Chacoan Roads: Function

Abstract

The function of Chacoan roads has considerable relevance for improved understanding of Chacoan sociopolitical organization and the implications of organizational structure for the operation of a regional system. Three functional explanations of Chacoan roads—economic, military and unification, proposed by one or more scholars—are summarized and evaluated on the basis of road configuration, morphology, and associated features and artifacts. Evidence tends to support roads serving a unifying or integrative function, but multi-functional use may be a more defensible argument. Road data also tend to support a concept of a Chacoan confederacy centered in Chaco Canyon. Though successful extension of this confederacy to a regional (San Juan Basin) level ultimately failed, roads probably were critical for its regional implementation.