New Mexico PBS has broadcast this full-length documentary more than 90 times. Within the published archaeoastronomy work attention to Pueblo ethnography, archaeological evidence including temporal data, statistical significance, and the consideration of multiple hypotheses has varied widely. Thousands of people, the ancestors of todays Din, or Navajo,and Pueblo peoples, may have lived there from around A.D. 850 to 1200. Ancient Observatories: Chaco Canyon - Exploratorium In Handbook of Landscape Archaeology, edited by Bruno David and Julian Thomas, pp. 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. Your California Privacy Rights | Do Not Sell My Personal Information Join this. Adjust the colors to reduce glare and give your eyes a break. In a 2022 study, they and their colleagues estimated that a pine log measuring about 16 feet longprobably weighed closer to 85 kilograms(a little over 185 pounds). Chaco Canyon Facts, Worksheets & Early Settlement For Kids - KidsKonnect The Mystery of Chaco Canyon | WXXI These straps, which sherpas, or native mountain peoples of Nepal, still widely use today, loop over the top of the head. Most large complexes had four or five stories and averaged over 200 rooms, with the. We chose a forest road up here in the foothills and outside of Nederland and we walked up and down this darn road. The ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built in 850 and 1150 A.D. in New Mexico, are described in the movie. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon Unveiling the Ancient Astronomy Educational documentaries Follow Browse more videos Playing next 55:42 The Mystery of Chaco Canyon Unveiling the Ancient Astronomy Educational documentaries 0:32 Sacred Tattoos of Thailand: Unveiling the Magic, Power and Mystery of Thailand's Ancient Tattoos The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern throughout a vast desert region. Multiple Great Houses exhibit two of these traditions in combination. "It was just debilitating," Kram said. Krams experiment isnt definitive proof that ancestral Puebloans used to haul their loads, but Kram says his research suggests that that's likely what happened. 167-175. When/Where: Thursday, January 24, 2019 / 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. / James A. Your feedback is important to us. Is Chaco Canyon the Key to Space Travel? | Gaia An enduring mystery from the great houses of Chaco Canyon is the origin of more than 240,000 construction timbers. In a new study, several researchers at CUBoulder reenacted a small part of a trek that people in what is today the SouthwestUnited States may have made more than 1,000 years ago. To construct these great houses, archaeologists have estimated that the Chacoans would have needed wood from some 200,000 trees, and those 16-foot-long wooden beams must have been transported from mountain ranges as far as 70 miles (110 km) away. People relied on an ordered and organized spatiotemporal natural world domesticated in culture, into which human life could be embedded and from which life received a deeper spirit and purpose. After three months of training with tumplines for six or seven days a week, Kram and Wilson were ready to try a real log. Chaco is also an enduring enigma for researchers. Dec 3, 2018. The study found that about 1 in 6 adult deaths in the U.S. are related to excess weight or obesity. I had Dr. Kram and James initially focus on walking greater and greater distances with what felt like light tumpline training loads, said Carzoli, who earned his doctorate in integrative physiology from CU Boulder in 2022. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon (Home Video Version) A new study has solved the third mystery - how they carry as many as 200,000 16-foot-long wooden beams to Chaco Canyon from forests over 60 miles away. The irritation paid off. This film describes and demonstrates the intricate and precise astronomical alignments among the many buildings spread over a wide desert area. It proved worthwhile, though, because their efforts helped prove that the multiple-tumpline method was viable. 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. the mystery of chaco canyon transcript. (PDF) The Mystery of Chaco Canyon - ResearchGate Chaco Canyon, the Architectural Heart of the Anasazi - ThoughtCo The sample of Chacoan Great Houses assessed for astronomical associations was unchanged from the mid 1990s to 2007. See page 43 of attached scanned book. Kram hypothesized that they pulled it off with tumplines straps that allow freight to be suspended from the top of the head, making it physiologically easier to lug heavy loads. The content is provided for information purposes only. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon - Ritterbush - 2001 - American The duo wanted to find out if such a journey would be possible. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no These structures offered humans a domestic sphere within a realm of wild nature, ensuring stability, centricity, meaning, security, familiarities, knowledge of controlling, social and power classifications. New Mexico PBS has broadcast this full-length documentary more than 90 times. They attempted their final test on a forest road leading to Gross Reservoir southwest of Boulder, carrying the timber using tumplines on either end. And the published oral traditions and ethnography of the Pueblo and Dineo peoples descended from the Chachoans don't shed much light on the issue, either. There is active debate among archaeologists regarding the relative importance of political, ritual, and economic factors in the Chacoan regional system. Wilson and Kram rest their log on supports called "tokmas." Significantly, recently a large effigy of Quetzalcoatl which was removed from the site prior to the Field Museum's 1961 excavation has been recovered, and the embellishment of the shrine itself as an equinox marker has been noted. Although this solar marker is considerably older than the one on Fajada Butte, here in succession both the early morning shadow-line and Sun Dagger itself appear to emanate from the hand of an anthropomorphic figure, first bisecting a spiral and then, a few minutes later, an S-shaped image. The SSE orientation tradition continued during the peak of Bonito Phase construction activity (A.D. 1020-1100). "The mountains are the most sacred places for the descendant Din and Pueblo peoples. 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). Chaco Canyon was a huge ancestral Puebloan city located in what is now Northern New Mexico, about 100 miles south of Durango. They used a log that weighed 132 pound. Use one of the services below to sign in to PBS: You've just tried to add this video to My List. New Mexico's Chaco Canyon is home to some of the most impressive pre-Columbian architecture in the Western Hemisphere. It should be mentioned that archaeological work at Chaco Canyon had a significant contribution to the film. W. David Laird, Books of the Southwest'The video, then, is a multi-leveled phenomenon, like Chaco, which embraces complexity, beauty and mystery.' The irritation paid off. Dr. Brad Eden, UNLV, MC Journal'Make(s) a compelling case for this ancient people's astronomical prowess. Could more local solutions work. But how this society got its construction supplies has been a long-standing mystery. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy To make sure they were being safe, Kram and Wilson started with light loads and worked their way up, said Joseph Carzoli, a study co-author and certified strength and conditioning coach. We can remove the first video in the list to add this one. "Instead, we carried sand and heavy logs around using our heads.". Refereed proceedings of The Oxford VI International Conference on Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy and Culture and SEAC in 1999, Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the American Southwest, The Architecture of Chaco Canyon, edited by Stephen Lekson, Kim Malville, J. McKim Malville, Andy Munro, The Southwest School of Landscape Archaeology, Memory, Meaning, and Masonry: The Late Bonito Chacoan Landscape, Anasazi solar marker: The use of a natural rockfall, Religious Behavior in the Post-Chaco Years, The Housing of the World: About the Significance of Cosmographic Concepts for Habitation, The Astronomical Context of the Archaeology and Architecture of the Chacoan Culture, 2006 National Conference on the Beginning Design Student An Inquiry into the Intersection and Fusion of Astronomical Alignments and Sacred Geometry in the Design Process of Architecture, Foundation Studio, Naked-Eye Astronomy for Cultural Astronomers (2008), The Hooper Ranch Pueblo Sun Dagger Shrine Revisited - Revealing Greater Regional Significance, Possible astronomical references in the planning of the Great Hopewell Road, Visions of the Cosmos: Ceremonial Landscapes and Civic Plans (2008), Pueblo Folklore, Landscape Phenomenology and the Visual Poetics of Fajada Butte, Astronomy and the Design of Late Bonito Great Houses at Chaco Canyon, ARCHAEOASTRONOMY IN THE FIELD; METHODOLOGIES APPLIED IN CHACO CANYON, Ancestors and the sun: astronomy, architecture and culture at Chaco Canyon, 2013. Ever since she . Krams big insight was that multiple tumplines could have been attached, side by side, to a single log, allowing several people to share the load. 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. Directors Colorado Sun. You can download the paper by clicking the button above. For the next 300 or so years, they quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances to build fifteen . Directed by Anna Sofaer. Archaeological evidence suggests thatancient peoplesin the Southwest employed tumplines woven from yucca plants to transport everyday items like food and water. The ancient Native American ruins of a Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park Others have suggested that the timbers were rolled rather than carried to construction sites, perhaps bundled within smaller wood pieces for protection or carried on the shoulders. Without permission or understanding. I am the Rural and Small Communities Reporter at KUNC. Archaeological and ethnological records worldwide give evidence that, since Palaeolithic time, cosmovisions were an essential part of mans requirement to organize habitats. 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. From the 9th to the 12th century BCE, Chaco Canyon was the center of a pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the San Juan Basin of the American Southwest. I've heard people say, 'That's our church. Then the researchers hit on the idea of tumplines, which are depicted in ceramic effigiesrecovered from close to Chaco Canyon. This small calendar allowed for those living at Chaco Canyon to determine the beginning . The so-called "great houses" of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico may have taken decades or longer to construct. "It was just debilitating," Kram said. Pot from Chaco collection . Archaeological Collection - Chaco Culture - National Park Service 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. Chaco Canyon National Historical Park is one of those extraordinary gems and an excellent example of ArchaeoAstronomy. part may be reproduced without the written permission. "These timbers brought pieces of the sacred mountains to Chaco Canyon.". What is known is that beginning around the mid-800s, Chaco people began building here, creating multi-story stone buildings on a grand scale. 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.' The Mystery of Chaco Canyon (1999) - YouTube The most uncomfortable part, Wilson noted, was the strap of the tumpline rubbing into his head. Lekson suggests that much of what we believe about the ancient Southwest should be radically revised. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon 2000 0 hr 56 mins Documentary NR Watchlist Robert Redford narrates this report exploring magnificent 1000-year-old Native American ruins in Chaco Canyon, N.M. At. 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. Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. When a load is positioned at the top of the head, the spine supports the weight and it doesnt fatigue muscles. The documentary is very well done, but its the PLACE thats the subject here. An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. We calculate that probably each of the big timbers took three people and took them about four days to get from where the trees were cut down to where they were used for the construction site, Kram said. Tells that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern throughout a vast desert region, and uses aerial and time lapse footage and computer modeling to show how the Chacoan culture designed, oriented and located these buildings . Music by Michael Stearns. Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient peoples in the Southwest employed tumplines woven from yucca plants to transport everyday items like food and water. 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. A 1925 publication featured a photograph depicting eight young men from Zuni Pueblo carrying a log: four on each side holding thin cross-poles at hip height, with the log laid on top. Lecture: Chacoan Astronomy, Cosmography, Roads, and Ritual Power: Insights into the Chaco World Using New Technologies. Colorado scientists form a better picture after uncovering the earliest known female infant burial site in Europe, U.S. Officials To Put Off Oil Leases Near Sacred Tribal Land. Cinematography by Steve Bannister [and 15 others]; computer animation by the Imaging Research Center; music, Michael Stearns; editor, Matt Dibble. THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. Sofaer, Anna (film producer) Additional manual findings using NVDA screen reader 1. I multiplied by 16 feet and realized, That cant add up to 275 kilograms.. University of Colorado at Boulder. The mountains are the most sacred places for the descendant Din and Pueblo peoples. The average logs that were carried to build these great houses at Chaco were about 16 feet long, so I multiplied it by 16, he said. On todays show, we hear from two Colorado scientists who recently discovered one of the oldest female infant burial sites in a cave in Europe. This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, collect data for ads personalisation and provide content from third parties. Ten years after the events described in Massacre at Point of Rocks, Dan and Roque joined by Doa Loca and Jicarilla Apache, Peregrino Rojo, are set on a quest by a dying Masonic brother. James Herriots adventures as a veterinarian in 1930s Yorkshire get a new TV adaptation. As the title states - they used their heads but not just by thinking about it. These elaborate roads and kivas aren't visible to the naked eye or even through aerial photography. Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder, "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. video produced and directed by Anna Sofaer. Anna Sofaer - Wikipedia Cosmic Gateway | Mysteries of the Outdoors | Travel Channel New CU Boulder research finds that overweight populations have a 22% higher mortality risk than those of healthy weight, while obese populations have as much as double the risk. The site is an artifact of the Pueblo peoples of north america and is now a protected national heritage site. Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - In a new study, several researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder reenacted a small part of a trek that people in the Southwest United States may have made more than 1,000 years ago. Narrated by Robert Redford. Click here to sign in with 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). The new Great Houses built during the Late Bonito phase at Chaco after A.D. 1100 are all either involved in inter-site cardinal NS alignments, or positioned at or in proximity to observing locations that can function as solstice calendrical stations. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern . Symbolically, the centerline of each of the three nearby Hooper Ranch Pueblo kivas aligns with this ancient Sun Dagger shrine. WIRED Media Group The Mystery of Chaco Canyon | Imaging Research Center The most uncomfortable part, Wilson noted, was the strap of the tumpline rubbing into his head. 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. The Mystery Of Chaco Canyon reveals that, instead, Chaco was a complex ceremonial center with extraordinary astronomical alignments of buildings and roads. Complete List Of Included Worksheets. pointed out that there's no clear evidence that the residents of Zuni Pueblo share cultural connections with the people who once inhabited Chaco Canyon. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon streaming online - JustWatch Joan Mathien, Archaeologist, National Park Service'I rate this video a MUST-SEE for anyone interested in southwestern prehistory.' During the same time period, SSE orientation was dominant in the Totah region to the north at sites including Aztec and Chimney Rock. That astonished CU Boulder Integrative Physiology Professor Rodger Kram. 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. 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. [DVD] examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. Read our affiliate link policy. They first tried carrying a log on their shoulders. Chaco Culture - UNESCO World Heritage Centre The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. The study was published in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Written byJan Bartek AncientPages.comStaff Writer, Runes Were Just As Advanced As Roman Alphabet Writing New Study, Ancient Burials Of Worlds First Horse Riders Found Near The Black Sea, Clevelands Prehistoric Sea Monster Had A Mouth Twice As Large As A Great White Shark, Mysterious Bronze Age Golden Tomb Unearthed In Armenia. Produced by The Solstice Project. Aerial and time lapse footage, computer modeling, and interviews with scholars show how the Chacoan culture designed, oriented and located its major buildings in relationship to the sun and moon. That changed the calculation significantly when determining how many people would have been needed to carry the timbers 60-70 miles. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon TV Movie 1999 56 m IMDb RATING 7.3 /10 212 YOUR RATING Rate Documentary America's Stonehenge? 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. Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. Chaco Canyon was the center of the ancestral Puebloan world, home to immense great houses as high as five stories tall and containing as many as 800 rooms, cavernous kivas built so that dancers . This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Contemporary Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Chacoans, speak in the film of the spiritual significance of Chaco in their world today. 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.