The purpose for which the settlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the American Southwest were used.

The issue that is being discussed here is the purpose for which the settlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the American Southwest were used. Here, three contrasting theories have been presented from the passage and the lecture and they are discussed.

Firstly, it is stated that the structures were used as residential areas. They were similar to the apartment buildings or the Native American buildings in which many people have been living for centuries. While it is described that if the structures were to be used as houses, then they would contain a lot of fireplaces to cook their daily food. But, it was found that there were fireplaces for around only 10 families while the rooms were available for around 100 families. So, this theory is discarded.

Secondly, it is stated that the Chaco structures were used as store houses mainly to store grain maize as it had huge space. But it is described, despite of the large empty spaces, no traces of the spilled grain maize have been found during the excavation of the area. Moreover, there were no remains of the big containers used to store the maize.

Thirdly, it is stated that the Chaco structures were used for performing special ceremonies. The evidence provided is the gathering of a large number of people at Pueblo Alto for special ceremonies. The people used to eat festive meals and then discarded the pots in which they ate their meals. Moreover, archaeologists identified a huge mound of a pile of discarded material. While it is justified in the lecture that large quantities of building material and construction equipments were found in those buildings. This justifies that they were being used for construction. So, a possibility arises that the pottery identified during the excavation could have been used by the workers involved in the construction work. Also, the mound could be a heap of the construction material and the trash of the pottery used by the workers.