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On our second weekend (July 23-24), we visited and went camping in Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Chaco Canyon is located in northwest New Mexico, about 100 miles from Cortez as the crow flies: roughly a four day walk (or a three hour van ride via modern roads). The main period of occupation at Chaco was in Pueblo II, AD 900-1150, during which several Great Houses (very large pueblos of a specific style) were built.
On Day 1, we broke up into groups by van and toured the museum and many of the major sites in the park: Una Vida, Hungo Pavi, Chetro Ketl, Pueblo Bonito, and Casa Rinconada. Then we headed to the camp ground to pitch our tents, eat some dinner, watch a presentation on astronomy at the Visitor's Center, and hang out around the camp fire. Oh, and we also got rained on. (Did we mention that Chaco Canyon is located in a desert environment and receives less than nine inches of rain per year? Pretty impressive on our part.) And that was just the first day ...
Pictures from Day 1
We've arrived at Chaco!
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Somehow three meats and three cheeses taste better in New Mexico |
Our favorite: |
The whole groups visits Una Vida first |
Nice view of the canyon and Fajada Butte |
Half of us hike up to see the petroglyphs first |
Hey you guys!!! |
Petroglyphs |
... and some more |
Queen Becky and her retinue |
Do you remember where we parked the van? |
Lew, the consumate archaeologist |
Remains of a wall joint at Una Vida |
The other half heads up the check out the petroglyphs |
Where DID we park the van? |
Classic Chaco pottery in the museum |
We found the van! |
Hiding from the hot hot Chacoan sun |
"There's gold in them thar hills!" |
Can't help it ... must ... |
An ancient Chacoan staircase up the side of the canyon |
Chaco has some big walls!
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The most perfect wall corner in all of Chaco (and perhaps the ancient world) |
Hooray for informative signs!
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A view through the windows of the Great Kiva |
The Great Kiva at Casa Rinconada |
Jason too cannot suppress the need to point at things |
Three, three, three kivas in one! |
Chetro Ketl |
Peek-a-boo! |
Now why would you want to go build a wall through a perfectly good doorway? |
Jason examines an intramural beam inside the wall |
Hello up there!
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Even Rachel needs to duck to make it through this doorway |
See what we mean about big big walls? |
The Petroglyph Trail between Chetro Ketl and Bonito |
Some people believe that spirals were a symbol for migration |
Beware the rattlesnake! (This will come in handy later.) |
See the deep grooves on the rocks? Those are from sharpening stone tools. |
An overlook of Pueblo Bonito
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"Threatening Rock" fell off the canyon wall onto the site in 1941 |
A lot of planning went in to making walls this tall stable |
You really can fit a circular kiva in a square hole! |
A mysterious diagonal doorway |
Here's lookin' at you, kid |
It's time to pitch camp! |
How does this work again? |
The sky is turning threatening |
... so we decide to move our tents out of the flood plain |
And then, of course, it starts to rain on us |
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Captions by Sean and Katie.
Web page designed by Katie McEnaney and Sean Steele. Last updated August 15, 2005.
Photos for the HSFS 2005 web site were taken by Keren Engoltz, Paul Ermigiotti,
Shaine Gans, Lew Matis, Katie McEnaney, Angela Schwab, and Sean Steele.
Copyright © 2005 by Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.
Email feedback to the Web Manager at webmanager@crowcanyon.org
