Chaco Canyon

 

On today's side trip, Ginny and I journeyed to "The Center of an Ancient World" as we visited the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Chaco Canyon was the center of pre-Columbian civilization flourishing in the San Juan Basin of the American Southwest a thousand years ago, preserving one of the most important cultural and historical areas in the United States. Chacoans built epic works of public architecture which were without precedent in the prehistoric North American world and which remained unparalleled in size and complexity until historic times. The precise alignment of these buildings with the cardinal directions and with the cyclical positions of the sun and moon, along with an abundance of exotic trade items found within these buildings, indicate that Chaco was an advanced society with deep spiritual connections to the surrounding landscape. This culture emerged around 900 AD, but the Great Houses were abandoned around 1100 to 1200 AD (300-400 years before Christopher Columbus). Drought is frequently cited as the cause of the collapse and migration of this mysterious culture, but now the latest research casts doubt onto this deforestation and drought hypotheses and presents a more gruesome alternative.