As early as the twelfth century A D the settlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the American Southwest were notable for their great houses massive stone buildings that contain hundreds of rooms and often stand three or four stories high Archaeologist

The reading is about the possible explanation of "great houses" in Southwestern America. The lecturer casts doubts on all these explanation for being unconvincing. Therefore, he challenges the claims made by the author.

To begin with, the article mentions that the great houses were for residential function with housing hundreds of people, and it is similar with the structure which people had have lived for centuries. This argument is opposed by the lecture with the evidence that there are few fireplaces in the building. To be more specific, hundreds of residents should be served with food on a daily basis, and it was inevitably for each family unit to use fireplaces. However, the amount of fireplaces were little that it can be concluded that the Chaco structures were not for accommodating human.

Secondly, the statement of author argues that the Chaco structures were for crops storaging purpose according to the size and location. The lecturer rebuts this by bringing up the point that there was no evidence of any maize container can be traced. As a result, he doubts the theory's reasoning.

Lastly, the author posits that the houses were functioned as ceremonial centers since there were abundant broken pots found as remains inside somewhere nearby the houses; hence can be interpreted as a sign of gathering activity. In contrast, the speaker stresses that there are much more than broken pots were found. Other building materials like sand and stones were also revealed as remains. The lecturer is of the position that these materials are all regular trash that were not used up then abandoned.