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e lintels marked all chacoan kivas although simple and compound walls were often used great houses were primarily constructed of core and veneer walls two parallel load bearing walls comprising dressed flat sandstone blocks bound in clay mortar were erected gaps between walls were packed with rubble forming the wall s core walls were then covered in a veneer of small sandstone pieces which were pressed into a layer of binding mud 54 these surfacing stones were often placed in distinctive patterns the chacoan structures altogether required the wood of 200 000 coniferous trees mostly hauled on foot from mountain ranges up to 70 miles 110 km away 7 55 56 uses edit around 200 000 pieces of turquoise have been excavated from the ruins at chaco canyon these turquoise and argillite red inlay pieces were found at pueblo alto 57 the meticulously designed buildings composing the larger chacoan complexes did not emerge until around 1030 the chacoans mixed pre planned architectural designs astronomical alignments geometry landscaping and engineering into ancient urban centers of unique public architecture researchers have concluded that the complex may have had a relatively small residential population with larger groups assembling only temporarily for annual ceremonies 7 smaller sites such as hillside ruin apparently more residential in character are scattered near the great houses in and around chaco the canyon runs along one of the lunar alignment lines suggesting the location was originally chosen for its astronomical significance this allowed alignment with several other key structures in the canyon 10 chaco canyon ancestral puebloan lapidary tool kit nps turquoise was very important to the people of chaco about 200 000 pieces of turquoise have been excavated from the ruins at chaco canyon 58 and workshops for local manufacture of turquoise beads have been found the turquoise was used locally for grave goods burials and ceremonial offerings 59 more than 15 000 turquoise beads and pendants accompanied two burials at pueblo bonito 57 some researchers found data supporting existence of widespread trade of the turquoise 60 61 around this time the extended ancestral puebloan community experienced a population and construction boom throughout the 10th century chacoan building techniques spread from the canyon to neighboring regions 62 by ad 1115 at least 70 outlying pueblos of chacoan provenance had been built within the 25 000 sq mi 65 000 km 2 composing the san juan basin experts speculate the function of these compounds some large enough to be considered great houses in their own right some suggest they may have been more than agricultural communities perhaps functioning as trading posts or ceremonial sites 63 thirty such outliers spread across 65 000 sq mi 170 000 km 2 are connected to the central canyon and to one another by an enigmatic web of six chacoan road systems extending up to 60 mi 97 km in generally straight routes they appear to have been extensively surveyed and engineered 64 65 their depressed and scraped caliche beds reach 30 ft 9 1 m wide earthen berms or rocks at times composing low walls delimit their edges when necessary the roads deploy steep stone stairways and rock ramps to surmount cliffs and other obstacles 66 although their purpose may never be certain archaeologist harold s gladwin noted that nearby navajo believe that the chaco canyon people built the roads to transport timber archaeologist neil judd offered a similar hypothesis 4 archaeoastronomy edit sun dagger edit this 11th century pictograph at chaco canyon may depict the supernova of ad 1054 this supernova and the moon were in this configuration when the supernova was near its brightest an imprint of a hand at the top signifies that this is a sacred place 67 two whorl shaped etchings near the top of fajada butte compose what is called the sun dagger petroglyph that is tucked behind the eponymous rock panels of the three slab site they are symbolically focal clarification needed 68 7 it consists of two spirals one principal and one ancillary the latter left hand spiral captured both spring and fall equinoxes its artifice was revealed by a descending spear of light filtered through the slabs that shone upon it and split it in two the former and larger whorl to its right was lit by the titular sun dagger which bisected it through another interplay of slab and sunlight light struck it brilliantly as the summer sun attains its solstice midday peak the chacoans were said to be marking as anna sofaer artist sun dagger discoverer and leading proponent puts it the middle of time each turn of the 9 25 turn large spiral was found to mark one year in the 18 6 year lunar excursion cycle of the rising mid winter full moon this record is kept by a slab cast lunar shadow whose edge strikes in succession each ring 69 as the full minimum moon closest to the winter solstice rises the shadow s edge precisely strikes the center of the larger spiral it steps outward year by year ring by ring until it strikes the outermost edge of it during the full maximum moon again in mid winter 7 fajada butte bears five other petroglyphs including a carving of a rattlesnake other spirals and a rectangle that are conspicuously lit by contrasts between sunbeams and shadows during equinoxes or solstices 70 public access to the butte was curtailed when in 1989 erosion from modern foot traffic was found to be responsible for one of the three screening slabs at the sun dagger site shifting out of its ancient position the assemblage of stones has thus lost some of its former spatial and temporal precision as a solar and lunar calendar in 1990 the screens were stabilized and placed under observation but the wayward slab was not moved back into its original orientation 71 alignments edit casa rinconada some parties have advanced the theory that at least 12 of the 14 principal chacoan complexes were sited and aligned in coordination and that each was oriented along axes that mirrored the passing of the sun and moon at visually pivotal times the first great house known to evince fastidious proportioning and alignment was casa rinconada the twinned t shaped portals of its 10 m 33 ft radius great kiva were north south collinear and axes joining opposing windows passed within 10 cm 4 in of its center 68 the great houses of pueblo bonito and chetro ketl were found by the solstice project and the u s national geodetic survey to be sited along a precisely east west line an axis that captures the passage of the equinox sun the lines perpendicularly bisecting their principal walls are aligned north south implying a possible intent to mirror the equinox midday pueblo alto and tsin kletsin are also north south aligned these two axes form an inverted cross when viewed from above its northbound reach is extended another 35 mi 56 km past pueblo alto by the ramrod straight great north road a pilgrimage route that modern day pueblo indians believe to be an allusion to myths surrounding their arrival from the distant north 7 pueblo pintado an outlying chacoan great house two shared latitude but diametrically opposed complexes pueblo pintado and kin bineola are located some 15 mi 24 km from the core buildings of the central canyon each lies on a path from the central canyon that is collinear with the passage and setting of the full mid winter minimum moon which recurs every 18 6 years 10 two other complexes that are less distant from pueblo bonito una vida and peñasco blanco share an axis collinear with the passage of the full maximum moon the terms minimum and maximum refer to the azimuthal extreme points in the lunar excursion cycle or the swings in direction relative to true north that the setting full moon exhibits it takes roughly 9 25 years for the rising or setting full moon nearest to winter solstice to proceed from its maximum azimuthal north or maximum extremum to its southernmost azimuth or minimum extremum 7 speculation about the reasons for the alignments has been offered as these people would view the heavens there was an order of things up there what you had here contrasted to that some years it was too dry too hot too windy too cold if there was a way to transfer the orderly nature of the cosmos down onto what seems to be chaos that exists here then you begin to then integrate at this place both heaven and earth and this would be the center place phillip tuwaletstiwa u s national geodetic survey the mystery of chaco canyon 7 geography edit chaco canyon is in the san juan basin atop the colorado plateau surrounded by the chuska mountains to the west the san juan mountains to the north and the san pedro mountains to the east ancient chacoans drew upon dense forests of oak piñon ponderosa pine and juniper for timber and other resources the canyon itself located within lowlands circumscribed by dune fields ridges and mountains is aligned along a roughly northwest to southeast axis and rimmed by flat massifs known as mesas large gaps between the southwestern cliff faces side canyons known as rincons were critical in funneling rain bearing storms into the canyon and boosting local precipitation levels 72 the principal chacoan complexes such as pueblo bonito nuevo alto and kin kletso have elevations of 6 200 to 6 440 ft 1 890 to 1 960 m the alluvial canyon floor slopes downward to the northwest at a gentle grade of 30 feet per mile 6 m km it is bisected by the chaco wash an arroyo that rarely has water the canyon s main aquifers were too deep to be of use to ancient chacoans only several smaller and shallower sources supported the small springs that sustained them 73 today aside from occasional storm runoff coursing through arroyos substantial surface water springs pools wells is virtually nonexistent citation needed geology edit summer thunderstorms over fajada butte and the fajada gap near the southwestern rim of chaco canyon after the pangaean supercontinent sundered during the cretaceous period the region became part of a shifting transition zone between a shallow inland sea the western interior seaway and a band of plains and low hills to the west a sandy and swampy coastline oscillated east and west alternately submerging and uncovering the area atop the present colorado plateau that chaco canyon now occupies 74 the chaco wash flowed across the upper strata of what is now the 400 foot 120 m chacra mesa cutting into it and gouging out a broad canyon over millions of years the mesa comprises sandstone and shale formations dating to the late cretaceous 75 which are of the mesaverde group 74 the canyon bottomlands were further eroded exposing menefee shale bedrock this was later buried under roughly 125 ft 38 m of sediment the canyon and mesa lie within the chaco core which is distinct from the wider chaco plateau a flat region of grassland with infrequent stands of timber as the continental divide is only 15 5 miles 25 km east of the canyon geological characteristics and different patterns of drainage differentiate these regions both from each other and from the nearby chaco slope the gobernador slope and the chuska valley 76 climate edit fajada butte chaco averages three or four snowstorms a winter an arid region of high xeric scrubland and desert steppe the canyon and wider basin average 8 in 200 mm of rainfall annually the park averages 9 1 in 230 mm chaco canyon is on the leeward side of extensive mountain ranges to the south and west resulting in a rainshadow effect that fosters the prevailing lack of moisture 77 the region has four distinct seasons rainfall is likeliest from july to september while may and june are the driest months orographic precipitation which results from moisture wrung out of storm systems ascending the mountain ranges around chaco canyon is responsible for most of the summer and winter precipitation and rainfall increases with elevation 75 chaco has remarkable climatic extremes temperatures range between 38 and 102 f 39 and 39 c 78 and may swing 60 f 33 c in a single day 6 the region averages fewer than 150 frost free days per year and the local climate swings wildly from years of plentiful rainfall to prolonged drought 79 the heavy influence of the el niño southern oscillation contributes to the fickle climate 78 climate data for chaco culture national historical park new mexico 1991 2020 normals extremes 1912 2022 month jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec year record high f c 70 21 72 22 87 31 86 30 97 36 103 39 106 41 102 39 102 39 98 37 79 26 74 23 106 41 mean daily maximum f c 42 9 6 1 48 7 9 3 58 4 14 7 66 1 18 9 75 7 24 3 86 7 30 4 89 7 32 1 86 7 30 4 80 0 26 7 67 8 19 9 54 6 12 6 43 5 6 4 66 7 19 3 daily mean f c 27 9 2 3 33 4 0 8 40 5 4 7 47 6 8 7 56 5 13 6 66 8 19 3 72 5 22 5 69 8 21 0 62 0 16 7 49 3 9 6 37 3 2 9 28 1 2 2 49 3 9 6 mean daily minimum f c 12 8 10 7 18 1 7 7 22 5 5 3 29 0 1 7 37 3 2 9 46 9 8 3 55 3 12 9 52 9 11 6 44 0 6 7 30 9 0 6 19 9 6 7 12 8 10 7 31 9 0 1 record low f c 37 38 26 32 17 27 1 17 10 12 25 4 33 1 28 2 19 7 2 17 35 37 38 39 38 39 average precipitation inches mm 0 53 13 0 58 15 0 45 11 0 51 13 0 55 14 0 41 10 1 43 36 1 31 33 1 14 29 0 71 18 0 60 15 0 71 18 8 93 225 average snowfall inches cm 2 7 6 9 2 7 6 9 1 3 3 3 0 7 1 8 0 1 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 76 1 6 4 1 1 8 4 6 11 2 28 61 average precipitation days 0 01 in 4 2 4 5 3 6 3 6 4 3 2 9 8 4 8 6 6 0 5 1 3 8 4 8 59 8 average snowy days 0 1 in 2 4 1 5 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 2 3 8 5 source 1 noaa 80 source 2 xmacis2 81 flora and fauna edit chacoan flora typifies that of north american high deserts sagebrush and several species of cactus are interspersed with dry scrub forests of piñon and juniper the latter primarily on the mesa tops the canyon is far drier than other parts of new mexico located at similar latitudes and elevations and it lacks the temperate coniferous forests plentiful to the east the prevailing sparseness of plants and wildlife was echoed in ancient times when overpopulation expanding cultivation overhunting habitat destruction and drought may have led the chacoans to strip the canyon of wild plants and game 82 it has been suggested that even during wet periods the canyon was able to sustain only 2 000 people 83 among chacoan mammals are the plentiful coyote canis latrans mule deer elk and pronghorn also live within the canyon although they are rarely encountered by visitors important smaller carnivores include bobcats badgers foxes and two species of skunk the park hosts abundant populations of rodents including several prairie dog towns small colonies of bats are present during the summer the local shortage of water means that relatively few bird species are present these include roadrunners large hawks such as cooper s hawks and american kestrels owls vultures and ravens although they are less abundant in the canyon than in the wetter mountain ranges to the east sizeable populations of smaller birds including war...
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