Page 252 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

THE AMERICAS Chaco Culture National Historical Park

One of the most impressive cultural sites in the American
Southwest, Chaco Culture National Historical Park at Chaco
Canyon reflects the sophistication of the Ancestral Puebloan
civilization (also known as the Anasazi) that existed here. With
CHACO CULTURE Now York• its six "great houses" (pueblos containing hundreds of rooms),
NATIONAL
HISTORICAL PARK Washington, D.C. •
and many lesser sites, the canyon was once the political,
religious, and cultural center for this people. It is thought that
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Chaco's population was small; despite the size of the pueblos,
GULF OF
MEXICO the land could not have supported a larger community.
Archeologists believe that the city was mainly used as a
THE KIVAS ceremonial gathering place, with a year-round population of Arrowhead in Chaco
Usually, a pueblo had a number of adjoining fewer than 3,000 people. The inhabitants sustained Museum
kivas (pit-houses), as well as one great kiva. themselves largely by growing crops and trading.
Early smaller kivas seem to have been
dwellings, but most scholars agree that the
great kivas were ceremonial places, barred to PUEBLO BONITO
women and children, not merely community Pueblo Bonito is an example of a "great
gathering sites. The first Chaco Canyon kJvas house." It was built in stages over the
course of 300 years, from AD 850. This
appeared around AD 700, and while most
reconstruction shows how it might have
were round, some were D-shaped. Kivas were
looked, with its D-shaped four-story structure
entered through a hoi e in the roof and there
that contained more than 650 rooms.
was also a hole in the floor called a sipapu,
which possibly symbolized the people's
connection from birth with Mother Earth. Near
the center was a fireplace, and air shafts on the
sides of the kivas made them more livable.

OTHER ANASAZI SITES
The Aztec Ruins National Monument was Kivas - -,---"""-=,--- ---">.:l!
These were round, pit-
built by Puebloans in the 12th century. This
like rooms dug in to the
important archeological site I ies 69 miles ground and roofed with
( 111 km) north of Chaco Canyon. There is a beams and earth.
reconstructed great kiva here, as well as a
pueblo consisting of 4 50 interconnecting
EXPLORING CHACO
rooms bui It of stone and mud. Farther to the
north is Mesa Verde, Spanish for "green The area around Chaco
Canyon is full of hauntingly
table," which was inhabited by Puebloans
beautiful ruins I eft behind
between 550 and 1300. The Navajo National by the Ancestral Puebl oa n
Monument, located 223 miles (358 km) north- people. In addition to the sites
west of Chaco Canyon, was also occupied by described here, they include
Una Vida, the fifth-largest
the Puebloan people in the late 13th century.
great house, with intriguing
Three of their best-preserved diff dwellings, petroglyphs, Wiji ji, Pueblo del
including the splendid Keet Steel, are here. AJ"royo, and Kin Kletso,
a two-story pueblo.
THEANASAZI KEY Pueblo Bonito
Around AD 400, the Chaco Canyon people ::::l Highway
Cas a
began to settle in well-defined groups with a = Unpaved 10ad
common culture known as "Anasazi," a Navajo - Hiking route
name said to mean "Ancient Enemy Ancestor." ~ Camp s~e/R\1 0 km 2
For centuries, their villages stayed small, but a fii1 Pi:nic area
0 miles
population explosion in the 11th century I ed to 0 Vis~or information
the construction of elaborate cliff dwellings and
the bui !ding of a road system to connect some
400 settlements. Agriculture thrived-damns KEY DATES
and irrigation systems were built and more
700-900 850-1250 1896-1900 1920 1987
successful strains of corn (maize) were planted
to feed the growing population. However, Domestic and ceremonial Chaco canyon serves as Archeologist George H. Edgar L. Hewitt Chaco Culture Natbnal
kivas are bui~ in Chaco a religious, trade, and Pepper and his team excavates the nearby Historical Park is named
by 1130 the towns began to empty, perhaps canyon. administration centerfor excavate Pueblo Bonito. Chetro Ketl. a UNESCO World
because of drought. People migrated, and by the Anasazi people. Her~age Site.
the 13th century the canyon was deserted.