Chaco Canyon (850–1130 CE) served as the regional center for Ancestral Puebloan communities in the northern U.S. Southwest. Pueblo ethnographic traditions and the archaeological record demonstrate the importance of cosmological beliefs with origins at Chaco. We suggest archaeologists can develop more dynamic interpretations of how ancient peoples manifested conceptions of the cosmos by focusing greater attention to the temporality and semiotic properties of material culture. To illustrate this point, we argue that marine fossil shells, concretions, and water-worn pebbles were seen to be indexical of a past watery world at Chaco Canyon and elsewhere in the Ancestral Pueblo World. Perceived as traces of a primordial time and place that existed before cosmic emergences into the world, this class of artifacts called “medicine stones” evokes the essential element needed to sustain life for all Ancestral Puebloan people – water. Through the analysis of museum collections, ethnohistorical data, and creation narratives from Pueblo and other Native descendant groups, we present evidence that these medicine stones were interpreted in the past as manifestations of a pre-Pueblo cosmovision. As such, these artifacts were incorporated into a wide array of cultural contexts and media, and may have in part been associated with psychosocial healing practices.

Chaco峡谷（公元850-1130年）曾是美国西南部西北普韦布洛祖先社区的区域中心。普韦布洛人种志的传统和考古记录表明，起源于查科的宇宙学信仰的重要性。我们建议考古学家可以通过更多地关注物质文化的时空性和符号学特性，来发展对古代人如何表达宇宙观的更多动态解释。为了说明这一点，我们认为海洋化石壳，混凝土和水卵石是查科峡谷和祖先普韦布洛世界其他地方过去的水世界的标志。被认为是宇宙出现之前存在的原始时间和地点的痕迹，这类被称为“药石”的人工制品唤起了维持所有祖先普韦布洛人生命所需的基本要素-水。通过对博物馆收藏，民族历史数据以及来自普韦布洛和其他原住民后裔群体的创作叙事的分析，我们提供了证据，证明这些药石在过去曾被解释为普埃布洛前宇宙观的体现。因此，这些人工制品被整合到各种各样的文化背景和媒体中，并且可能与心理社会康复实践有部分联系。我们提供的证据表明，这些药石在过去被解释为普韦布洛（Pueblo）宇宙革命之前的表现。因此，这些人工制品被整合到各种各样的文化背景和媒体中，并且可能与心理社会康复实践有部分联系。我们提供的证据表明，这些药石在过去被解释为普韦布洛（Pueblo）宇宙革命之前的表现。因此，这些人工制品被整合到各种各样的文化背景和媒体中，并且可能与心理社会康复实践有部分联系。