{"id":"JUDD1959-001","label":"Pueblo del Arroyo elk-bone bullroarer","people_or_site":"Ancestral Puebloan / Chacoan Pueblo del Arroyo","country_current":"United States","historic_region":"Pueblo del Arroyo / Chaco Canyon / undated within site","macroregion":"North America / Southwest","local_name":"","source_term":"bull roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Long, flat elk cannon-bone blade with nearly parallel sides, a gently rounded distal end, one circular perforation near the opposite end, and two transverse incised bands; no cord or measurements survive.","function_summary":"A prayer device, twirled at the end of a cord to simulate the wind and thus invite rain, as Zuni workmen on the dig identified it.","attestation_type":"archaeological_find","source_key":"judd_1959_pueblo_del_arroyo_bullroarer","source_type":"archaeological_report","source_url":"https://repository.si.edu/items/5dbc6b03-2db4-4168-936d-e2b3f20bc247","page_or_plate":"printed p. 133; Plate 37 q","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"National Park Service Pueblo del Arroyo great-house anchor; the artifact's excavation locus is unrecorded.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Digging at Pueblo del Arroyo, Neil Judd's crew turned up a long blade cut from an elk leg bone, pierced near one end and crossed by two incised bands. Zuni workmen on the dig recognized it as a bullroarer, though it was bone rather than the usual lightning-riven wood, and bore incised bands rather than lightning symbols. To them it was still a prayer device, twirled on a cord to voice wind and invite rain. No find context or cord survived, so whether Chaco's own builders used it the same way is unknown.","pull_quote":"recognized by some of our Zuñi workmen as a 'bull roarer'","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Judd 1959:133","term_gloss":"","cls":"weather","class_label":"Weather / fertility magic","color":"#2F6FA3","is_candidate":false,"flags":["snake","weather"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":true,"f_archaeology":true,"archaeology_kind":"object","date_display":"c. 1065–1150 AD","date_qualification":"Site construction range; object undated.","date_basis":"site_horizon","date_confidence":"low","date_citation":"judd_1959_pueblo_del_arroyo_bullroarer, Judd 1959 pp. 6, 133, pl. 37q; National Park Service, Pueblo del Arroyo","sources":[{"citation":"Neil M. Judd, Pueblo del Arroyo, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 138(1) (1959), p. 133 and Plate 37 q","url":"https://repository.si.edu/items/5dbc6b03-2db4-4168-936d-e2b3f20bc247","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260517174416/https://repository.si.edu/items/5dbc6b03-2db4-4168-936d-e2b3f20bc247"}],"source_citations":"Neil M. Judd, Pueblo del Arroyo, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 138(1) (1959), p. 133 and Plate 37 q","source_display":"Neil M. Judd, Pueblo del Arroyo, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 138(1) (1959), p. 133 and Plate 37 q","date_citation_display":"Judd 1959 pp. 6, 133, pl. 37q; National Park Service, Pueblo del Arroyo","object_display":"Long, flat elk cannon-bone blade with nearly parallel sides, a gently rounded distal end, one circular perforation near the opposite end, and two transverse incised bands; no cord or measurements survive.","function_display":"A prayer device, twirled at the end of a cord to simulate the wind and thus invite rain, as Zuni workmen on the dig identified it.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"archaeological find","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"ancestral puebloan","display_name":"Pueblo del Arroyo elk-bone bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/judd1959_plate37q_chaco.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/thumbs/judd1959_plate37q_chaco_thumb.jpg","alt":"Pale elk-bone blade from Pueblo del Arroyo, with incised bands and a hole near one end.","credit":"Neil M. Judd, Pueblo del Arroyo, Chaco Canyon, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 138 (1959), plate 37 q","license":"Public domain (United States government work)","source_page":"https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/22943","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Elk-bone bullroarer from Pueblo del Arroyo, with terminal hole and incised bands."},"slug":"judd1959-001-ancestral-puebloan-chacoan-pueblo-del-arroyo"}