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Between 850 BC and AD 1250 , Chaco Canyon was a major center of Ancestral Puebloan Culture . It was a hub of Ceremony , Trade , and Administration for the prehistoric Four Corners area - unlike anything before or since. Chaco is remarkable for its monumental public and ceremonial buildings, and its distinctive architecture. Building construction, and creating the associated Chacoan roads, ramps, dams, and mounds, required a great deal of well organized and skillful planning, designing, resource gathering, and construction. The Chacoan cultural sites are fragile and irreplaceable and represent a significant part of America's cultural heritage. At least one of the sites in the park, Fajada Butte , has been closed to the public due to fears of erosion caused by tourists. The sites are part of the sacred homeland of Pueblo Indian Peoples of New Mexico , the Hopi Indians of Arizona , and the Navajo Indians of the Southwest, all of whom continue to respect and honor them. PARK HISTORY In 1949 , Chaco Canyon National Monument was created on lands in Chaco Canyon deeded from the University Of New Mexico . In return for the land grant, the University maintained scientific research rights to the area. By 1959 , the National Park Service had constructed the park visitor center, staff housing, and campgrounds. In the 1970s , Dr. Robert H. Lister and Dr. James Judge established the "Chaco Center," a division for cultural research, as a joint project between the University Of New Mexico and the Park Service. A number of multi-disciplinary research projects, archaeological surveys, and limited excavations began during this time. The Chaco Center extensively surveyed the Chacoan "roads", well constructed footpaths radiating out from the central canyon. Research results at Pueblo Alto and other sites dramatically altered the academic interpretation of the Chacoan culture and this area of the American Southwest. The richness of the cultural remains at park sites led to the expansion of the small National Monument into the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park in December 1980 . An additional 13,000 acres (53 km²) were added to the park. To protect 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. CULTURAL HISTORY Archaeologists identify the first people in the broader San Juan Basin as Hunter-gatherer s designated as the Archaic . By approximately 900 BC , these people lived at sites such as Atlatl Cave and Shabik'eshchee Village. The Archaic people left very little evidence of their presence in Chaco Canyon itself. However, by approximately 100 BC , their descendants, designated as Basketmakers , were living permanently within the canyon. A small population of Basketmakers remained in the Chaco Canyon area, going through several cultural stages, until about AD 700 , when small, one-storied, masonry pueblos began to be built. These structures have been identified as characteristic of the Early Pueblo People . By AD 900 , Pueblo population was growing and the communities expanded into larger, but more closely compacted pueblos. There is strong evidence of a canyon wide turquoise processing and trading industry dating from the tenth century. At this time, the first section of the spectacular Pueblo Bonito complex was built, beginning with one curved row of rooms near the north wall. However, the meticulously designed buildings characteristic of the larger Canyon complex did not emerge until about 1030 . The Chacoan people combined pre-planned architectural designs, astronomical alignments, Geometry , Landscaping , and Engineering to create an ancient urban center of spectacular public Architecture . Researchers have concluded that the complex may have had a relatively small residential population, with larger groups assembling only temporarily for annual events and ceremonies. Smaller sites, apparently more residential in character, are scattered around the Great Houses in Chaco canyon. The extended Ancient Pueblo community also began to experience a population and building boom about this time. By 1115 , at least seventy outlying pueblos with characteristic Chacoan architecture had been built within the 25,000 square mile (65,000 km²) area of the San Juan Basin. Researchers debate the function of these outlying settlements, some large enough to be considered ''Great Houses'' in their own right. Some suggest they may have been more than agricultural communities, perhaps acting as trading posts or as ceremonial sites. Many ''outliers'' are connected to the central canyon and to one another by the enigmatic Chacoan "roads." Extending up to 60 miles (100 km), in generally straight lines, these Roads appear to have been extensively surveyed and engineered. Common "road" characteristics include a depressed bed between twenty-five to forty feet wide with edges defined by rock edging or curbing. When necessary, the roads continued on their course over obstacles, using steep stone stairways and rock ramps. Although the "roads'" overall function may never be known, scientists speculate that they were used to transport building materials or for ceremonial processions. The cohesive system that characterized Chaco Canyon began to break down about 1140 , perhaps in response to a severe region wide Drought . Outlying communities began to disappear and, by the end of the century, the buildings in the central canyon had been abandoned. Archaeological and cultural evidence leads scientists to believe people from this region migrated both south and east to the valleys and drainages of the Little Colorado River and the Rio Grande . Nomadic Southern Athabaskan speaking peoples, given the name Navajo by the Spanish, succeeded the Pueblo people in this region by approximately 1620 to 1650 . Ute tribal groups also frequented this region, primarily during hunting and raiding activities. The modern Navajo Nation lies north of Chaco Canyon, and many Navajo (more appropriately known as the DinĂ©) live in surrounding areas. CHACOAN GREAT HOUSES The architectural complex known as the Great House is a cultural marker of this time in the history of the Pueblo people. Although there are variations, Chacoan period Great Houses share several distinctive physical characteristics, including:
Great House construction is most often of cored, veneered masonry, with the load-bearing wall made of rough, flat stones set in mortar. Each stone is securely overlapped with the stones above and below, adding stability and strength. The core wall is then covered with a sandstone facing, with stone placement creating distinctive patterns. CHACO CANYON SITES The Chacoans built an amazing urban ceremonial center along a nine 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. Nine Great Houses lie nestled along the north side of Chaco Wash at the base of massive sandstone mesas. Additional Great Houses are found on mesa tops or in nearby washes or drainage areas. The fourteen known Great Houses are listed below in geographic order, beginning at the head of the canyon, near the Chaco River, and traveling southeast through steep canyon walls to the end of Chaco Wash.
Major outlying communities to the north include Salmon Ruin and '''Aztec Ruins''' ( see Aztec Ruins National Monument ), near Farmington, New Mexico. Sixty miles (100 km) south of Chaco Canyon, on the great Southern road, lies a cluster of outlying communities. The largest ''House'' is '''Kin Nizhoni''' which stands atop a 7000 foot (2,100 m) high mesa, surrounded by marsh-like bottomlands. REFERENCES
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