Chaco Culture National Historical Park

I paid a brief visit to Chaco several years ago. The three images are of the Pueblo Bonito Complex.

Chaco Canyon was a major center of Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. The Chacoan sites are part of the homeland of Pueblo Indian peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi Indians of Arizona, and the Navajo Indians of the Southwest.

Archaeologists call Pueblo Bonito a "Chacoan great house." This monumental public building served surrounding communities and the region when Chaco was a major center of Puebloan culture between A.D. 850 and 1150. This building embraced many roles. Those functions included ceremony, administration, trading, storage, hospitality, communications, astronomy, and burial of the honored dead. Only a small portion seems to have served as living quarters. From the remnant walls and foundations, try to imagine the building in use. More than 600 rooms towered four and five stories above the valley floor, covering 3 acres. The buildingÕs unique D-shaped geometry enclosed two plazas with dozens of ceremonial kivas. Straight avenues linked the building with nearby and distant great houses.

This is a version of what Chaco looked like in it's prime. The image belowand text above are taken from a government website on Chaco.

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