Chaco Canyon culture
The Chaco Canyon culture is a local expression of the Anasazi culture in the area of the Chaco Canyon, a large dry valley that belongs to the catchment area of the upper San Juan River in the state of New Mexico . The Chaco Canyon is now part of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park , which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 .
Research history
The first mentions of ruins in Chaco Canyon come from casual visitors. The first was probably the trader Josiah Gregg, who reported on Pueblo Bonito. In 1849 a military patrol came into the canyon and made the first measurements. Scientific research began in 1896 by an expedition from the American Museum of Natural History , which began excavations at Pueblo Bonito. In 1901 Richard Wetherill , who came from an influential rancher family in Colorado and discovered and exploited various Anasazi ruins, tried in vain to acquire part of the canyon under the Homestead Act , where he lived until his violent death in 1910. To protect the ruins of Chaco Canyon, the Chaco Canyon National Monument was established on March 11, 1907 (an expansion followed in 1980). Further expeditions were carried out by the National Geographic Society from 1920, again in Pueblo Bonito. One of the most important results of the expedition, which lasted until 1929, was the use of tree ring dating . This procedure proved that most of the numerous wooden beams, well preserved because of the dry climate, had been felled between 1033 and 1092.
Cultural history
In the archaeological phase Pueblo I, which is set from 700 to 900, there is a greater increase in population in the Chaco Canyon area. The mostly still small settlements consist of a larger number of rooms. The settlements there and in neighboring zones consist of straight, north-south aligned rows of two lines of above-ground rooms. The work areas are arranged next to these, as are the public areas with recessed kivas that stand alone to the east of the residential buildings. The kivas all have the important characteristics such as a deep, lined fire hole, ventilation shaft and vertical windbreak in front of the fire pit, benches on the round walls and four roof beams. In the following phase, Pueblo II from 900, the first multi-story constructions appear in the Chaco Canyon at three sites (Una Vida, Peñasco Blanco and Pueblo Bonito). From the small settlements, from 1000 AD, the large pueblos developed quickly. Multi-story constructions now appear in a large number of locations. All of these settlements are planned more or less strictly according to a general basic pattern. This is the time of the special and in many ways enigmatic climax of the Chaco Canyon form of the Anasazi culture.
The food situation changes regionally differently. In the upper reaches of the San Juan River, a decrease in the number of millstones and an increase in piercing and cutting devices indicate a shift in the focus of food towards hunting. The cause seems to be a deterioration in the climatic conditions for plant cultivation. In any case, the settlement of this area was abandoned after 1050. In the neighboring Mesa Verde region, the smaller settlements are further apart, a clear sign of a decline in population. However, this is not a process that should be generalized. On the other hand, it can be established, for example in the Mesa Verde region, that settlements there have also been extended to less favored areas, so that conditions for cultivation must also have existed there. The need for intensified cultivation also correlates with the expansion of irrigation systems, including cisterns in the settlements.
The ceramics include utility ceramics with circumferential bands and later roughened over the entire surface. Often there is also a black painting on a white coating. But other combinations such as black on red or orange and polychrome ceramics also occur. The eastern border area of the Anasazi culture in the area of the upper reaches of the Rio Grande was little used during this phase. Between 1020 and 1120, the climax of cultural development takes place in the Chaco Canyon. It is characterized by a multitude of large and even smaller settlements, from which it can be concluded that between 1025 and 1075 the population in the canyon doubled.
Big settlements
The large settlements are largely built according to the same basic scheme. They occupy a rectangular base, with one or more sides forming a convex curve. Three sides, with the most developed middle one mostly on the north side, are occupied by several rows of multi-story rooms, the remaining side with a low row of rooms. This leaves a free space that contains one or more large kivas. The pueblo is closed to the outside with a smooth wall. The wall technology is complicated: The wall core consisted of flat stones that were set in a thick bed of mortar so that they only reached the outside on one side of the wall. But in the middle of the wall they overlapped with their inner part the inner parts of the stones that extended to the other side of the wall. Thanks to this overlapping system, the stones held each other in place. A layer of facing bricks in the form of ashlar masonry was placed in front of this load-bearing wall core on both sides. The stones were not simply placed in horizontal rows, but formed decorative shapes. Nevertheless, this wall surface was then covered with stucco. The small kivas were covered with wooden beam ceilings. For this wooden structure, as for many others in which large wooden beams were used, the wood had to be brought over great distances. Individual sections of the large pueblos were built in a single work phase by a well-organized deployment of trained workers. The average settlement comprises more than 200 rooms on at least 4 floors, the largest, Pueblo Bonito, has up to 5 floors with 800 rooms, the second largest (Chetro Ketl) 500 and the third still 285 rooms (Pueblo del Arroyo). Even if the majority of these rooms were not directly used for residential purposes, but served as storage facilities or to carry out certain specialized activities, as is assumed (only a small part of the rooms was to some extent reached by daylight), then the population of these settlements was not particularly high. It is estimated that Pueblo Bonito is a little less than 3000 people.
The large kivas are particularly distinctive architectural elements. They reach a diameter of almost 20 meters and must therefore have provided space for a large number of people. They also have a special anteroom, from which a stone-walled staircase usually led down to the actual kiva. Broad benches ran along the round walls. In the enclosed circular inner area was the brick fireplace in the center. The function of bricked circular and rectangular recesses is difficult to understand. The often found wall niches behind the surrounding bench can only be interpreted from a single find: in Chetro Ketl they were locked and contained jewelery made of stone and shell pearls. According to archaeological findings, significantly fewer people lived in the large houses than were needed to build them. The rooms not used for residential purposes obviously served as storage. In the large complexes there are no rubbing stones and there are seldom fireplaces, lined up in specialized rooms and suitable for mass production of food. From this it can be concluded that only part of the entire population actually lived in the large houses, an indication of a stratified society. Stratification is also supported by the rare occurrence of large kiva in the immediate vicinity of the canyon, while they occur frequently in the Chaco Canyon and surprisingly at greater distances. The time of the Chaco Canyon culture is described as peaceful (in contrast to the centuries before). Only towards the end, in the 12th century, did evidence of socially accepted acts of violence against smaller or larger numbers of people emerge, but these had nothing to do with warlike conditions. The supply of the astonishingly dense population made intensification measures necessary here too. Artificial irrigation plays an important role among these. In the Chaco Canyon, however, no irrigation was carried out through canals that were branched off from the large watercourses, especially the Chaco Wash, but different developed variants of tumble water irrigation were used. This method was particularly suitable in the steep valleys of the canyon because the mostly exposed rock allowed the rainwater to drain off immediately. Dams that collected this superficial runoff led to the onward canals and these to distribution chambers from which the water was distributed to the fields. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that the irrigable fields in the Chaco Canyon, which can still be proven today, were too small to be sufficient to supply the population. The only solution that remains is that another surrounding area had to make the decisive contribution to feeding the settlements in the Chaco Canyon. The large houses also served as production facilities for the processing of turquoise , which was obtained from remote mines in the Santa Fe area. It is believed that the significant amounts of turquoise used in Mesoamerica came from the Chaco Canyon area. The trade relations with Mesoamerica are also proven by the finds of copper bells from western Mesoamerica.
Small settlements
The small settlements in the Chaco Canyon area seem to continue an older tradition and look similar to the older village settlements. They do not have any buildings with several floors, and the constructions that exist there were apparently not built according to an overall plan, but were created by gradually adding individual rooms. The walls are usually built rather irregularly, the rooms are small and low. The squares in front of the buildings are not separated from the outside. Large kivas, which are so conspicuous in the large pueblos, did not exist; rather, several of the small settlements seem to have shared a large kiva. The multi-storey kivas are also missing. The same applies to the various characteristic luxury objects of the Chaco Canyon, such as ceramic incense burners, clay vessels with human figures, copper bells, snail trumpets made of sea slugs, skeletons of parrots and wooden or shell objects with incrustations made of turquoise, mica slate or comparable materials. Overall, the small settlements give the impression of a much simpler way of life.
Among the particularly notable features of the short-lived Chaco culture are the dead straight connecting roads of up to 60, 70 kilometers in length, which connect the more distant pueblos with the central area. This road with a width of up to 9 meters does not avoid natural obstacles such as rock thresholds and slopes, but rather overcome them on stairs carved into the rock. Other routes lead to areas that are important for growing plants or supplying timber. According to recent studies, more than 400 km of roads have been identified. The question of their function and the conclusions that must be drawn from the enormous amount of human labor required for the organization of society to develop remains open.
The more distant settlements ("outliers"), some of which were connected to the center by the roads described, are described as very heterogeneous, although they have a number of important things in common: they are, although located outside the actual Chaco Canyon connected to this by roads and / or signal stations (round, tower-like structures in line of sight). They either have a large kiva or multi-storey kivas and use the same masonry technique with stone core and facing masonry in their buildings as the buildings in the Chaco Canyon itself, and they also contain the same composition of the ceramics used. The greatest distance of a settlement still belonging to the Chaco System according to these criteria from Chaco Canyon is around 80 km. The excavations of some of these outlying villages have shown that their construction was based on a precise plan. Before the construction work began, the foundations for the entire settlement had been laid. Planning is also evident in other details, with the example of Salmon Ruin on the San Juna River, north of Chaco Canyon: The compact village comprised almost 300 rooms and was built in three construction phases between 1088 and 1106. The four rooms in which plant seeds were ground must be taken as evidence of organization. Each of these rooms contained 6 to 8 millstones, so it must have been used by a larger number of families together and perhaps even on a fixed schedule. Elsewhere, the millstones were made and stacked.
It is precisely the outlying settlements that promise an insight into the structure of Chaco society that is difficult to interpret. From a historical perspective, it was initially small colonies of people apparently invading from the Chaco Canyon that initiated the incorporation of a certain region into the Chaco system, as well as such specialized constructions as large kivas. The local population was largely unaffected by this intrusion. It was only in a second step that the large outposts, roads and signal stations were built and the cultural characteristics of the Chaco system were adopted. But even then, the outposts remained relatively isolated in a large number of smaller, locally dominated settlements. The ratio is roughly 1 to 80. It can be assumed that the outposts of the Chaco system may have included the upper, ruling class, and the other places the ruled lower. This assumption of a kind of dominance by colonizers is also supported by the internal uniformity of the outpost settlements, in which no hierarchical stratification of the material remains is recognizable.
Another function is linked to the Chaco system. A redistributive system, with which the risks of bad harvests could be mitigated, with the help of which only punctual existing resources such as precious stones or wood could be made widely available. Typically, societies with such a large amount of collaborative, planned, and organized labor are viewed as at least chiefdoms, or perhaps even early states. But there are no indications of the division of society into a centralized rule with a ruling class, which is necessary for such an assessment. So you will have to see the rare example here that an unstratified society was able to provide these organizational services through the development and use of procedures that are likely to remain unknown. It must be emphasized that there is still no basis for a satisfactory answer.
It should be mentioned that also in this case the thesis of a decisive influence from Mesoamerica was supported. Here, too, dealers - similar to the long-distance dealers of the Aztecs known from historical times - are said to have played a role. If this was indeed the case, then there were only a few people and their influence may have been more in the cultural stimulation. Finds of cocoa in cylindrical vessels caused a sensation .
The amazing culture in Chaco Canyon did not last very long, not much more than a century in some areas. By 1200 AD the largest pueblos were already deserted. The cause is assumed to be the military invasion of a population from the not far away Mesa Verde area. Villages of the Chaco culture were at least architecturally redesigned according to the architectural styles that were common in the Mesa Verde area. In addition to the wall technology, the characteristic elements include the keyhole-shaped kiva , to which the kiva were converted in various Chaco Canyon locations.
Locations in the canyon
From west to east, the large houses line up like a chain, especially on the northern edge of the canyon.
Peñasco Blanco
Coordinates: 36 ° 4 ′ 53.53 ″ N, 108 ° 0 ′ 13.16 ″ W. The unexcavated or restored ruins are on the plateau south of the Chaco Canyon at an altitude of 1,900 meters. The floor plan consists of two parts: a semicircular row of mostly 5 rooms and a semicircular wall that delimits the enclosed courtyard and has a simple row of storage rooms. There are two kiva outside the complex, two more in the courtyard and another seven in the building complex.
Casa Chiquita
The ruin, called “little house” in Spanish, forms a rectangle from which only a kiva jumps out. One reckons with a single construction phase around 1100 to 1130. The wall technique can also be found in other late buildings, the walls are made of not always flat layers of large sandstone blocks.
Kin Kletso
This pueblo, which is located very close to the northern rim of the canyon, has a different floor plan than most of the pueblos in the canyon: it consists of only a single rectangular block of rooms, without the otherwise frequent side wings and the border wall that is bordered by a rounded wall Plaza. The wall block contains 132 rooms on three levels, the latter on the north and west sides. There are also 4 kiva and a tower kiva , a three-story room that was partially built around a large boulder. The first construction phase was erected in the short time between 1125 and 1130, the second followed immediately. Later there was a small extension with a kiva . The outer wall is closed all around, there is no access on the level of the ground floor, the upper floor was probably reached via ladders.
Alto and New Alto
Both pueblos are on the plateau north of the actual canyon. Here too, no exposures have taken place so far. The complex resembles Chetro Ketl and other large houses through its three-wing structure (a long north wing and two shorter ones running south at the ends) as well as a curved double wall in the south that enclose the plaza. However, the entire complex is only one story high, the walls being unusually high and the rooms very large. Alto was started around 1040. First a two-row block running east-west was built, to which two kiva were connected in the south . Alto was completed around 1140, it comprises 110 rooms and at least 11 kiva . Shortly after the end of the expansion, the settlement was abandoned. Even before that, the permanent population of Alto seems to have been low, to which more people came at certain times. Alto is more likely to have been a storage station for merchandise, but the most important economic activities also include the processing of turquoise, which was obtained from a mining area around 160 kilometers in the east. In the vicinity of Alto there are other, small settlements such as New Alto, East Ruin and Rabbit Ruin. New Alto is a small, very symmetrical block of 58 rooms just over 100 meters west of Alto. In contrast to this, New Alto is almost entirely two-story.
Pueblo del Arroyo
This large house (the name is Spanish: village on the creek) is one of the last to be built in the canyon. The basic plan corresponds to that of most large houses, but it is oriented to the east, whereby the large block of the rooms is to the northwest and nestles in a bend of the Chaco Wash, the watercourse that runs through the canyon. The pueblo reached about 284 rooms on up to four floors and about 23 kiva . Construction began around 1060, significantly later than the neighboring Pueblo Bonito, and it was at the time of the greatest population increase. First, a rectangular block of about 40 rooms in three rows of one or two stories was built. Later, kiva , or simply circular rooms , were built into this complex . Later the two side wings were built, which, like the western block, gave it a very massive appearance. A peculiar element are two kiva in the north wing, which were laid out identically one above the other. Also noteworthy are the protruding narrow balconies on the second and third floors of the side wings, which were supported by protruding beams. Around 1105, the usual curved closing structure was built with 13 rooms, which connects the two ends of the side wings. Changes occurred in the following decades, most notably 5 kiva and a number of irregularly shaped rooms appearing in the north and south corners of the plaza. The rooms attached outside the building block are unusual: initially a circular construction, which comprises 6 and 10 rooms in two rings, built on an artificial elevation. The central, circular room was partially paved with sandstone blocks. Such a construction can be found in other locations, especially in and north of the San Juan River. Various small rooms and 5 kiva are squeezed between the circular building and the outside of the pueblo . Since only a few hearths have been found, one assumes a small permanent population and an emphasis on ceremonial occasions. Turquoise processing could also be proven here. The skeletons of 3 macaw birds are a clear indication of trade links with Paquimé in northern Mexico, where the breeding of these birds is documented.
Pueblo Bonito
As the name (Spanish for beautiful pueblo) rightly suggests, this was undoubtedly one of the most impressive structures in the Chaco Canyon. The floor plan corresponds somewhat to the letter “D”, the pueblo consists of a multi-storey semicircular building with five to six rooms depth in the north and a straight row of mostly small storage rooms connecting the ends in the south.
The earliest construction work took place according to the tree ring chronology around 920, i.e. around 40 years after Una Vida, and lasted until around 935. First, a semicircular construction was built (similar to Peñasco Blanco), which anticipates the later shape. The construction work was then interrupted for around a hundred years - as can also be seen in Una Vida and Peñasco Blanco. From 1040 the pueblo continued to grow in a more random way, but with a clearly new masonry technique, which is characterized by more precisely worked stones and the use of little mortar. What is striking here is a simple row of rooms along the northern outer wall, which was placed on the sand that had been blown there since construction began and thus came to lie at the level of the third floor, with which they had no connection, but were accessible through doors. The next construction phase supplemented the pueblo in the south and is responsible for the straight end. Several kiva were set up in the plaza . Not all of the buildings started at this time were also completed. Rather, the symmetrical shape of the pueblo in the east and west was perfected through greater construction activity. After 1085 only small additions were made and several large kiva were built . When construction was stopped in the early 12th century, Pueblo Bonito comprised around 800 rooms.
After evaluating the settlement remnants, the conclusion that only a small part of the rooms was actually used for residential purposes - the rest as storage rooms - and therefore the number of permanent residents in Pueblo Bonito - measured against the size of the complex - was small. The number of burials is correspondingly low. The large number of kiva suggests that Pueblo Bonito was not only a great store for supplies, but that a large number of people gathered there for ceremonial purposes for a short time. In January 1941, a huge boulder fell from the north canyon wall onto the northeastern part of the semicircular building, covering a large number of rooms which fortunately had been carefully explored beforehand. The coordinates in the head of this article refer to Pueblo Bonito.
Casa Rinconada
This ruin is not a large house, but a large kiva that has largely been rebuilt. Orientation was based on the cardinal points. The wall of the kiva has 28 small niches, as well as 6 more, larger niches that are not so regularly arranged. During the summer solstice, the rising sun casts a spot of light on one of the larger niches. However, it is hardly likely that this effect was visible when the kiva had a blanket and was functioning. Rather, it may be an unwanted effect of the partial reconstruction. There are three small large houses near the kiva.
Chetro Ketl
This is the second largest pueblo in Chaco Canyon. The ground plan of the unexcavated complex is similar to that of other pueblos: a plaza is enclosed on three sides by complexes of rooms of different heights and depths; in the south, the plaza, in which two kiva are located, is closed off by a curved double row of storage rooms. The earliest buildings were erected around 1010 and the work lasted for around a century, as can be seen from almost 400 tree ring dates. The 140 meter long north wall is considered to be one of the best examples of wall technology in the wider region. The precisely worked sandstone blocks set in horizontal rows alternate with several rows of thin stone slabs. Noteworthy is the large kiva , which is around 4 meters below the current level of the plaza. Around 17,000 shell pearls and turquoise pendants were found in a walled-in niche. A peculiar construction is a 30 meter long colonnade, which was placed in front of the central building towards the plaza. The colonnade is supported by 13 square pillars that sit on a low wall base. A late use of the buildings can be seen in rooms of moderate construction quality, which were added to the buildings bordering the plaza in the north, as well as in the fact that the spaces between the colonnades were filled with masonry, apparently to make a different use possible. Who carried out these constructions remains speculation.
Tzin Kletzin
This pueblo, which has only been excavated to a very small extent, is located south of the actual canyon on the flat surface of the surrounding area, which is torn by numerous small canyons. The exact time of construction is unclear, the eastern kiva was built around 1110. The reason for the construction at this point is assumed to be the visual connections from the highest kiva to Pueblo Alto and Bis Sa'ani north of the canyon and south to Peñasco Blanco , Kin Kletso, Kin Klizhin, and Kin Ya'a exist. The complex is small, in the first phase a block with 22 rooms on two levels was built, then a two-story block with over 30 rooms was added to the west. Finally, as usual, the plaza was closed off with a series of individual rooms forming a full semicircle. A one meter wide passage was left free in the middle of this row - a rare case of structurally defined access at a prominent point.
Hungo Pavi
The pueblo is of medium size and, in terms of planning, a counterpart to Pueblo Bonito: Here the southern wall with the storage rooms is almost semicircular, but the living areas form a rectangle closed on three sides. They reach heights of up to three floors, with the highest floors being reached as usual in the outer rows of rooms. Although many beams were still preserved as supports for floors in the 19th century, the number of trunks examined for tree ring dating is small. Construction began around 990 (earlier dates for individual bars are likely to be due to re-use from older buildings), the masonry work is particularly good. A second construction phase was likely to have occurred between 1060 and 1080. Finally, the plaza was closed with a large kiva through the circular row of storage rooms.
Una Vida
The ruins are believed to be one of the oldest in Chaco Canyon. According to the tree ring dating, construction began around 860 and lasted until around 1100. The large house, which has not been excavated so far, has the shape of two rows of rooms that meet at right angles and encompass a total of around one hundred and fifty rooms on two levels. The connection between the outer ends is formed by a curved wall with a chain of small storage rooms that belong to the early buildings in Una Vida. Another slightly curved structure that jumps out of the east side of Una Vida is even older. The western wing also forms a slightly curved line, at the other extreme end in the southwest a few rooms on the third floor were built, which must have had a tower-like aspect. In the courtyard enclosed on three sides of the construction there is a kiva .
HQ ruin
The very small and not excavated ruins are located directly at the visitor center. There are hardly any visible traces of the surface.
Wijiji
Coordinates: 36 ° 1 ′ 34.42 ″ N, 107 ° 52 ′ 10.02 ″ W. This pueblo, which has the most regular floor plan, was built in a construction phase between 1110 and 1115. The total of 206 rooms are spread over two floors. Amazingly, the usual arched connection between the two side wings is missing here. The masonry technique is excellent, larger sandstone blocks alternate with flat stones as decor.
Shabikesh'chee
A very early 6th century settlement in Chaco Canyon.
Locations outside the canyon
The large houses outside of the actual canyon, which belong to the Chaco Canyon culture and which at the same time belong to the Chaco Canyon culture according to other criteria, are called “outliers” in research. The most important criterion is the construction with facing brickwork, the system in several floors, the careful selection of flat sandstone blocks and the decoration of the facades with facing stones arranged in patterns. The number of structures that are often up to 100 kilometers away from the Chaco Canyon is large and is constantly growing due to ongoing research. A total of around 150 “outliers”, some of them far away, are known, but only a few of them have been investigated. The most important ruin sites maintained by the National Park Administration include the following. The first three are in the west and the last in the east. Others are administered and supervised by the Bureau of Land Management , which reports to the Ministry of the Interior. Only the outliers that are relatively close to the Chaco Canyon are described here.
Kin Bineola
Coordinates: 36 ° 0 ′ 11 ″ N, 108 ° 8 ′ 27 ″ W, 1850 meters above sea level. The name comes from the language of the Dine ( Kin Bii'naayooli ) and means: house of the whirlwind. Kin Bineola is an important "large house" that was connected to the Chaco Canyon at a distance of 17 kilometers by a paved road. It lies on the south rim of a flat wide canyon. The basic plan is peculiar: Kin Bineola consists of a continuous building section in the north, in which there are 8 kiva . From the part of the building, three shorter ones go south, with two more kiva in the middle . This is also the oldest part. The larger part of the main building has two floors and part of the northern part has three floors. There is also what is probably the highest kiva with a tower-like structure. There are two plazas between the three south-facing parts of the building. The construction time of Kin Bineola has two main focuses: the first is around 942, the second considerably later around 1111, which corresponds to the late Chaco period.
Outside the building complex, at a distance of 10 meters, there is a so-called "Great Kiva ", which probably had a diameter of around 17 meters. It is completely covered by sand and has not yet been excavated. Large kiva are one of the characteristics of the Chaco Canyon culture and can be found in practically all associated settlements from the period between 900 and 1200.
Kin Ya'a
Coordinates: 35 ° 40 ′ 32.80 ″ N, 108 ° 6 ′ 49.51 ″ W. It is a small "large house" which (after the tree rings) was built between 1101 and 1106 - late in the course of the Chaco Canyon culture. The arrangement of the rooms on up to four floors is oriented towards the sun in winter. A total of 26 rooms were found on the ground floor, 9 on the floor above and a small number even higher. Three of the Kiva ceremonial rooms are at floor level, albeit half sunk into the ground, while another Kiva at the rear of the complex extends over several levels up to the fourth floor. The function of such a tower is speculative, it could have served as a signal to other settlements, where there were also tower-shaped kiva . Access to the rooms on the first floor was via the flat roofs of the ground floor and the kiva located there .
There was a connection with the Chaco Canyon via a well-developed road leading to the northeast, which can now be seen as a slight, 6 to 9 meter wide depression in the terrain and on the aerial photo. The road continues to the southwest to other settlements.
Kin Klizhin
Coordinates: 36 ° 1 ′ 46.5 ″ N, 108 ° 4 ′ 26 ″ W, at an altitude of 1,850 meters. The place is a small large house about 10 kilometers west-southwest of the Chaco Canyon (Pueblo Bonito) on the plateau above a heavily branched canyon. In fact, the building had little more than 10 rooms on two levels in a row, and three kiva , one of which was tower-like and protruded from the rest of the building. Parts of this component built with unusually thick masonry still stand up to 9 meters above the ground. It is unusual that the higher side was not on the north side, but in the west. In front of the building there was a plaza enclosed by a wall, which today is hardly recognizable due to the drifting sand.
The place was connected to the core area of the Chaco Canyon by one of the paved roads that led in the other direction to the west, where it passed Kin Bineola about one and a half kilometers north.
Pueblo Pintado
Coordinates: 35 ° 58 ′ 36 ″ N, 107 ° 40 ′ 23.8 ″ W. The site is located at an altitude of 2000 meters on one of the upper reaches of the Chaco Canyon, not far from the modern town of the same name and forms the easternmost “outlier” (apart from Guadalupe). The settlement comprises around 135 rooms on up to three floors, had three kiva and the usual rounded wall between the only two wings of the building block. The construction falls shortly after 1060. Outside the wall are residential buildings and a large kiva .
Guadelupe ruin
Coordinates: 35 ° 31 '06 "N, 107 ° 07' 36" W. This archaeological site, named after a largely abandoned modern settlement around 3.5 kilometers further northwest, is the eastern one of the "Chaco Canyon outliers". The distance to the Chaco Canyon is 90 kilometers in a northwest direction. Guadalupe ruin lies on a narrow ridge that slopes sharply on all sides, around 60 meters above the surrounding terrain, not far from the Rio Puerco Canyon, which forms a fertile pocket of terrain there. Access to the ruin is only possible via a narrow, unpaved footpath, which gives it the character of a natural fortress.
Archaeological studies by Eastern New Mexico University in the early 1970s uncovered two kiva that are now protected and accessible by metal roofs. Originally, Guadalupe Ruins consisted of over 40 rectangular rooms and also included 7 kiva. The first buildings at this point have been dated to approx. 960 AD by means of tree rings, further expansions date from 1050 to 1125 AD. Other rooms date to the late Chaco phase. Later, from 1130 to approx. 1300 AD, there was settlement by immigrants from the Mesa Verde area, who left their mark on the ruins through additions and changes.
literature
- Paul F. Reed: The Puebloan society of Chaco Canyon Greenwood Press, Westport 2004, ISBN 0-313-32720-3 .
- William N. Morgan: Ancient architecture of the Southwest . University of Texas Press, Austin 1994, ISBN 0-292-75159-1 .
Web links
- Interactive database of the Chaco Research Archive about ruins in and outside the Chaco Canyon: http://www.chacoarchive.org/cra/outlier-database/
Individual evidence
- ↑ Patricia Crown, Jeffrey Hurst: Evidence of cacao use in the Prehispanic American Southwest . Proceedings of the Nacional Academy of Science. http://www.nps.gov/chcu/historyculture/upload/Crown%20PNAS%20article.pdf
- ↑ Guadalupe Ruins, Bureau of Land Management: Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 36 ° 3 '37 " N , 107 ° 57' 44" W.