Carrie C. Heitman


Carrie C. Heitman Entered 2001 heitman@virginia.edu
Archaeology Regional focus: Southwest United States. Topical interests: Architecture, social organization, kinship, and history of theory. My current research focuses on houses. Cross-cultural ethnographic examples of the profoundly complex ordering, layering and symbolic construction of what we might call "houses societies" serve as humbling and instructive case studies within my own archaeological analyses at Chaco Canyon, N.M. (AD 900 to 1150). In pursuit of a grounded anthropological archaeology of Puebloan prehistory, my theoretical frame includes Levi-Strauss' original conception of house societies and more recent ethnographic and archaeological adaptations (Carsten, Fox, Gillespie, Helms, Hugh-Jones, Joyce, Kirch, McKinnon). Works by these authors, Dell Upton, and my advisor, Steve Plog, have inspired me to explore the intersections of kinship, ritual practice and architecture in an effort to understand the social dynamics of the "Chaco Phenomenon." Since 2003 I've also served as the assistant director for a project called the Chaco Digital Initiative (www.chacoarchive.org). Guided by a steering committee of accomplished Chaco scholars and information/computer scientists, the primary goal of this Mellon Foundation funded project is to make more archaeological data accessible to the scholarly community. My involvement in this project has enabled me to research collections far and wide and gain a deeper understanding of the history and prehistory of Chaco Canyon. My dissertation research relies on data on Chacoan houses and room assemblages contained within the CDI project and the published record. MA Paper: Winter People, Summer People: Re-examining Puebloan Ethnographic Analogy and the Dynamics of Chacoan Prehistory - Chaco Canyon, NM Publications: In press. Houses Great and Small: A discussion of the House Model in relation to Chaco Canyon, NM, AD 900 to 1150. In The Durable House: Architecture, Ancestors, and Origins. Ed., R. Beck. Accepted for publication by the Southern Illinois University, Center for Archaeological Investigation, Carbondale. 2005. Kinship and the Dynamics of the House: Rediscovering Dualism in the Pueblo Past. In A Catalyst for Ideas: Anthropological Archaeology and the Legacy of Douglas W. Schwartz. Ed., Vernon L. Scarborough. Santa Fe, N.M.: School of American Research Press. 69-100. Presentations: 2006. (with Stephen Plog.) Microcosm and Macrocosm: Pueblo World View during the Chacoan Era. Paper presented at the 10th Biennial Southwest Symposium, Las Cruces, N.M. 2005. (with Phil R. Geib.) Road Rooms and Ritual Features of the Bluff Great House in Regional Context. Poster presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2005. (with Emily Cubbon and Phil R. Geib.) The Bluff Great House Mounds: Intentional Creations or Simply Disposal Areas. Poster presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2005. Prayer Sticks and Room Function at the Bluff Great House. Presented at the Annual Pecos Conference, Bluff, Utah. Related links: www.chacoarchive.org

Entered 2001
heitman@virginia.edu

Archaeology

Regional focus: Southwest United States.

Topical interests: Architecture, social organization, kinship, and history of theory.

My current research focuses on houses. Cross-cultural ethnographic examples of the profoundly complex ordering, layering and symbolic construction of what we might call "houses societies" serve as humbling and instructive case studies within my own archaeological analyses at Chaco Canyon, N.M. (AD 900 to 1150). In pursuit of a grounded anthropological archaeology of Puebloan prehistory, my theoretical frame includes Levi-Strauss' original conception of house societies and more recent ethnographic and archaeological adaptations (Carsten, Fox, Gillespie, Helms, Hugh-Jones, Joyce, Kirch, McKinnon). Works by these authors, Dell Upton, and my advisor, Steve Plog, have inspired me to explore the intersections of kinship, ritual practice and architecture in an effort to understand the social dynamics of the "Chaco Phenomenon."

Since 2003 I've also served as the assistant director for a project called the Chaco Digital Initiative (www.chacoarchive.org). Guided by a steering committee of accomplished Chaco scholars and information/computer scientists, the primary goal of this Mellon Foundation funded project is to make more archaeological data accessible to the scholarly community. My involvement in this project has enabled me to research collections far and wide and gain a deeper understanding of the history and prehistory of Chaco Canyon. My dissertation research relies on data on Chacoan houses and room assemblages contained within the CDI project and the published record.

MA Paper: Winter People, Summer People: Re-examining Puebloan Ethnographic Analogy and the Dynamics of Chacoan Prehistory - Chaco Canyon, NM

Publications:

In press. Houses Great and Small: A discussion of the House Model in relation to Chaco Canyon, NM, AD 900 to 1150. In The Durable House: Architecture, Ancestors, and Origins. Ed., R. Beck. Accepted for publication by the Southern Illinois University, Center for Archaeological Investigation, Carbondale.

2005. Kinship and the Dynamics of the House: Rediscovering Dualism in the Pueblo Past. In A Catalyst for Ideas: Anthropological Archaeology and the Legacy of Douglas W. Schwartz. Ed., Vernon L. Scarborough. Santa Fe, N.M.: School of American Research Press. 69-100.

Presentations:

2006. (with Stephen Plog.) Microcosm and Macrocosm: Pueblo World View during the Chacoan Era. Paper presented at the 10th Biennial Southwest Symposium, Las Cruces, N.M.

2005. (with Phil R. Geib.) Road Rooms and Ritual Features of the Bluff Great House in Regional Context. Poster presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City, Utah.

2005. (with Emily Cubbon and Phil R. Geib.) The Bluff Great House Mounds: Intentional Creations or Simply Disposal Areas. Poster presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City, Utah.

2005. Prayer Sticks and Room Function at the Bluff Great House. Presented at the Annual Pecos Conference, Bluff, Utah.

Related links: www.chacoarchive.org