Built By The Chaco People And Comprising Of A Magnificent Complex Of Buildings In An Isolated Canyon In The Middle Of The Desert
The northwest corner of New Mexico houses an ancient mystery, one that has fascinated generations of professional - and amateur - archeologists. Between the years of 850 and 1150 A.D., the Chaco people, early ancestors of today’s Pueblo tribes, built a magnificent complex of buildings in an isolated canyon in the middle of the desert. Great roads, straight as an arrow, led out from the city’s center. Then, for reasons not understood, Chaco Canyon was deserted, the tribes dispersed.
“The mystery is part of the appeal,” Nathan Hatfield, chief of interpretation for the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, tells The Buzz. “With no written language, the Chacoans have left us with so many unanswered questions. Why did they choose this location? Why did they build such huge buildings? Why did they leave? No one knows for sure, but the effort to create all this was massive.”
Chaco Canyon is the site of more than a dozen “great houses,” large stone-faced multi-story buildings with large plazas and numerous sunken circular kivas, believed to have been used for ceremonies. Pueblo Bonito, the largest and oldest of the great houses, has more than 800 rooms and two Great Kivas, able to accommodate large groups. But archeologists have not found evidence of a large resident population at Chaco, Hatfield says.
“The most widely accepted theory is that this was a gathering place, a place of pilgrimage, a place to trade,” he explains. “We have found a lot of evidence of trade with Mexico, including macaw skeletons, turquoise beads, copper bells and pottery containing traces of imported cacao.” Brilliantly colored macaw feathers were prized in ancient Mexico for use in ceremonial garb.
Hatfield says many of the features at Chaco are oriented toward solar and lunar alignments based on observations that would take generations to make. “They basically created a giant calendar on the landscape,” he says. “It’s pretty impressive.”
If the ancient Chacoans aimed to study the sky, they built their city in the right place. Chaco Canyon is one of the darkest spots on the continent and in 2013 was named an International Dark-Sky Park, one of the first in our National Park System. The park has its own domed observatory, Hatfield says, offering a night sky program 2 to 3 times a week during the April to November season.
“People come out here to see the Milky Way, the planets and other things they can’t see at home,” he says. “And we have big celebrations for the solstices, at sunrise for the summer solstice, at sunset for winter.”
Ancient people followed an extensive road system to reach Chaco, one that wasn’t discovered until aerial photos became available, according to Hatfield. It’s not so easy today, he says, with 13 miles of rough dirt roads making the trip slow and treacherous.
“It’s an effort to get to Chaco,” Hatfield says. “When people get here, they usually want to spend some time and see everything.” The NPS maintains a campground with limited amenities in the canyon.
Fortunately, other Chacoan sites are closer to today’s paved roads. While more than 150 outlier villages have been identified, only two qualify as Chaco colonies, according to Larry Baker, executive director and archaeologist at Salmon Ruins, located an hour and a half drive north of Chaco Canyon near Farmington, NM.
“The Salmon site was built toward the end of the Chaco period, as people began to move out into the San Juan River valley,” Baker says. “The Salmon great house has about 150 ground floor rooms, and was three stories tall. We can date it to 1088 to 1090 thanks to tree ring analysis of the logs used in the construction. If the outside rings are present, we can get within a couple of years.”
Baker believes that the Chaco elite may have moved to this northern colony. “Salmon has the largest number of macaw skeletons found outside Pueblo Bonito,” he says. “These imported birds indicated status in the community.”
Salmon Ruins, operated by San Juan County, also displays one of the region’s best collections of ancient artifacts. “Our museum contains all the finds made during excavations here,” Larry Baker says. “None were sent off to museums or universities. And we are still making discoveries. Recently, my colleague and I identified a room used as an observatory and found a summer solstice alignment that sends a shaft of light onto a small platform that may have been used for ceremonies.”
Around 1120 A.D., experts believe this elite group moved about 15 miles northeast to a larger colony on the Animas River, now preserved as the Aztec Ruins National Monument. The 400-room site was excavated by pioneer archaeologist Earl Morris in the early 1900s. He reconstructed the Great Kiva at Aztec based on his findings.
Nathan Hatfield, who also serves as chief of interpretation at Aztec, says that the monument is a great place to get a feeling for what life was like back then. “This is the only Great Kiva that is restored in the whole Southwest,” he explains. “And Aztec is so much more accessible than Chaco itself.” Hatfield says the Aztec Visitor Center offers a new interactive museum with many artifacts, as well as a video and self-guided trail.
Within a couple of hundred years, Chacoan descendents were on the move again, with some becoming part of Mesa Verde and others building pueblos across the region. “All the modern Pueblo peoples, including the Hopis, have slightly different takes on Chaco in their oral traditions,” Hatfield says. “But they all view it as an important place in the journey of their people.”
Perhaps no one will ever completely solve the mystery of the Chaco Culture. But, according to the archeological evidence, these stargazers knew how to celebrate, with dancers in costumes decorated with turquoise, shells and colorful macaw feathers, music from flutes and copper bells, and sips of chocolate served in special mugs. Not a bad way to spend a night in the desert.
Renee Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
Make Sure To Stay:
Desert Rose at Four Corners, with award-winning restrooms; 30 and 50 amp pull-thru sites for both overnighter's, long-term guests, and rally groups; rental cabins and rental RV's; tent camping area; a large, secured pet park and for the kids a playground in our Fiesta Village.