaeologist Bruce Smith. A second attempt at x-radiography was conducted using cylinder jar sherds in the collections of the Chaco Center of the National Park Service at the University of New Mexico with the aid of Wendy Bustard, Curator of the collections. Ken Nystrom of the Department of Anthropology conducted the analyses, which again showed distinct coils in the paste, but no evidence of the mineral paint.

5. We do not believe it is possible to establish many reli- able connections between kiva remodeling and larger construction events at Pueblo Bonito, given the current state of architectural knowledge. Plaza kivas, for example, lack physical continuity to roomblocks and few have produced any tree-ring dates (Lekson 1984). Most of the earlier (or razed) kivas were destroyed during rebuilding, leaving only floor and bench segments intact, which in turn are primarily known to us through limited subfloor excavations. Some razed kivas discovered in deep tests under the plaza were associated with walls, but these were recorded in a cursory fashion that pre- vents all but a general temporal affiliation (Judd 1964: Lekson 1984). Among specialists. there are important dis- agreements about the chronology and configuration of building episodes at Pueblo Bonito and other great houses, so that the temporal relationships between most kivas and roolnblocks are generally just reasonable guesses (Lekson 1984: Stein et al. 1997; Windes 1987; Windes and Ford 1996).

Received Jcrfze 28, 2002; Revised December 5, 2002; Accepted Decernher 9, 2002.

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