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The early theoretical approach to Southwestern prehistory characterized sites by a chronology of culture groups. Culture groups are described by region-wide changes in house and ceramic styles across the whole area, not just one site in the region. The Chaco Canyon culture group is defined by a series of ceramic and house style combinations. As part of the San Juan drainage, Chaco Canyon has Basketmaker III type settlements, which have been radiocarbon dated to a.d. 500–700. Basketmaker III sites typically are villages with shallow pit houses, storage pits, and widespread ceramics, which indicate sedentism. Also in the San Juan drainage, there is variation in house shape and interior features, such as the “sipapu,” an opening symbolic of the place where humans first came into the world. Cultivated foods, such as corn, beans, and squash, as well as wild piñon and Indian rice grass, are important in the Chaco Canyon sites. Some game animals hunted were rabbits, deer, and antelope.

Chaco Canyon sites are divided into Pueblo I, Pueblo II, and Pueblo III village types. Pueblo I style, found by survey and excavation, dates from a.d. 700 to a.d. 900. As documented by Hayes (1975), Judd (1924), and Truell (1976), architectural changes feature above-ground rectangular rooms; and ceramic changes feature neck-banded gray utility ware. Villages in Pueblo I times show increased population, migration and expansion into the mountains, and campsites for seasonal activities. Pueblo II village types, dating from a.d. 900 to a.d. 1100, show population shifts, ceramic changes to Red Mesa black-on-white, pit and surface houses, and the use of masonry. In Chaco Canyon, population increased and the rate of change increased. Eighty percent of the ceramics were not made locally and seem to be traded in from the south; also the kiva (meeting house) style is slightly different. These changes indicated possibly more social interaction and networking with neighbors. Pueblo III villages, a.d. 1100 to a.d. 1300, have Chaco Canyon black-on-white ceramics and more notable archaeological features such as kivas, field and irrigation systems, roads and trails, and small items. Of the two housing styles at this time, Hosta Butte and Bonito, it is the Bonito phase that Chaco Canyon is famous for according to Hayes: towns of large, multistory buildings with 288 rooms on average; interior courtyards; great kivas; and decorative masonry.

Chaco Canyon’s spectacular architecture features great kivas, large-diameter subterranean rooms with a raised firebox and roof support. Other remarkable features include the irrigation and field systems (RG Vivian 1970, 1976) that collected runoff from the cliff tops and channeled it down to the houses. Also, well-marked roads radiate from Chaco Canyon (Lyons and Hitchcock 1977) that are straight and wide, indicating a lot of planning and labor, especially for people who did not use wheels. Lyons and Hitchcock speculate the roads were used to bring bulk agricultural produce to the canyon. Pueblo III also shows some luxury items, particularly at the Bonito sites, such as cylindrical vases, cooper bells, turquoise, inlay pieces, mosaics, and even Macaw skeletons.

Various explanations are possible for the differences of Bonito towns during the Pueblo III period from other locations and periods. R.G. Vivian (1970) suggests the difference between sites shows changing social organization concerning the control of water resources and labor organization. Ferdon (1955) suggest that Bonito towns were trading bases, and part of a long-distance trade network coming out of mesoamerica. Therefore, Chaco Canyon residents may have adopted aspects of technology and ceremony brought up from Mesoamerica. Chaco Canyon is exceptional because there is no analog in modern Pueblo people; the towns in the canyon experienced tremendous but short-lived growth and an enormous labor pool was involved in nonessential work such as masonry veneers. Altogether these elements may have been the result of social organization changes brought about in response to extreme environmental changes, especially in available water. Most likely, a form of ranked society or chiefdom emerged over redistribution of food and water.

Danielle Greene