ABSTRACT

This paper offers a new interpretation of Chacoan Great Houses, multistoried masonry structures of the 9^th-12^th century U.S. Southwest, using insights from animist ontologies, cognitive science, cross-cultural analysis, and ethnohistory. Throughout time and space, societies have constructed buildings to serve as dwelling places for animate, divine entities immanent in material objects. We call these structures god houses and briefly review examples from numerous societies across the ancient/extramodern worlds and indigenous U.S. Southwest. We then apply this understanding to argue that the architectural logic and material assemblages of Chacoan Great Houses, and especially Pueblo Bonito, suggest identification as god houses, a notion that rephrases the usual distinction between ‘domestic’ and ‘ritual’ interpretations of Great Houses to consider the nature of the beings that dwelled within them. Our argument enriches investigations of the Chaco world by highlighting the role of religion and relations with non-human beings in the development of monumental architecture, regional organization, and inequality in the precontact U.S. Southwest.

摘要

本文提供Chacoan大家族的全新诠释，对9期多层砌体结构^日-12^日世纪美国西南，使用来自万物有灵论本体论、认知科学、跨文化分析和民族史的见解。在整个时间和空间中，社会都建造了建筑物作为内在物质对象中的有生命的、神圣的实体的居所。我们将这些结构称为神屋，并简要回顾了来自古代/超现代世界和美国西南部土著的众多社会的例子。然后我们应用这种理解来论证 Chacoan Great Houses，尤其是 Pueblo Bonito 的建筑逻辑和材料组合，建议将其视为神屋，这一概念将大屋的“家庭”和“仪式”解释之间的通常区别重新表述为考虑居住在其中的众生的本质。