The Mysteries of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
The excerpt below is from a travel account that my friend Ellen shared with family and friends after her trip to the southwest. I have Ellen's permission to post her write-up and photos. Enjoy, as I did. It's an almost haunting description of a very interesting spot:
"Perhaps the most mysterious site in the southwest is Chaco Canyon. One must be highly motivated to reach here because the roads are atrocious! We had previously accessed it from the south and I still remember a sign about choosing your rut carefully because you will be in it for the next 20-something miles. This time we approached it from the north and it was much easier with only about 7 miles of unpaved roads.
About a thousand years ago, the ancestors of today's pueblo peoples built mostly ceremonial kiva structures which are unique to the region. They seem to have been built "for show" because archaeologists have found few signs of domestic life. But why? For whom? And what happened?...
At its completion, Pueblo Bonito was the size of the Roman coliseum! Archaeologists believe that complex ritual ceremonies took place in the great kivas timed to the solar cycle -- to celebrate the sacred sun in relation to the universe. Archaeologists think that Chaco Canyon may have been a center of cosmology. Archeoastronomer Anna Sofaer discovered a complex astronomical clock at the top of Fajada Butte with solar daggers precisely marking solstices and equinoxes. There is clearly astronomical significance, but what?
The complex buildings of Chaco Canyon will always hold secrets of spiritual power. As our geologist concluded, "The more we find, the less we know."... This special place deserves another visit...."
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