An exploration into the past

From the Coastal Plain to the High Desert
July 17-18, 2014

CHACO CANYON AND AZTEC RUINS

           Albuquerque had a surprise. After visiting the petroglyph area, the museum at UNM and the Acoma Pueblo, I was able to visit the new museum and cultural center of all the 19 Pueblos. The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center opened less than two years ago, no far from the Old Town area.  It is an effort to show a global vision of their past, present and future to visitors who might not have a chance to get to some of the more distant pueblos.  The museum section has an excellent collection of artifacts and exhibits that show their development through time.  It also shows their struggles during Spanish colonial times and their near destruction under the U. S. reservation system. Other parts of the center are devoted to  a presentation of their current legal status and the re-vindication that is taking place. Finally, there are art galleries and handcraft exhibits where the ceramists and jewelers are presented at a new aesthetic level of mastery.  Visit:  Indianpueblo.org

Fig. 1 - Location Map of Chaco and Aztec Ruins

           


      The next stops were Chaco Canyon and Aztec Ruins, sites of the highest achievements of the Ancestral Puebloan people.

Fig. 2 - A laccolith rising from the desert plain, on the way to Chaco Canyon
The remains of a heavily eroded volcanic intrusion

CHACO CANYON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h9WlozwiTQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRnn7bQh6Zg&list=PL298CFE85DF41248B

Fig. 3 - Map of Chaco Canyon showing the main Casas Grandes

       Chaco Canyon is the location of the largest collection of major archaeological sites in a single area in the United States.  I was only able to visit Wijiji on a hike, and Hungo Pavi and Pueblo Bonito on the park road.  Pueblo Bonito is the best example of a Casa Grande, a large complex building with hundreds of rooms, many kivas, ceremonial plazas, and dwellings of up to four or five stories high. There was extensive irrigation from water captured and channeled from the mesas, as well as small dams on the Chaco Wash, a mostly dry river bed that floods after the rains. 

Fig. 5 - Artist's rendering of Pueblo Bonito

Fig. 4 - Park entrance

Fig. 6 - Pueblo Bonito ruins from the air

      Chaco became the dominant center of the area in the mid 800s and lasted for three centuries. This can be clearly seen in the grand scale of the architecture and site planning. 

  Using masonry techniques unique for their time, Chacoans built massive stone buildings called Great Houses or Casas Grandes. Each had multiple stories containing hundreds of rooms, much larger than any they had previously built. The buildings were planned from the start, in contrast to the usual practice of adding rooms to an existing room block as needed.  Although each is unique, all Great Houses at Chaco Canyon share architectural features that make recognizable its unique style. Chaco is a World Heritage Site.

Fig. 8 - Inside rooms.  Beam stumps show
second floor level

Fig. 7 - An inside passage

      Lines of sight between the great houses allowed communication.  Additionally, there is a complex system of roads in straight lines going or coming from many outlying sites.  Chaco Canyon was the center.  Sophisticated astronomical observatories and markers, water control devices, planting platforms, and many great Kivas make Chaco unique.  The buildings were placed within a landscape surrounded by sacred mountains, mesas, and shrines that still have deep spiritual meaning to the present Pueblo people.  Trade was important.  Chaco controlled the turquoise trade that found its way all the way to the Mayan region and Central Mexico.  Birds feathers and shells of tropical species have been found among the excavated items.

       

Fig. 10 - Vases found at Pueblo Bonito
Scientists have discovered remains of
Cocoa bean paste (Chocolate) brought from
Central America

Fig. 11 - Pottery from the Chaco Area

In the 1100s and 1200s, change came to Chaco as new construction slowed and its role as a regional center declined.  Chaco's influence continued at Aztec, Mesa Verde, the Chuska Mountains, and other centers to the north, south and west.  In time, people shifted away from Chacoan ways, migrated to new areas, and changed their construction typology. 

Fig. 12 - Pot from Pueblo Bonito

Fig.  9 - Taking a break at Hungo Pavi

Fig. 13 - Ruins of Hungo Pavi 

Fig. 14 - Stairs carved on a canyon wall
Part of a Chaco Road to Pueblo Bonito

      











  








AZTEC RUINS

Aztec Ruins are a complex of the Chaco Culture but situated outside of the Chaco Canyon. It consists of a large Casa Grande with one ceremonial Kiva and many other domestic ones. It also has other unexcavated room blocks and kivas.  The name is a misnomer since it has no relation to the Aztec culture of central Mexico.  Explorers during the colonial times gave it a name familiar to them as the high quality of the stone masonry reminded them of the many buildings in Mexico.  There are other names in the area that help to increase the confusion. A nearby town is named Cortez, a river and a region are called Montezuma, and there is another site called Toltec.

Fig. 15 - Site map of Aztec Ruins

      


 The most significant parts of the ruins are its small museum that has a large collection of Chaco style pottery, and the ceremonial Kiva.  It is the only reconstructed ceremonial Kiva in the entire archaeological region.  It is the only place where a visitor can have the holistic experience of entering and standing inside a ceremonial, sacred space.  The contrast  between the hot desert at 98 degrees Fahrenheit outside and the cool 76 degrees space inside is a pleasant surprise. It is also a demonstration of effective architecture. 

Fig. 16 - Entrance to Aztec

Fig. 17 - Chaco style mug at Aztec

Fig. 18 -  Aerial view of Aztec Casa Grande with ceremonial Kiva in the center of the plaza

Fig. 17 - Entrance to the ceremonial Kiva at Aztec Ruins

Fig. 18 - The Ceremonial Kiva at Aztec Ruins
Roof supported by four pilars, partially underground, sipapu in the center, and ceremonial pit fireplaces on the sides.   Notice T style windows all around and roof opening.  The original entrance was through a ladder coming into the roof opening.

Fig.19 - Section of a masonry wall

      


     The masonry style at Aztec is a continuity of the late Chaco style.  Well shaped stones are used on the faces with a rough fill in the center.


  Aztec used a greenish harder stone to stabilize the soft sandstone. The green stripes act as weight distributing beams.

Fig. 20 - Black on White jar

      Aztec ruins offer a singular experience to the visitor. Entering the ceremonial Kiva is a religious experience without parallel in any other Anazasi site.  This is the place where the community met for special gatherings, social or religious.  The Kiva is large enough to accommodate all the resident population. 

          A gallery level behind the windows creates a series of alcoves where children and women could observe down. This Kiva has two concentric walls making the circle and the small alcoves fit between them.  They also act as buttresses keeping the great circular room from opening and crashing with the weight of the thick roof. 

Key words: Texas 4th-7th grade Social Studies, Native American tribes, habitat and lifezones, cultural adaptation, Anazasi, Ancestral Pueblo, Rio Grande cultures, New Mexico and Colorado tribes, Paleo-Indians, Archaic and Classic Indians of the Southwest, Geography of the Rio Grande, Mesa Verde, Chaco, Taos, Acoma, Indian ruins, archaeological artifacts, teacher resources, Fund for Teachers, Texas.