Connecting Worlds
Pueblo Iii Towers in the Northern San Juan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5981832 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R M Van Dyke (0000-0002-4839-7962, Binghamton University, corresponding author), Anthony G King |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 351-375 |
| Publication date | 2010-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | KIVA (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-1940 • E-ISSN: 2051-6177 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1179/kiv.2010.75.3.003 |
| OpenAlex | W2035596339 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 31 |
The towers of the northern San Juan, including those on Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, were constmcted on mesa tops, in cliff dwellings, along canyon rims, and in canyon bottoms during the Pueblo III period (A.D.1150-1300)—a time of social and environmental upheaval. Archaeologists have interpreted the towers as defensivestrongholds, lookouts, signaling stations, astronomical observatories,storehouses,and ceremonial facilities. Explanations that relate to towers' visibility are most convincing. As highly visible, public buildings, towers had abstract, symbolic meanings as well as concrete, functional uses. We ask not just, "What were towers for?" but "What did towers mean?" One possibility is that towers were meant to encourage social cohesiveness by invoking an imagined,shared Chacoan past. The towers reference some of the same ideas found in Chacoan monumental buildings, including McElmo-style masonry, the concept of verticality, and intervisibility with iconic landforms. Another possibility is that towers symbolized a conduit out of the social and environmental turmoil of the Pueblo III period and into a higher level of the layered universe. Webase this interpretation on two lines of evidence. Pueblo oral traditions provide precedent for climbing upwards to higher layers of the world to escape hard times. Towers are always associated with kivas, water, subterranean concavities, or earlier sites—all places that, in Pueblo cosmologies, open to the world below our current plane
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Canyon · Cartography · Centennial · Cliff · Geography · Period (music) · Style (visual arts) · Tower · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Latin American history and culture
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2015 (2) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |