Seashells and sound waves: modelling soundscapes in Chacoan great-house communities

Ruth M. Van Dyke, K. E. Primeau, Kellam Throgmorton, David E. Witt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Humans inhabit rich social and physical worlds and archaeology is increasingly engaging with the multi-sensory experience of life in the past. In this article, the authors model the soundscapes of five Chacoan communities on the Colorado Plateau, where habitation sites cluster around monumental great houses. The work demonstrates that the audible range of a conch-shell trumpet blown from atop these great houses consistently maps the distribution of associated habitation sites. Staying within the audible reach of great houses may have helped maintain the social cohesion of communities in the past which, the authors argue, also has implications for the management of archaeological landscapes in the modern world.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)777-794
Number of pages18
JournalAntiquity
Volume98
Issue number399
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2 2024

Keywords

  • acoustic archaeology
  • Chaco Canyon
  • GIS
  • North America
  • Pueblo
  • sensory archaeology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Archaeology
  • General Arts and Humanities

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