THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. But how this society got its construction supplies has been a long-standing mystery. Why did this society, ancestors of. The duo wanted to find out if such a journey would be possible. Written by Anna Sofaer and Matt Dibble. One of the characteristics of the human mode of existence shows up in modelling the structures and processes of the world onto the living space, which consists of certain landscapes, locations, and habitations. They recall the brilliant knowledge of the ancestors that gave them control over natural forces, but suggest also the corrupting effect of such power. Nonetheless, there is general acceptance among archaeologists of the idea that visual astronomy had a role in Chacoan culture, if for no other reason than to provide a calendrical system. As these guys showed, you dont have to be super trained to carry a log, he said. Contemporary Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Chacoans, speak in the film of the spiritual significance of Chaco in their world today. The so-called "great houses" of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico may have taken decades or longer to construct. These timbers brought pieces of the sacred mountains to Chaco Canyon.. The actual demonstration was to try and walk a long distance carrying 66 pounds per person, walking side by side, Kram said. However, Kram et al. Landscape, directions, sun and moon, and movement of shadow and light were the materials used by the Chacoan architects and builders to express their knowledge of an order in the universe. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon - Ritterbush - 2001 - American Anthropologist - Wiley Online Library Skip to Article Content Skip to Article Information But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. He and Wilson decided to read everything they could about the properties of dried wood. Chaco is also an enduring enigma for researchers. Rather it argues that it was a center of astronomy and cosmology and that a primary purpose for the construction of the elaborate Chacoan buildings and certain roads was to express astronomical interests and to be integral parts of a celestial patterning.While the Chacoans left no written text to help us to understand their culture, their thoughts are preserved in the language of their architecture, roads and light markings. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. For years archaeologists have assumed that Chaco Canyon was primarily an ancient trading center. I am the Rural and Small Communities Reporter at KUNC. Its wide roads, circular ritual sites called kivas, and sprawling. Kram got interested in Chaco Canyon several years ago. Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. They hit a hiking pace with the log of just under 3 mphnot much slower than their normal walking speed. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon: Unveiling the Ancient Astronomy Since its release in 2000, our award-winning film, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon, has aired more than 10,000 times on 95% of PBS stations across the country. This region was historically occupied by Ancestral Puebloan people (better known as Anasazi) and is now part of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Anna Sofaer, producer and director of the Robert Redford-narrated documentaries The Sun Dagger (1982) and The Mystery of Chaco Canyon (2000), gives a 6:30 p.m. lecture on Thursday, Jan. 24. Wage theft is commonplace in San Diego. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder may have solved a 1,000-year-old supply chain mystery: How did ancient ancestral Puebloans transport heavy building materials to Chaco Canyon, one of the Southwests most important archaeological sites? That astonishment was Krams entry point into the mystery. The irritation paid off. The sun beam lines up with different spirals or edges on the equinoxes and solstices. Human porters would have needed to carry 16-foot-long wooden beamsto Chaco Canyon by footfollowing a network of ancient roads to sites like the Chuska Mountains to the west. Surprisingly, these buildings that required such large investment of labor and planning reveal little evidence of residential use. Workable solstice horizon calendars are now confirmed at Casa Chiquita, Kin Kletso, Headquarters Site A, Wijiji, Bis saani, and 125 m from Roberts Small Pueblo at 29SJ 2538/2539. The ancient Anasazi built Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, but now the area is stalked by shape-shifting creatures and visited by time travelers who left behind a mysterious artifact. or, by Daniel Strain, University of Colorado at Boulder. While the Chacoans left no written text, their thoughts are preserved in their works. Cosmographic concepts of the world edifice can be regarded as holistic, multi-layered models of evolving human ecosystems, which, by using symbolic language, helped man making the world homely and transcending the profane. The two made three round trips over the course of the day. For decades, people have wondered how ancient ancestral Puebloans transported heavy building materials to Chaco Canyon, one of the most important archaeological sites in the Southwest. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. In the process, we get a whole new picture of the intelligence at work behind Chacoan society and its architectureThe Mystery of Chaco Canyon interweaves a narrative that is both attentive to indigenous thought and values, and robustly grounded in the rigors of scientific method. Could more local solutions work. These cosmographic concepts of habitation across cultures are transformed into designed landscapes, cultic caves, tents, campsites, houses, cities, or temples. Many scientists have hypothesized about how the Chacoans might have accomplished this feat. The irritation paid off. The astronomical evidence presented supports the idea that people with at least three distinct cosmological intents collaborated at Chaco; it also supports Van Dykes hypothesis that Late Bonito phase construction at Chaco represented an attempt by a weakened ritual elite to reinvigorate their legitimacy and power. Dr. Gerald S. Hawkins, Commissioner, History of Astronomy, International Astronomical Union'A captivating look at one of the most impressive archaeological sites in North AmericaAnna Sofaer reveals the solar and lunar complexity of Chacoan buildings with impressive visual economy and clarity. Rodger Kram, associate professor emeritus of integrative physiology, and James Wilson, then an undergraduate studying biochemistry, spent the summer of 2020 training for an impressive test of endurance: Together, they carried a ponderosa pine log weighing more than 130 pounds for 15 miles up and down a forest road in Boulder County, Coloradoand they did it using only their heads in a technique inspired, in part, by sherpas in Nepal. The complexes also featured large circular ceremonial areas called kivas. Everybody else who was hiking there scratched their head and asked us what the heck we were doing, Kram recalled. Well hear their analysis, and what they think life may have been like for the child and her family. Chaco Canyon is a shallow, ten-mile canyon situated in the northwest corner of New Mexico. I cut a 1-foot-long section of pine and weighed it on my bathroom scale, said Kram, who lives on a wooded property in the hills west of Boulder. Peter Whiteley, Dept. The great number of circular ritual structures, called kivas, tell of large-scale ceremonies, possibly drawing thousands of pilgrims from across the region of the Four Corners. The film has also streamed at 130 colleges and universities where 5,000 viewings have taken place in classrooms, student centers, dorm rooms and apartments for a total time viewed of 1,800 hours. He read a statistic suggesting that the mass of a typical roof beam, or "viga," in a Chacoan Great House likely averaged around 275 kilograms (more than 600 pounds). Explore how the Chacoan people expressed a complex solar and lunar cosmology in their archMoreMore, Chaco Canyon, located in northwest New Mexico, is perhaps the only site in the world constructed in an elaborate pattern that mirrors the yearly cycle of the sun and the 19-year cycle of the moon. The Mystery Of Chaco Canyon examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico, revealing that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings oriented in a complex celestial pattern throughout this vast desert region. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. Shining light on the astronomical brilliance of the austere civilization of Chaco Canyon Narrated by Robert Redford . The study found that about 1 in 6 adult deaths in the U.S. are related to excess weight or obesity. I also felt that the place had been meant only for a certain time and a specific purpose, which thought was echoed at the end of the film. He and Wilson, who was then an undergraduate in biochemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder, read up on the properties of dried wood and published their conclusions last year. They built "Great Houses," which were as much as four stories tall and contained hundreds of rooms. Scientists may have solved a Chaco Canyon mystery by hauling logs with their heads James Wilson, left, and Rodger Kram, right, use tumplines to carry a log weighing more than 130 pounds in Boulder's Chautauqua Park. They first tried carrying a log on their shoulders. "Tumplines allow one to carry heavier weights over larger distances without getting fatigued," said Wilson, now a medical student at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. I am grateful to Anna Sofaer for involving me in her decades-long passion to explain this extraordinary and magical place.Robert Redford, The videobecomes part of the ongoing dialogue between archeologists, anthropologists, and native peoples(Its) a multi-level phenomenon, like Chaco, which embraces complexity, beauty and mystery.Rina Swentzell, Architect, Santa Clara Pueblo, A captivating look at one of the most impressive archaeological sites in North AmericaAnna Sofaer reveals the solar and lunar complexity of Chacoan buildings with impressive visual economy and clarity. Well-paced and absorbing, simultaneously poetic and analytical, this film provides a new benchmark of understanding for serious studies of ancestral-Pueblo astronomy and culture.Dr. Kiva: Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History, Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica, Astronomy and Cultural Diversity. Building upon Hayes and Leksons assessments of orientations, temporal analysis of these four traditions may improve our understanding of shifting patterns of multi-cultural collaboration and dominance among ancestral Pueblo groups. THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. They hit a hiking pace with the log of just under 3 mphnot much slower than their normal walking speed. In a 2022 study, they and their colleagues estimated that a pine log measuring about 16 feet long probably weighed closer to 85 kilograms (a little over 185 pounds). Read About our Chaco Tours in 360 West Magazine Article, The Dallas News, Adventure Pro Magazine and Cowboys & Indians. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines). the mystery of chaco canyon transcript. Redford, Robert (narrator) It is the summation of 20 years of research. Well-paced and absorbing, simultaneously poetic and analytical, this film provides a new benchmark of understanding for serious studies of ancestral-Pueblo astronomy and culture.' But how this society got its construction supplies has been a long-standing mystery. Wilson and Kram rest their log on supports called "tokmas." Chaco Canyon sits near the border between New Mexico and Colorado. I have found that a majority of the studied Chacoan structures to conform to one or more of four architectural traditions that have astronomical associations. Gazing at the horizon: heavenly phenomena and cultural preferences within northwest Scotland? Once we corrected the mass of the timbers, Wilson said, that changed almost everything about how many people were required to carry those timbers, how much time it would take to cover 60 miles., Peeking out of adoorway inside Pueblo Bonito. This is the long-awaited sequel to Anna Sofaer's classic film THE SUN DAGGER, which changed forever our perception of America's earliest Indian peoples.THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. He read a statistic suggesting that the mass of a typical roof beam, or viga, in a Chacoan Great House likely averaged around 275 kilograms (more than 600 pounds). Summaries America's Stonehenge? It seemed unrealistically high to him. It seemed unrealistically high to him. Sofaer, Anna (film producer) The irritation paid off. Thousands of people, the ancestors of today's Din, or Navajo, and Pueblo peoples, may have lived there from around A.D. 850 to 1200. And they decided to test whether the journey was possible themselves. He read a statistic suggesting that the mass of a typical roof beam, or "viga," in a Chacoan Great House likely averaged around 275 kilograms (more than 600 pounds). 'From the pyramids and temples of Egypt, to England's Stonehenge, (ancient peoples) locked their buildings to the movements of the sky gods. The team's findings show that the key to this testament to human labor may have been simple devices called tumplines. This film describes and demonstrates the intricate and precise astronomical alignments among the many buildings spread over a wide desert area. Dr. R. Gwinn Vivian, former Curator of Archaeology, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona'I highly recommend this video for anthropological, sociological, and American studies classes.' They used sticks called "tokmas," which Nepalese sherpas also employ, to take breaks, resting the log without lowering it all the way to the ground. [DVD] examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. The Mystery of CHACO CANYON - YouTube The biggest mystery in North America is Chaco Canyon . The Fajada Butte petroglyph is constructed in line with a sliver of light that shines in different spots on the calendar depending on the position of the sun. For more information, contact Bullfrog Films, Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 1-800-543-FROG (3764); info@. The latest theory is that the Chacoans may have used simple devices called tumplines, still favored by sherpas in Nepal, according to a new paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. With Chaco Canyon now declared a national park and UNESCO World Heritage site, visitors to Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico can marvel at the remains of 12 great houses and more than 4,000 areas of archaeological interest in the rocky landscape. Chaco Canyon sits near the border between New Mexico and Colorado. "It was just debilitating," Kram said. Weiner said the teams results show that supplying Chaco Canyon with goods may not have been as back-breaking an undertaking as archaeologists once assumed. NASA began researching Chaco Canyon in the 1970s, when the organization discovered some 300 kilometers of sophisticated roadways and underground kivas through multispectral scanning technology. They built "Great Houses," which were as much as four stories tall and contained hundreds of rooms. The teams findings open up a new understanding of the day-to-day lives of the people who shaped the Southwest more than a thousand years ago, said study co-author Robert Weiner.

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