welcome to chaco!
an informative site on Chaco Canyon & Anasazi culture
Chaco Canyon was an important Anasazi (ancient Native American) cultural center from about 900 through 1130 AD. It was a meeting place, a market town, and the entire Anasazi empire radiated from Chaco, literally. Roads lead in straight lines out from Chaco Canyon in all directions. Chaco Canyon was the center of the world for the American Southwest.
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Back in 1993, the two of us made the trek to this remote park in New Mexico. We wanted to see the place in person, to walk the paths that had been trod by the Anasazi so long ago. We camped, we took photos. And while we were there, on a remote hilltop near Pueblo Bonito, Ron proposed to Dan. It was another 11 years before we were able to finally get married, in Massachusetts, Ron's home state. As you can imagine, Chaco will always hold a special place in our hearts.
We believe that the spirit of Chaco continues on the internet, in interaction, communications, trade, and community.
So look over the site, including some of our original photos from that fateful trip to Chaco Canyon. New articles, original artwork, or photos of the canyon are always welcome. Send them our way and we'll put them online with appropriate credit.
ron & dan
research & design
news
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• | Where the Moon Stood Still, And the Ancients Watched  (New York Times, 29 September 2006) |
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"The great Chaco civilization, trading partner of the Maya, established a far-reaching sphere of influence in the North American desert a millennium ago. Among the most remote and mysterious of their outposts was Chimney Rock, in what is now the very southwest corner of Colorado, 90 miles from Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, the center of the culture. Visitors can watch the lunar standstill from a fire watchtower. Why did the Chaco people — the Anasazi, or “ancestral Puebloans,” as their descendants prefer — build an enormous ceremonial Great House at Chimney Rock, so far from home, 1,000 feet above the nearest water supply and at the base of immense sandstone spires? It was not until two decades ago that archaeologists arrived at an explanation that most now accept: the Chaco people built the Great House as a lunar observatory precisely aligned to a celestial event that occurs just once in a generation." (read more ) |
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