TPO 5 Great houses

The reading and lecture both are about the settlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico were remarkable for their 'great houses', which were massive buildings made of enormous stone. The reading passage presents three theories about how the buildings were used. On the other hand, the lecture casts doubt on claims made by the author and says that those arguments about Chaco Canyon are not convincing.

Firstly, the author contends that the Chaco structures were residential and hundreds of people lived in the house. It is stated in the article that Chaco houses were similar to 'apartment buildings' at Taco, New Mexico, where people had lived for decades. In contrast, the speaker explains that if hundreds of people had lived, there should be a lot of fireplaces. But there were only a few of them. It goes without saying that there were not enough rooms available for hundreds of people. Therefore, it was not considered as a residential.

Secondly, the author argues that Chaco structures were used to store food supplies such as grain maize, which could be stored for years without spoiling. Besides, maize supplies had to be stored somewhere to make them suitable for the purpose. On the other hand, the lecturer states that it sounds plausible to store food supplies but excavation could not have been covered for maize contamination. In other words, there should not have a spilling of maize and containers if it was only for the purpose of maize storage.

Lastly, the author posits that houses were used as ceremonial centers. Furthermore, mound formed were identified by a stack of old material. However, the professor insists that mound contains myriad materials, such as building materials or construction tools which suggest that it could have been from the trash of construction material, which had been thrown away and could be a regular pile as well. Thus, none of the evidence suggests that houses were used as ceremonial centers.