Using Ground-Penetrating Radar to Study the Bluff Great House: History and Regional Interactions from A.D. 200 to 1300

<p>The Bluff Great House is a Chaco-era monumental building, located in southeastern Utah. This site was inhabited from A.D. 700 to 1300, before and after the time when Chaco Canyon was widely considered a regional “capital”. To map the Bluff site’s architecture throughout its’ occupations, ground-penetrating radar data were collected for the site’s encircling berm, plaza, terrace, and a pithouse. Excavation data were combined with ground-penetrating radar maps, which together allowed for a spatially extensive and more temporally complete understanding of the Bluff site’s architecture. The findings of this research show that site had a series of long-term habitations, which provided a historical context for the great house. Also, the people living at the Bluff site were well connected to their region throughout its occupation. Altogether, there is little evidence from this research to suggest that the Bluff Great House was directly influenced by Chaco Canyon, but instead the great house architecture at Bluff may have been emulating many sites in the region in a style common to that time period.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2009

Author dc:creator

• Lowry, Sarah M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lawrence B. Conyers. Ph.D.
• Ingrid Tague
• Bonnie Clark
• Dean Saitta

• Bluff Great House
• Chaco
• GPR
• Ground-penetrating Radar
• Outlier
• Anthropology
• Archaeological Anthropology

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/382

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-1381