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Three Accessible Archaeological Sites in Northern New Mexico
Chaco Canyon National Historic Park
These large-scale ruins contain over 700 separate “rooms” or spaces, reach four stories high, and are accompanied by a vast network of ancient roads. Based on its scale, Chaco Canyon “appears” to be the heart of an ancient civilization made up of the descendants of the Pueblo Indians of today. Why was it built here? What was the climate like then? Why did they leave? And, given the harsh landscape, what attracted people to this remote land of mesas and badlands in the first place? Especially as water was scarce, then, as it is today. Chaco Canyon has been a mystery ever since its “discovery” by modern archaeologists. Of course, native peoples have always known of its existence.
At Chaco, the rocks were precisely cut, with openings supported by timbers that had to be hauled great distances. Few burials or hearths have been found within, or nearby. Similarly, few “middens” or trash mounds have been found by archaeologists. If not for housing humans, what could have been the purpose of these buildings? We can only go by the architecture, the roads, and a few carvings on nearby canyon walls and nearby mesas. These etched, spiral markings are associated with light captured during the solstice and equinox points, forming what appears to be a unique astronomical…
