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Rhe Chaco World
The Chaco World

29 Sj 2324 Jpg

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29 Sj 2395 Jpg

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Accropolis Jpg

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Pueblo Alto contains about 130 masonry rooms and 18 kivas; the roomblocks appear to have been single-story throughout. Unlike most other great houses of the same time, Pueblo Alto does not appear to have a great kiva. Initial construction of this classic D-shaped great house occurred about A.D. 1020, with additions and renovations continuing into the late 1000s. The front arc of rooms enclosing the plaza likely was added in the early 1100s. A large trash mound lies 150 feet (46 m.) southeast of the pueblo. A low masonry wall connects Pueblo Alto to the nearby great house of New Alto. The site was partially excavated by the National Park Service’s Chaco Project, primarily from 1976 to 1978, by Thomas Windes, Peter McKenna, Wolky Toll, and several other Chaco Project archaeologists. The undertaking included trenching the refuse mound which also had been examined in 1927 by Frank Roberts Jr. as part of his effort to identify the sequence of pottery types used by Chacoans through time. (Chaco Research Archives)

The Andrews great house is a 22-room, two-story structure that contains two blocked-in kivas, three small kivas in a plaza, and a nearby great kiva. My mean ceramic dates suggest an occupation from A.D. 970–1084, while Van Dyke’s dates from nearby middens range from A.D. 919+/-56 to 1017+/-90, with the midden closest to the great house suggesting an occupation from A.D. 927–1107 (Van Dyke 1997a). (Chaco Research Archives)

The main reference for the great houses in Manuelito Canyon is Fowler, Stein, and Anyon (1987), but also see Fowler and Stein (1992, especially Fig. 9-4). Weaver (1978) is the best source of information on the community. Population figures presented above are for the A.D. 1100-1150 period. Weaver used a different formula to estimate a population of 1498 or 42 people per km2, or twice as much as the above estimate. (Chaco Research Archives)

Aztec Community B W Jpg

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Basically Aztec Ruins National Monument.

Aztec East is one of several prominent structures composing a tight aggregation of 12 sites known collectively as Aztec Ruins, which are preserved today in a 27-acre (10.93 hectare) plot known as Aztec Ruins National Monument. (Chaco Research Archive)

The Aztec West Ruin is a D-shaped structure with a low-curving wall that connects the southward-extending wings and encloses a large plaza. An estimated 405 rooms and 28 kivas (including both early Chacoan style and late occupation kivas) are present in addition to a centrally located great kiva. (Chaco Research Archive)

B W Holmes Jpg

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The majority of features relating to the Pueblo II-Pueblo III occupation of the Holmes Group complex are located toward the western portion of the site. These include two two-story roomblocks (F35.0, F36.0) and two great kivas (F34.1, F40.0), located within approximately 240 m of each other in the central portion of the group. (Chaco Research Archive)

Bc 50 Jpg

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A small residential structure located just east of Casa Rinconada and a ½ mile south of Pueblo Bonito. This rectangular building, also known as “Tseh So,” had twenty-six ground-floor masonry rooms with four kivas along the east side. The excavators also identified substructure and superstructure components of the building indicating multi-story architecture. (Chaco Research Archive)

Bc 51 Jpg

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A small residential structure located just east of Casa Rinconada and a ½ mile south of Pueblo Bonito. This rectangular building, also known as “Tseh So,” had twenty-six ground-floor masonry rooms with four kivas along the east side. The excavators also identified substructure and superstructure components of the building indicating multi-story architecture. (Chaco Research Archive)

Bc 53 Jpg

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Bc 53 is a small house settlement located on the south side of the canyon, opposite Pueblo Bonito. Bc 53 lies 0.2 miles (0.33 km.) east of Casa Rinconada and about 450 feet (137 m.) east-northeast of Bc 51, on the eastern edge of the cluster of small house sites in the Casa Rinconada rincon. (Chaco Research Archive)

Bc 57 Jpg

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A small house site on the south side of the canyon along a natural hillside. Bc 57 is adjacent to Bc 58 and approximately 400 feet (122 m.) northeast of Casa Rinconada. The site was excavated by the University of New Mexico and School of American Research field school under the direction of Paul Reiter and includes approximately nine masonry rooms, three enclosed kivas, one exterior kiva, and one pithouse. Ceramic assemblages from the site’s refuse-filled rooms suggest that activity at and around the site likely spanned the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries, but was not continuous throughout that period. (Chaco Research Archive)

Bc 58 Jpg

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A small-house site located on the south side of the canyon between Bc 57 and Casa Rinconada, approximately 290 feet (85 m.) northeast of the latter and along the same natural hillside. Bc 58 was excavated during the 1947 season of the University of New Mexico and School of American Research field school under the direction of Paul Reiter and includes roughly 14 masonry rooms and three kivas (two of which are subsurface). Rather than the simple rectangular footprint of Bc 57, the roomblock of Bc 58 is amorphous, suggesting rooms may have gradually been added as necessary. (Chaco Research Archive)

Bc 59 Jpg

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A small house site located about 325 feet (100 m.) southeast of Casa Rinconada and along the Casa Rinconada trail, Bc 59 was excavated in 1947 as part of the University of New Mexico/School of American Research field school. The site includes approximately 30 masonry rooms and five kivas. (Chaco Research Archive)

Bee Burrow Jpg

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The Bee Burrow ruin is a rectangular structure with at least eleven rooms and two kivas. The long axis of the building is oriented approximately 20 degrees north of east, and therefore the front of the structure faces 20 degrees east of south. The outside dimensions of the structure are approximately 25 m E-W x 18 m N-S. The outside wall varies in thickness from 60 to 70 cm, and the interior walls range from 50 to 60 cm in thickness. (Chaco Research Archive)

Big House Jpg

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Big House is characteristic of the type of Anasaz i structure
often referred to as a plaza-oriented pueblo or walled town. At first glance, Big House appears to be a different type of
building than Kin Hocho'i and Ats'ee Nitsaa. Closer examination, however, reveals that the familiar architectural
order of the former dtual landscapes has been collapsed into
a single structure. (The Anasazi Great House in Space, Time, and Paradigm, Andrew P. Fowler and John R. Stein)

Bis Sani B W Jpg

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This is a prehistoric “community” which included two great houses, eight smaller “village” pueblos, 8 fieldhouse sites, two special-use sites, and seven scatters of occupational debris. Though a small number of these sites were occupied between Basketmaker III and and late Pueblo II, the majority of them were occupied only during early Pueblo III times (1050-1150 A.D.) The entire community was abandoned at the end of the time period. (Chaco Research Archive)

Structures such as the Old Indian
Racetrack, Kello Blancett, Flora Vista,
Salmon, and the structures of the Aztcc
complex may be architectural elements of
a regional center constructed on the scale
of Chaco. (Chaco Research Archive)

Candelaria Ruin B W Jpg

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Candelaria Pueblo, also known as Las Ventanas, is a Chacoan-style site located within the El Malpais National Monument. The site consists of a two-story great house with approximately 75-90 rooms. Built circa 1050-1100 A.D., (Wikepedia)

Casa Abajo Jpg

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Also known as Indian Creek and LA 17083. Originally documented by Marshall et al. (1979), it was reexamined by Windes (2007). Casa Abajo is a relatively large “L”-shaped pueblo which contains nine rooms and has an enclosed plaza. The quantity of masonry rubble give the house a massive appearance. (Chaco Research Archive)

Casa Chiquita lies at the mouth of Cly’s Canyon approximately 1 mile (1.6 km.) northwest of Pueblo Bonito, just north of the Peñasco Blanco trail. The great house has never been formally excavated, The site forms a compact, square roomblock with approximately 34 ground-floor rooms surrounding a central, elevated kiva. Casa Chiquita was originally two or three stories tall. (Chaco Research Archive)

Casa Rinconaa and the BC small sites.

Casa Rinconada Jpg

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Casa Rinconada has an average interior diameter of 63 feet (19.2 m.). It contains all features generally associated with great kivas including a firebox, an inner bench, four large seating pits that served as roof supports, two masonry vaults/foot drums, and 34 niches encircling the great kiva. (Chaco Research Archive)

Casamera B W Jpg

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Most of the research in Casamero has focused on the great house after which the community is named. This structure, consisting of 21 ground-floor and six second-story rooms, includes a plaza area in front as well as a blocked-in kiva. A road appears to approach the great house from the southeast. (Chaco Research Archive)

Cero Pomo B W Jpg

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This appears to be a great house of approximately 40 rooms with 3 blocked-in kivas, 2 plaza kivas, and 2 nearby great kivas. Possibly 2 prehistoric roads approach the great kivas and great house. (Chaco Research Archive)

Cero Prieta B W Jpg

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Also known as LA 48056. Cerro Prieto was mapped in part by John Stein and Dabney Ford as Site 472. Cerro Prieto is an extensive complex of at least 17 roomblocks, only 10 of which have been documented in any detail. The central core of the complex is on the ridge top and consists of Units 1 to 3. (Chaco Research Archive)

Dune Ruin B W Jpg

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Chetro Ketl B W Jpg

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Chetro Ketl is the second largest great house in the canyon in number of rooms (approximately 400 ground and upper-story) and the largest in surface area (more than 5.7 acres or 2.3 hectares). The great house may have risen to four stories along areas of the north side. Talus Unit is a small structure composed of an east and west building located against the cliff behind the back wall of Chetro Ketl. (Chaco Research Archive)

Cordel B W Jpg

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Cox Ranch B W Jpg

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This community is also known as Mogollon Pueblo due the obvious influence from the south; the site form states “it would appear that this site is a Reserve Mogollon settlement which is receiving considerable influence from the Cibola Anasazi populace.” The community consists of two clusters: 13 buildings and a possible great kiva depression in a northern cluster and two buildings in the southern cluster. The northern cluster includes one great house. (Chaco Research Archive)

Coyote Sings Here B W Jpg

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This two-story structure includes 20 rooms and two kivas in a 550 m2 area (Wilcox estimates a total interior floor area of 500 m2). An unusual number of low exterior walls also surround the great house, suggesting the presence of at least one enclosed plaza. Mean ceramic dating suggests that use of the structure spanned from A.D. 990–1081. (Chaco Research Archive)

Crumbled House B W Jpg

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Crumbled House is a ruined great house of the Ancestral Puebloans, just east of the Chuska Mountains, in New Mexico. Based on ceramic dating, the buildings were built and occupied between 1100 and 1250 AD.^[1] Crumbled House is a Chaco Protection Site, or special management area.^[2] (Wikepedia)

Cuatros Payasos Jpg

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Also site number LA51142.

Dalton Pass Jpg

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The great house, about which little is known (Powers et al. 1983:205–207), is a two-story structure featuring approximately 20 rooms, four small kivas, two of which are in an enclosed plaza. The larger kiva in the plaza of the Great House may be a Great Kiva too, but it is only 9m. A second great kiva is reported to be about 20 m southwest of the great house. Based on maps of the site, and considering the second story, the interior space of the great house measures 675m2 (Kantner 1999), although Wilcox suggests that its 825m2. Mean ceramic dates for the structure suggest an occupation range from A.D. 880-1132. (Chaco Research Archive)

Dittert Site B W Jpg

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The site consists of an L-shaped masonry building, containing about 30 ground-floor rooms, 8 of which were excavated by Dittert. There may be two stories of construction along the north side. Near the southwest corner is a circular kiva about 6 meters in diameter, which was also excavated by Dittert. The kiva appears to have been partially housed in the roomblock. (Chaco Research Archive)

Dune Ruin B W Jpg

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South to Chaco Canyon, north to Aztec Ruins.

Eal Morris B W Jpg

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The Earl Morris Ruin is a rectangular roomblock located 65 to 70 m north of the East Roomblock of Aztec East. It is roughly 64-by-34 m in size and stands 2.8 m above the modern ground surface. Seven kiva depressions corresponding to Stein and McKenna’s 1989 map (Kivas A-G) were identified during the AERLMP project. (The NPS)

East Ruin B W Jpg

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East Community is an Ancestral Puebloan great house community and archeological site located 12 miles (19 km) east of Pueblo Bonito, at the eastern end of Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico, United States. Archeological evidence uncovered during the 1980s suggests the site was occupied by both Chacoans and Mesa Verdeans. Eighty-two structures have been identified in the area, including a great house that contains twenty-five rooms and several small house sites. At least one kiva has been uncovered there, but no great kivas. (Wikepedia)

The El Faro great house is irregular in form; it has small, rectangular rooms on the east, two kivas in the center, and four large rooms wrapping around the north and west sides of the kivas. The eastern portion of the El Faro great house may have been two stories, but the rest was probably one-story. Tree-ring dates from El Faro indicate that it was built in the early 1100s A. D. (Powers et al. 1983). (The University of Idaho)

El Rito Jpg

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The El Rito great house is a rectangular mound, two-and possibly three-stories high in portions. It has an estimated 55 rooms, four kivas, and an associated great kiva (Allan and Gauthier 1976). Two of the kivas and the great kiva are located in an open plaza area to the south of the ruin, while two others are present within the roomblock. This great house community is located on the hill slopes and flats around El Rito Creek, southwest of San Mateo and northwest of the summit of Mt. Taylor. (Chaco Research Archive)

Fajada Butte Jpg

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Fajada Butte Jpg

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Fajada Butte (Banded Butte) rises 135 meters above the canyon floor. Although there is no water source on the butte, there are ruins of small cliff dwellings in the higher regions of the butte. Analysis of fragments of pottery found on Fajada show that these structures were used between the 10th to 13th centuries.^[3] The remains of a 95-meter-high, 230-meter-long ramp are evident on the southwestern face of the butte (Ford 1993, p. 478). The magnitude of this building project, without an apparent utilitarian purpose, indicates that Fajada Butte may have had considerable ceremonial importance for the Chacoan people. (Wikepedia)

Farmers B W Jpg

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Approximately 1.6 km northeast of the Aztec complex and just above tle confluence of the Rio de Los Animas and Farmer Arroyo, the river swings into the northern gravel bench. Here the ascent to the upper surface of the terra: is very precipitous. Located atop the bench are three massive buildings of Bonito style construction, segments of apparent roadways, a great kiva, an isolated large kiva, and three other possible great kivas. (The NPS)

Fenced Uo Horse Canyon Community Jpg

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The Casa Vibora complex consists of a large masonry pueblo of winged-rectangular arrangement which contains an estimated 133 ground-floor rooms, twenty second-floor rooms, an enclosed plaza area, nine associated small kivas, one great kiva with a contiguous house mound, and an extensive midden area. 26 rooms and the great kiva were excavated by soldiers at the command of a past commander of Fort Wingate. (Chaco Research Archive)

Flora Vista Jpg

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no data available.

Greenlee B W Jpg

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This Chacoan structure is situated on a low mesa top overlooking a western tributary valley of Fajada Wash. The site is southwest of Chaco Canyon National Monument Headquarters and northwest of Red Mountain. (Chaco Research Archive)

Halfway House B W Jpg

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Halfway House, also known as LA 15191, lies on a slight knoll on the western slope of an unnamed tributary drainage of Gallegos Wash. The site is south-southwest of Huerfano Trading Post and southeast of Carson Trading Post, New Mexico Halfway House is a barely visible rectangular house mound, one story in height, with an estimated 12 rooms. Because aeolian deposits enshroud the mound, its height is difficult to estimate, but a height of about 2 m is probable. (Chaco Research Archive)

Haystack Great Kiva Jpg

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Haystack is located in the Red Mesa Valley. Three great houses and five great kivas are found scattered throughout this community. (Chaco Research Archive)

Haytstack Jpg

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Haystack is located in the Red Mesa Valley. Three great houses and five great kivas are found scattered throughout this community. (Chaco Research Archive)

Hogback B W Jpg

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Also known as LA 11594 Component A. This site, located along the Chaco River a mere 11 km south of the San Juan River, consists of an “L”-shaped masonry house with a semicircular enclosed plaza area containing a kiva and three associated midden areas. (Chaco Research Archive)

Numerous other unit house complexes occur nearby, comprising the nuclear community of which this site is the center. There is an extensive view reaching to the Chuska and La Plata mountains. (Chaco Research Archive)

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