Chaco_Canyon

"I once asked a friend what is important, and he said 'beauty'. He was dying. He was in a sleep, a slumber, and he woke up for five minutes. That was the only question I could think to ask him. Boy, was that profound for me. To be in search of beauty; what else can you be in search of, except for that? And you find beauty in the landscape. You find beauty in your natural environment. That is where wisdom comes from. That is where art comes from. That is where aesthetics come from. That is where understanding things like intimacy, industry, respect, come from. Land is a great teacher."

Tessie Naranjo, Santa Clara tribal member

Fajada Butte

arriving at Chaco Canyon

is always a relief to me

you drive 20 miles on a bumpy dirt road

into the middle

of "no where"

only to find out

thats really what your interested in

and why you came there

in the first place

Chetro Ketl

from the US park service

From AD 850 to 1250, Chaco was a hub of ceremony, trade, and administration for the prehistoric Four Corners area--unlike anything before or since. Chaco is remarkable for its multi-storied public buildings, ceremonial buildings, and distinctive architecture. These structures required considerable planning, designing, organizing of labor, and engineering to construct. The Chacoan people combined many elements: pre-planned architectural designs, astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping, and engineering to create an ancient urban center of spectacular public architecture--one that still awes and inspires us a thousand years later.

petroglyph near Chetro Ketl

to some folks

Chaco Canyon is a big mystery

why was it built?

what it was for?

and where did everyone go?

if i knew the answer to that

i prolly wouldnt come back

foto by dreamr at Pueblo Bonito

doors leading to doors leading to doors leading to doors

pueblo bonito has a strange magic

or pull to it

i suppose it would be temtping to say

its a spiritual place

but then again

there was prolly human sacrifice done here

foto by dreamr

like the dark birds we are

most of the time in pueblo bonita

we spent looking for

dark rooms

alleys or places

with shadows

foto by dreamr

The largest of the great houses is Pueblo Bonito, the center of the Chacoan world. Planned and built in stages, Pueblo Bonito was occupied from the mid-800s to the 1200s. Eventually the structure towered four stories high and contained over 600 rooms and 40 kivas. Pueblo Bonito is one of the most extensively excavated and studied sites in North America and a place sacred to many American Indian groups.