Chaco Culture National
Historic Park in New Mexico, USA
Chaco Culture National Historic Park is part of the
National Park System of the United States. It is noted for archaeological sites
of the ancient indigenous Chaco culture of the area. Left at the site are the
dwellings of the ancient people, known as ancestral pueblos. The largest pueblo
of Chaco Canyon is called Pueblo Bonito, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Chaco are an ancient indigenous people of
the American southwest, located near the Navajo Nation. These desert people
constructed their great houses, or pueblos, from sandstone around 850 to 1250
AD. The town served as a central hub of the region, but was abandoned sometime
around 1300, probably due to climate change.
The park is located amongst New Mexico’s
canyons and mesas, notably Fajada Butte, which can be viewed near the park’s
south entrance, towering 400 feet high above the canyon. The Sun Dagger is an
ancient artifact that may have been used to track the date of the summer solstice,
suggesting that the Chaco people practiced archaeoastronomy with their
structures.
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