TOEFL integrated writing: Chaco housing

Both the article and lecture are discussing about the exact use of " Chaco housing " ie : great building present in New Mexico . The passage discusses three possible use and provides reasons of its support where as the lecture contradicts each point and rejects the reasons made by the author.

Firstly , the article states that those great buildings are used for residential purpose. It also claims that hundreds of people were living together like the format of " Apartment building " present in Tao , New Mexico now a days ie : earlier versions of architects seen in recent southwest societies. However , the professor is not convinced with the explanation and cast serious doubt. According to the lecture , if hundreds of people were living there then there must be large no.of fire places for cooking of each family. But excavation shows that there are very few fire places which can afford to 10 families at most. The lecture also explained that there are not enough room which can accommodate hundreds of people.

Secondly, the article asserts that the great buildings must be the store house of Maize which was there primary food. On contrary, the professor argued that there has not been any traces of maize found in excavation. He also stated that if there was any storage then there must have been large containers to store the maize, but no large container is excavated.

Thirdly, the author posits that these buildings were used for ceremonial purpose as mounds of broken earthen pots were found which must have been used for ceremonial meals. On the other hand, the lecture rejects this point and asserts that these heap or Pueblo Alto were the trash place of construction materials as lots of building materials have been found over there. He also argued that the earthen pots were used by the workers for their meals when the constructions were going on.