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people redirects here for the people of the gran chaco in south america see gran chaco people chaco culture national historical park park entrance park map location within new mexico show map of new mexico location within the united states show map of the united states 36 04 n 107 58 w 36 06 n 107 96 w 36 06 107 96 location san juan county and mckinley county new mexico us site notes area 33 977 8 acres 137 50 km 2 architectural style ancient puebloan governing body national park service visitors 41 594 in 2022 website chaco culture national historical park unesco world heritage site type cultural criteria iii designated 1987 11th session part of chaco culture reference no 353 region europe and north america u s national register of historic places type historic district designated october 15 1966 reference no 66000895 1 u s national monument designated march 11 1907 delisted december 19 1980 designated by president theodore roosevelt u s national historical park designated december 19 1980 nm state register of cultural properties designated may 21 1971 reference no 57 chaco culture national historical park is a united states national historical park in the american southwest hosting a large concentration of pre columbian indigenous ruins of pueblos the park is in northwestern new mexico between albuquerque and farmington in a remote canyon cut by the chaco wash containing the most sweeping collection of ancient ruins north of mexico the park preserves one of the most important cultural and historical areas in the united states 2 between 900 and 1150 chaco canyon was a major cultural center for the ancestral puebloans a chacoans quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances assembling 15 major complexes that remained the largest buildings ever built in north america until the 19th century 2 4 climate change is thought to have led to the migration of chacoans and the eventual abandonment of the canyon beginning with a 50 year drought that began in 1130 5 the chacoan cultural sites situated in the arid sparsely populated four corners region are fragile concerns about erosion caused by tourists have led to the closure of fajada butte to the public the sites are considered sacred ancestral homelands by the hopi and pueblo peoples who maintain oral accounts of their historical migration from chaco and their spiritual relationship to the land 6 7 park preservation efforts can conflict with native religious beliefs but tribal representatives work closely with the national park service to share their knowledge and respect for the heritage of the chacoan culture 8 evidence of archaeoastronomy at chaco has been proposed with the sun dagger petroglyph at fajada butte a well known example many chacoan buildings appear to have been aligned to capture the solar and lunar cycles 9 requiring generations of astronomical observations and centuries of skillfully coordinated construction 10 the park is part of chaco culture world heritage site and is on the trails of the ancients byway one of the designated new mexico scenic byways 11 history edit see also timeline of chacoan history archaic early basketmakers edit the first people in the san juan basin were hunter gatherers the archaic early basketmaker people these small bands descended from nomadic clovis big game hunters who arrived in the southwest around 10 000 bc 12 more than 70 campsites from this period carbon dated to the period 7000 1500 bc and mostly consisting of stone chips and other leavings were found in atlatl cave and elsewhere within chaco canyon with at least one of the sites located on the canyon floor near an exposed arroyo the archaic early basketmaker people were nomadic or semi nomadic hunter gatherers who over time began making baskets to store gathered plants by the end of the period some people cultivated food excavation of their campsites and rock shelters has revealed that they made tools gathered wild plants and killed and processed game slab lined storage cists indicate a change from a wholly nomadic lifestyle 6 ancestral puebloans edit anasazi sites in the southwest by 900 bc archaic people lived at atlatl cave and similar sites 13 dna evidence establishes the people of picuris pueblo once lived in chaco canyon 14 15 by ad 490 the descendants of those who lived in chaco canyon of the late basketmaker ii period farmed lands around shabik eshchee village and other pit house settlements at chaco citation needed a small population of basketmakers remained in the chaco canyon area the broad arc of their cultural elaboration culminated around 800 during the pueblo i period when they were building crescent shaped stone complexes each comprising four to five residential suites abutting subterranean kivas 16 large enclosed areas reserved for rites such structures characterize the early pueblo people by 850 the ancient pueblo population had rapidly expanded groups resided in larger more densely populated pueblos strong evidence attests to a canyon wide turquoise processing and trading industry dating from the tenth century around then the first section of pueblo bonito was built a curved row of 50 rooms near its present north wall 17 18 archaeogenomic analysis of the mitochondria of nine skeletons from high status graves in pueblo bonito determined that members of an elite matriline were interred here for approximately 330 years between 800 and 1130 suggesting continuity with the matrilineal succession practices of many pueblo nations today 19 the cohesive chacoan system began to unravel around 1140 perhaps triggered by an extreme 50 year drought that began in 1130 20 chronic climatic instability including a series of severe droughts struck the region again between 1250 and 1450 21 poor water management led to arroyo cutting deforestation was extensive and economically devastating 22 23 24 timber for construction had to be hauled instead from outlying mountain ranges such as the chuska mountains more than 50 miles 80 km to the west 25 outlying communities began to depopulate and by the end of the century the buildings in the central canyon had been neatly sealed and abandoned citation needed some scholars suggest that violence and warfare perhaps involving cannibalism impelled the evacuations dismembered bodies dating from chacoan times were found at two sites in the central canyon 26 yet chacoan complexes showed little evidence of being defended or defensively sited high on cliff faces or atop mesas only several minor sites at chaco have evidence of the large scale burning that would suggest enemy raids 27 archaeological and cultural evidence leads scientists to believe people from this region migrated south east and west into the valleys and drainages of the little colorado river the rio puerco and the rio grande 28 anthropologist joseph tainter deals at length with the structure and decline of chaco civilization in his 1988 study the collapse of complex societies 29 athabaskan succession edit prehistoric roads and great houses in the san juan basin superimposed on a map showing modern roads and settlements numic speaking peoples such as the ute and shoshone were present on the colorado plateau beginning in the 12th century nomadic southern athabaskan speaking peoples such as the apache and navajo succeeded the pueblo people in this region by the 15th century in the process they acquired chacoan customs and agricultural skills 28 30 ute tribal groups also frequented the region primarily during hunting and raiding expeditions the modern navajo nation lies west of chaco canyon and many navajo live in surrounding areas 31 excavation and protection edit the first documented trip through chaco canyon was an 1823 expedition led by new mexican governor josé antonio vizcarra when the area was under mexican rule he noted several large ruins in the canyon 32 the american trader josiah gregg wrote about the ruins of chaco canyon referring in 1832 to pueblo bonito as built of fine grit sandstone in 1849 a u s army detachment passed through and surveyed the ruins following united states acquisition of the southwest with its victory in the mexican war in 1848 33 the canyon was so remote however that it was scarcely visited over the next 50 years after brief reconnaissance work by smithsonian scholars in the 1870s formal archaeological work began in 1896 when a party from the american museum of natural history based in new york city the hyde exploring expedition began excavating pueblo bonito spending five summers in the region they sent more than 60 000 artifacts back to new york and operated a series of trading posts in the area 34 in 1901 richard wetherill who had worked for the hyde expedition claimed a homestead of 161 acres 65 ha that included pueblo bonito pueblo del arroyo and chetro ketl 35 36 while investigating wetherill s land claim federal land agent samuel j holsinger detailed the physical setting of the canyon and the sites noted prehistoric road segments and stairways above chetro ketl and documented prehistoric dams and irrigation systems 37 38 38 his report went unpublished and unheeded it urged the creation of a national park to safeguard chacoan sites the next year edgar lee hewett president of new mexico normal university later renamed new mexico highlands university mapped many chacoan sites hewett and others helped enact the federal antiquities act of 1906 the first u s law to protect relics it was in effect a direct consequence of wetherill s controversial activities at chaco including amateur excavations reuse of ruin materials for building and a large livestock ranching operation 39 the act also authorized the president to establish national monuments on march 11 1907 theodore roosevelt proclaimed chaco canyon national monument wetherill relinquished his land claims 6 a ceramic bowl excavated from pueblo alto dating from ad 1030 to 1200 in 1920 the national geographic society began an archaeological examination of chaco canyon and appointed neil judd to head the project after a reconnaissance trip that year judd proposed to excavate pueblo bonito the largest ruin at chaco beginning in 1921 judd spent seven field seasons at chaco living and working conditions were spartan at best in his memoir judd wrote chaco canyon has its limitations as a summer resort by 1925 his excavators had removed 100 000 short tons of overburden using a team of 35 or more indians ten white men and eight or nine horses the team found only 69 hearths in the ruin a puzzling discovery as winters are cold at chaco 40 judd sent a e douglass more than 90 specimens for tree ring dating then in its infancy at that time douglass had only a floating chronology only in 1929 did a judd led team find the missing link most of the beams used at chaco were cut between 1033 and 1092 the height of construction there 40 in 1949 the university of new mexico deeded over adjoining lands to form an expanded chaco canyon national monument in return the university maintained scientific research rights to the area by 1959 the national park service had constructed a park visitor center staff housing and campgrounds as a historic property of the national park service the national monument was listed on the national register of historic places on october 15 1966 in 1971 researchers robert lister and james judge established the chaco center a division for cultural research that functioned as a joint project between the university of new mexico and the national park service a number of multidisciplinary research projects archaeological surveys and limited excavations began during this time the chaco center extensively surveyed the chacoan roads well constructed and strongly reinforced thoroughfares radiating from the central canyon 41 the richness of the cultural remains at park sites led to the expansion of the small national monument into the chaco culture national historical park on december 19 1980 when 13 000 acres 5 300 ha were added to the protected area in 1987 unesco designated the park a world heritage site to safeguard chacoan sites on adjacent bureau of land management and navajo nation lands the park service developed the multi agency chaco culture archaeological protection site program these initiatives have identified more than 2 400 archeological sites within the current park s boundaries only a small fraction of which have been excavated 41 42 sites edit the chacoans built their complexes along a 9 mile 14 km stretch of canyon floor with the walls of some structures aligned cardinally and others aligned with the 18 6 year cycle of minimum and maximum moonrise and moonset 10 central canyon edit nps site maps of the major ruins of chaco canyon the central portion of the canyon contains the largest chacoan complexes the most studied is pueblo bonito covering almost 2 acres 0 81 ha and comprising at least 650 rooms it is the largest great house in parts of the complex the structure was four stories high the builders use of core and veneer architecture and multi story construction necessitated massive masonry walls up to 3 ft 91 cm thick pueblo bonito is divided into two sections by a wall precisely aligned to run north south bisecting the central plaza a great kiva was placed on either side of the wall creating a symmetrical pattern common to many chacoan great houses the scale of the complex upon completion rivaled that of the colosseum 10 nearby is pueblo del arroyo which was founded between ad 1050 and 1075 and completed in the early 12th century it sits at a drainage outlet known as south gap citation needed pueblo bonito largest of the great houses abuts the foot of chaco canyon s northern rim aerial view of pueblo bonito casa rinconada isolated from the other central sites sits to the south side of chaco wash adjacent to a chacoan road leading to a set of steep stairs that reached the top of chacra mesa its sole kiva stands alone with no residential or support structures whatsoever it did once have a 39 ft 12 m passageway leading from the underground kiva to several above ground levels chetro ketl located near pueblo bonito bears the typical d shape of many other central complexes begun between 1020 and 1050 its 450 550 rooms shared one great kiva experts estimate that it took 29 135 man hours to erect chetro ketl alone hewett estimated that it took the wood of 5 000 trees and 50 million stone blocks 43 kin kletso yellow house was a medium sized complex located 0 5 miles 800 m west of pueblo bonito it shows strong evidence of construction and occupation by pueblo peoples from the northern san juan basin its rectangular shape and design is related to the pueblo ii cultural group rather than the pueblo iii style or its chacoan variant it contains 55 rooms four ground floor kivas and a two story cylindrical tower that may have functioned as a kiva or religious center evidence of an obsidian processing industry was discovered near the village which was erected between...
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