Origins of Chaco - Who were the Chacoans and where did they come from? with Dr. Cathy Cameron - S1E2

On the second episode of Site Bite’s Podcast season one, Carlton and Rob talk with Dr. Cathy Cameron about the origins of Chaco. We dive into the contemporary interpretations of where the people came from behind the monumental structures at Chaco as well as what the area was like before Chaco became a center of ritual and political influence. We discuss the broader Chacoan world such as Mesoamerican relations and Chacoan outlying settlements in the Southwest. We conclude this conversation with Dr. Cameron with her research on captive taking in small-scale societies and how that relates to Chacoan population demographics.

Links

• Cameron, Catherine M.
• 2009 Chaco and After in the Northern San Juan: Excavations at the Bluff Great House. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
• 2013 How People Moved among Ancient Societies: Broadening the View. American Anthropologist 115(2):218-231.
• 2016 Captive: How Stolen People Changed the World. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
• Kennett, Douglas J., Stephen Plog, Richard J. George, Brendan J. Culleton, Adam S. Watson, Pontus Skoglund, Nadin Rohland, Swapan Mallick, Kristin Stewardson, Logan Kistler, Steven A. LeBlanc, Peter M. Whiteley, David Reich, and George H. Perry
• 2017 Archaeogenomic Evidence Reveals Prehistoric Matrilineal Dynasty. Nature Communications 8(14115):1-9.
• Mills, Barbara J., Matthew A. Peeples, Leslie D. Aragon, Benjamin A. Bellorado, Jeffery J. Clark, Evan Giomi, and Thomas C. Windes
• 2018 Evaluating Chaco Migration Scenarios using Dynamic Social Network Analysis. Antiquity 92(364):922-939.
• Weiner, Robert S.
• 2015 A Sensory Approach to Exotica, Ritual Practice, and Cosmology at Chaco Canyon. Kiva 81(3): 220-246.
• Contact For Guest:
• Dr. Cathy Cameron
• Email: catherine.cameron@colorado.edu

Carlton Shield Chief Gover

• Email: pawneearchaeologist@gmail.com
• instagram: @pawnee_archaeologist
• Twitter: @PaniArchaeology
• Website: https://www.colorado.edu/anthropology/carlton-gover

Robert Weiner

• Robert.weiner@colorado.edu
• Instagram: @chacoroadsproject

Affiliates

• Wildnote
• TeePublic
• Timeular