Earthen Architecture at the Bluff Great House Site in SE Utah

An earthen terrace has been identified at Bluff Great House, a Chacoan site located in SE Utah. The Bluff site was part of the Chacoan regional system that operated in the northern part of the American Southwest between about A.D. 900 and 1150 and was focused on Chaco Canyon in NW New Mexico. Several types of earthen structures have been identified at great houses in Chaco Canyon and throughout its region, usually associated with the construction of ritual landscapes. The Bluff terrace is part of this tradition of earthen construction, but is unlike most other reported examples. It seems to express the same concern with creating an appropriate setting, however, and may be interpreted as part of the ritual landscape that surrounded and defined the Bluff great house, although other interpretations are considered. It dates not only to the Chaco era, but also to the first part of the post-Chaco era (A.D. 1150–1225).