Explore the mysterious ruins of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
In the middle of nowhere in Northwest New Mexico lies the ruins of a civilization, the Ancestral Puebloans (or the Anasazi). They settled most of the Four Corners area of the Southwest. This was not one people, but a mixture of similar cultures that disappeared before the Spanish arrived. The Ancestral Puebloans left ruins in their wake. Often leaving everything behind for looters and pot hunters to later find. Many of the larger settlements have been preserved in national monuments (Hovenweep, Navajo and Aztec Ruins) and national parks (Mesa Verde) today, but none are more mysterious than the settlement of Chaco Canyon.
Beautiful Chaco Canyon.
Chaco Canyon is located on the arid Colorado Plateau. The Chacoans changed the landscape to suit their needs as farmers, but it was still not an ideal place to build a large settlement. Overtime this settlement grew in the densest settlement of pueblos in the Southwest, including the ruin filled Mesa Verde.
Chaco Canyon has been visited by hunter gathers for thousands of years before anyone had the idea to set up permanent camp here around 800 CE. These early villages morphed into what today we would recognize as a pueblo. By the 10th century, the Chacoans were living in dense apartment like pueblos until the early 12th century when it all began to unravel. A drought hit making the landscape unable to support such large numbers in the canyon. People left. Some settled in what we know today as Aztec Ruins and other sites up by Mesa Verde.
The most famous of the Chacoan Great Houses (what the larger pueblos are called) is Pueblo Bonito. It is massive, covering an area of 2 acres and containing at least 650 rooms with sections as high as four stories. The structure was occupied between 828 and 1126 and a population of no more than 800 people but probably much lower. Not all of the rooms would have been used as housing. Basically, no one really knows how many people would have lived here at any given time.
The ruins of Pueblo Bonito from the ground.
Pueblo Bonito was massive. There was a large rockslide that destroyed a section of the pueblo. Ruins of the smaller familial kivas are near the rockslide.
Pueblo Bonito from the rockslide. The pueblo had a ton of kivas. Each kiva would have belonged to an extended family network.
Parts of Pueblo Bonita could have reached as high as five stories.
The Great Kiva (Pueblo Bonita had two.) would have been a major ceremonial place and place for a great number of people could gather as well.
Pueblo Bonito is also great for its section of intact rooms which you can explore. The doorways were really low and small.
The beams would have supported the floors. They are original. While mostly treeless today, it was originally forested. Land was cleared for construction and farming. When a large drought hit, the land dried up and couldn’t support the population anymore.
Next to Pueblo Bonito is Pueblo del Arroyo. Construction started about 1060 CE, after Pueblo Bonito was built. Some theorize Pueblo del Arroyo was built because of overcrowding at Pueblo Bonito. It is the only great house that was built away from the canyon walls.
Pueblo del Arroyo is not as intact as Pueblo Bonito. However, the section of the outer walls still remains. The little doorway would have led to a storage room.
Another one of the larger Great Houses was Chetro Ketl. Construction began around 990 CE. The inhabitants left Chetro Ketl by 1250 CE, probably also due to the drought. The pueblo contained over 400 rooms and was laid out in a D shape. Rooms on two sides of the D and a large open plaza with a giant Great Kiva.
One of the unique features of Chetro Ketl is that it had columns in the front. They were later filled in, but you can still make out where the columns were.
Lots of change happened here. Someone filled in a Chacoan T-frame door, built another wall and created a smaller doorway.
The giant Great Kiva in the center of the plaza. I have never seen one this big before. The rectangle boxes are foot drums and would have been covered in animal hides and drummed with feet.
The raised circular wall is part of a tower kiva. The kiva would have been normal height on the inside. The walls would have been filled in to great a higher floor. It would have been reached by rooms higher in the structure, maybe from the 3rd or 4th floor.
The back wall is pretty well preserved. The long groove on the wall would have actually used to hold the floor beams for a small balcony. The wood survived in place until the early 1900s.
The Chacoans liked to build roads. No one knows for sure why. They didn’t have horses or wagons. Everything had to be carried by foot. They were probably ceremonial or for navigation purposes. For the most part they are in straight lines, even up and down cliff faces.
On the top you can still see the steps that they carved out of the rock. Not sure how they made it all the way down though.
The Chacoans mysteriously vanished. They settled into other areas, possibly integrating with other communities. They did, however, make a mark on the landscape. They built great houses all over the four corners and other cultures adopted some of their beliefs and architectural styles. They didn’t completely disappear. They just went somewhere else.
Check out another Chacoan Great House, a canyon full of ruins and an old fashioned trading post!
