The pueblo sites here date from the mid-800s to the late 1100s.
The large pueblos contain hundreds of multi-storied rooms and large kivas--Pueblo
Bonito has over 600 rooms and 40 kivas. The layout of the complexes
appears to have been designed and planned from the start, rather than randomly
added-on. Many features of the pueblos are oriented to the
cardinal directions and to the movements of the sun and moon in the sky
as they mark the yearly cycle. The capital of the Chacoan world,
Pueblo Bonito is also a part of the sacred tradition of the local Pueblo
tribes.
The walls are very thick, and elaborately veneered in different patterns
of stone. The local sandstone splits naturally into construction-ready
slabs, but the preferred stone came from the top of the cliffs, not the
bottom--so some labor was involved in gathering building materials.
Wooden beams to support the roofs were brought in from forests many miles
away.
Reddish discoloration from fire can be seen on the walls of the great
kiva in Chetro Ketl, another large pueblo. Archeologists believe
that the kiva was purposefully burned as part of a ceremonial closure,
not just abandoned. Turquoise and other valuables were found sealed
into the wall niches of the kiva. Deep walled pits in the floor of
the kiva held massive stone disks (in center photo), which served as pedestals
for the huge beams that supported the roof's weight. Modern engineers
would support the roof with just the same type of foundation.
The large pueblos sit down in the canyon, while outlying sites such
as Penasco Blanco and Pueblo Alto sit high on the canyon rims, often along
one of the linear roads that linked the Chacoan capital to its far-flung
empire. Pottery of widely varying regional styles, copper objects,
timbers, and macaw feathers provide evidence of the extensive Chacoan trade
network, north to the Colorado mountains and south to Mexico. Great
houses with Chaco-style architecture are found all through this region.
These sites are less impressive in scale, but more contemplative.
I spent some hours watching the clouds and lizards at Penasco Blanco, singing
songs
to the spirits of the people who had occupied them. If I had lived
in Chaco time, I'd have preferred living in these wide-open spaces to the
valley floor.
The Chacoan roads are several feet wide and bordered by carefully placed
stones. They run straight and true, with no regard to the terrain.
Where a steep slope got in the way, a ladder was built or a set of steps
hacked out. Look carefully and you can see the hand- and footholds
pecked into the canyon wall (just left of center in the left-hand image),
climbing from the vegetation along the left side of the large slab of rock
below. What official business of importance required such a road--both
carefully engineered and symbolically aligned? The modern trail (right)
ascends more safely, but also dramatically, through a crack in the canyon
wall. A small pueblo called Kin Kletso sits at the base of this crack,
which was probably also used by the Chaco people.
Elsewhere on the mesa tops you can find metates--scooped-out depressions
where someone ground corn, stones arranged in circles, pot sherds and charcoal
fragments. People have made homes in this place for thousands of
years, and still do.
