LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Chaco Canyon
built 634 days ago
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, has been called the Stonehenge of North America. Its spectacular pueblos, or great houses, are world famous and have attracted the attention of archaeologists for more than a century. Beautifully illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs, Chaco Canyon draws on the very latest research on Chaco and its environs to tell the remarkable story of the people of the canyon, from foraging bands and humble farmers to the elaborate society that flourished between the tenth and twelfth centuries A.D. Brian Fagan is a master story teller, and he weaves the latest discoveries into a compelling narrative of people living in a harsh, unpredictable environment. Indeed, this is not a story about artifacts and dusty digs, but a riveting narrative of people in the distant past, going about their daily business, living and dying, loving, raising children, living in plenty and in hunger, pondering the cosmos, and facing the unpredictable challenges of the environment. Drawing on rare access to the records of the Chaco Synthesis Project, Fagan reveals a society where agriculture and religion went hand-in-hand, where the ritual power of Chaco's leaders drew pilgrims from distant communities bearing gifts. He describes the lavish burials in the heart of Pueblo Bonito, which offer clues about the identity of Chaco's shadowy leaders.
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From the twelfth to the thirteenth centuries, many of the pueblos in Chaco Canyon were abandoned. What caused people to leave the pueblos, the centers of Anasazi society? One pueblo at Sand Canyon can provide clues. Archaeologists found evidence that when Sand Canyon was finally abandoned in the thirteenth century, the kivas were burned. Kivas were sacred ceremonial places; they would not have been systematically burned without cause. Many archaeologists believe the kivas were ceremonially burned, possibly as a way to "close" the kivas when people left.
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Casa Rinconada appears to be a ceremonial building in Chaco Canyon. It has a series of windows built into its stone walls that appear line up with sunrise locations at various times of the year. Tourists can walk around the outside, but are not allowed inside the kiva structure.
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Chaco Canyon is peaceful and lovely; but that's because it is out of the way and a little hard to get to. The ruins are spread out and probably the best way to experience the site is to get in on one of the tours conducted at Chaco on a regular basis. A lot of the recent work completed in the Chaco valley has focused on the extensive road system, which extended the 30 foot wide routes straight outward from Chaco, to and past several smaller village ruins.
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The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon explores the natural environment and architecture, as well as Chaco's economy, politics, history and regional influences. The authors ... look at outside cultural influences from all directions, including ties to Mesoamerica, said Lekson. Twenty authors contributed to the book, including Lekson, CU Museum Director Linda Cordell, CU-Boulder anthropology doctoral student Derek Hamilton and Richard Wilshusen, who received his doctorate from CU-Boulder.
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As part of Winter 2000 issue of Archaeology Southwest, (Volume 14 No 1), award-winning Photographer Adriel Heisey contributed a unique perspective on the ruins of Chaco Canyon. You can tour some of Adriel's imagery by selecting from the images below.
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