ABSTRACT
During the Chacoan period (850-1140 CE) in the northern U.S. Southwest, Ancient Pueblo people built some of the largest masonry structures in North America (Figure 9.1). Yet the impressive edifices of these “great houses” overshadow the much more modest majority of Ancient Pueblo houses – the “small houses” (Figure 9.2). Small houses are the vernacular housing tradition during the Chacoan period. Given the vast scale of Ancient Pueblo settlement across the northern Southwest, it is not surprising that vernacular housing exhibits a great deal of diversity in design and construction. Such diversity was expressed, in part, through three materials – adobe, wood, and stone – which house builders combined in varying ratios and constructed into a multitude of architectural styles.
