Chaco Canyon and the Chaco Phenomenon

Chaco Canyon has excited and baffled archaeologists for over a century. What makes one of the most famous and studied archaeological sites so enigmatic? Find out what made the Chaco Phenomenon such a unique moment in ancient history.

Geography: 1:45
Early History: 3:10
Great Houses: 6:03
Economy: 18:39
Outliers: 24:59
Astronomy: 31:59
What was Chaco: 34:50
The End of Chaco Canyon: 40:47
Accountment: 44:00

Sources and Bibliography:

[JonnoPlays]

I'm really glad you're keeping your channel going steady. So many creators fell off or are trying to keep up with trends with annoying new content styles. Your channel is a real treasure in the historical and archeological YouTube community. Thanks and keep up the good work

[pipedevnull]

My theory is that Chaco was the Las Vegas of the time. Hence the legend of The Gambler. You could gamble with jade markers or go see a fabulous show at Pueblo Bonito. The reason not much is known about this is because’What happens in Chaco, stays in Chaco.’

[egretion]

Since I work as an over the road truck driver I've had a chance to visit most of the sites in the USA you've covered in your episodes. Thank you for teaching me about Poverty Point, the copper veins in the Michigan peninsula, Cahokia in Missouri and now Chaco Canyon!

[AshiwiZuni]

This makes me incredibly happy to see. These are my ancestors. This is the area my tribe currently resides. I am Zuni and Hopi. Although you can only (legally) claim one tribe, at the end of the day, this site is one of the areas that show what kind of cultures every indigenous person from this area came from. Thank you for highlighting this amazing site!!!

[secretariatgirl]

I live in So. NM and went to Chaco a few years ago. I booked a private tour with a museum archaeologist and spent the whole day there, exploring room after room. It was amazing. I then spent time at the Aztec ruins as well. Then I drove to Four Corners and saw Shiprock. It was an amazing trip. On my first trip before moving from NJ to NM, I went to the Taos Pueblo and, of couse, Gila.

[guaporeturns]

I lived in Los Alamos years ago(79-80) Found innumerable pottery shards and even a few petroglyphs in remote, precarious locations in the area. Special area

[michaeljenkins]

It's a truly special place. Back in the late 80's, I remember the feelings of shock and awe when I first drove into Chaco Canyon, after navigating over 50 miles of gravel roads in a rental car. (As a tour guide in Moab once told me, "There are some places you can't go in a 4WD, but you can go anywhere in a rental car.")

I was absolutely stunned and amazed by the massive structures and the beautiful stone masonry, particularly at Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito. In my upbringing, I had been conditioned to believe that all of the indigenous people north of Mexico were very primitive hunter-gatherers, living in tipis or small pit houses. How could I not have been told that they were building 4-story, 700-room edifices in a remote canyon in New Mexico over a thousand years ago? The drive down the road through the middle of the canyon, with all the huge structures on the north side, and the Great Kiva on the south side, was a true eye opener. It started me on an obsessive quest to travel to as many of the native American ruins in the Southwest as I could get to on somewhat gimpy knees, including Aztec, Casa Grande, Montezuma's Castle, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, and many smaller sites in southeastern Utah and Arizona. But Chaco drew me back on numerous occasions, where I hiked every trail and walked through and around every ruin, which was allowed back then. That included climbing up out of both the north and south sides of the canyon and hiking to collapsed structures built some distance from the canyon, on high spots with commanding views, perhaps as watchtowers to spot invaders. While you are not allowed in the Great Kiva any more, back when I first started visiting Chaco, when there were very few visitors, I had the experience of sitting alone in the middle of the Great Kiva at midday and meditating, a moving experience.

If you haven't been to Chaco, put it on your bucket list. They've even paved part of the road, the last time I was there, 8 or 10 years ago, but if most of it is still unpaved, don't try it if is threatening rain. You won't get stuck, but the clay becomes incredibly slippery when wet and you have to stay in the middle of the road to keep from slipping off into a ditch or a ravine, as I found one day on my way out, in the rain, the most harrowing 2-hour drive in my life, where thankfully I only met one oncoming vehicle, and we both managed to avoid slipping off the road.

[carnooo]

A Southwestern here, ever since I saw the image of a Chacoan great kiva in your intros, I've always been hyped about you eventually going over Chaco Canyon and the surrounding region. I've had a (frankly, maybe unhealthy) obsession over the Pre-Columbian history of the Southwest for the past 2-ish years, chiefly the Ancestral Puebloans. The Hohokam video was also a treat when it released. And I'm always excited to learn more about the history of this corner of North America, plus improve my knowledge with more accurate information. I can't wait for you to revisit the Pueblos again in the future, but nevertheless, ALL your videos have been a gold mine on this platform!

[charleygnarly]

I have an experience I would like to share, having grown up here. This will be long. It may blow some minds, it may not, I may be called a liar. Whatever.

Being raised in northern New Mexico I have had an ongoing spiritual/mental relationship with Chaco, and the surrounding ancient cities... lesser known cities like the one in Frijoles canyon, Bandelier, and Pecos, Canyons of the Ancients, and virtually unknown sites that dot the sangre de cristos, jemez, san juan foot hills and the Colorado plateau. This civilization was EVERYWHERE, from the sangre de cristos all the way to Nevada. Their empire was huge, with Chaco being the capital, or cultural center, complete with ancient highways that stretch all the way into Utah, Arizona and Colorado. They even found artifacts originating as far away as the Incan empire, chocolate, parrot feathers, etc. - which tells me they were trading with these mesoamerican and south american civilizations, if they were not an ASPECT of the same civilizations. They might even be of the same peoples.

But I digress. In any case, I live and breathe the southwest, grew up next to the Taos Pueblo under the sacred Taos mountain and it's legendary, off limits Blue Lake (a deep lake in the mountains, sacred to the Pueblo, some have seen bright lights enter and exit. The Pueblo people believe "Kachinas" live inside the mountain- I told you this would get weird).. havinf some lifelong connections, I have been blessed with the honor to have been invited to some pretty sacred, off limits sweatlodges. That was lifechanging, and my first truly profound spirtual event I have witnessed.. I listened to the legends and lore, all that I was allowed to hear as an outsider, and seen some things with my own eyes that defy logic or any explanation from the conventional, outside world. New Mexico is an otherworldly place. And yes, I have seen UFOs- though I a not sure I would even call them that, and the natives have their own understanding of who and what they are.

The stories and experiences I could tell of this area are endless, but let's get to Chaco Canyon:

I rediscovered Chaco from an ex girlfriend who worked on an archeological expedition 15 to 20 years ago. Her guide was actually Diné, and had a lot to say about the area... this is my girlfriend's recollection of what the Navajo elder told her: he said, point blank there was a entity, or being, let me just say point blank.. she said he called it a "shapeshifter" that ruled over the Canyon and they sacrificed humans to this creature. They have found an astonishing amount of bones there and the new narrative is that they were cannibalistic- maybe, Im just saying what I heard. And she also said the Navajo man said this being, or shapeshifter, whatever it was - it caused great strife and conflict among the people of the valley. It would cause the surrounding cities to fight eachother and stay divided and at war, like some machiavellian type of sh*t.

That may sound crazy to.. basically anyone, and thats fine. I'm just saying what came directly from an elder. And he is not the only one. A lot of people in the outside world (rest of America, that is, off the rez and indian country) have a very different view of history, and reality itself. I honestly feel sometimes like I was raised in two, parallel worlds - and it is difficult sometimes to communicate this subject matter with those who are strictly book intelligent and don't really know the true essence of what life is like in a place like Taos, or the things that go on there... but being an anglo with family ties to the conventional world, I can understand why people are the way they are, and scoff at these things. I get it. It sounds.. weird, fringe, bizarre. Too far fetched. And perhaps it is. But for some of us who have seen and experienced certain things, this is very real - and I take the native accounts very seriously.

So with that said, I would like to say what I saw, which in my mind solidified the reality of this. What anyone else believes is not my business.

This was back in 08 or 09, soon after I heard this story. I wanted to see it for myself. It had been years since I had been to Chaco, and I had been having my own experiences with some phenomena ever since I started going to the sweat lodges on the Pueblo- that is a different story.

Somewhere off the beaten trail in a restricted area of the park, with clear "no entry" signs blocking us off from this canyon, I believe it was near the satellite ruins of Casa Rinconada - we ducked and crawled behind boulders to stay out of view. My girlfriend wanted to "show me something", and I followed her lead. We followed the canyon wall for some time, felt like I was walking back in time- somewhere out there even found a perfectly preservered inscription in cursive Castillan spanish, and a Conquistador's name. That itself was mindblowing, and put things in perspective. In Chaco Canyon, time stands still. There was an old fire which looked like it could have been a hundred or more years old, and pottery littered the area - pottery with fingerprints still on it. Fingerprints of it's makers.. still gives me chills.

To add more perspective on what I saw, it is imperative that I convey that there is a distinction between petroglyphs of the ancestral Puebloans, and that of the Diné in this area.. the familiar chiseled spirals, lizards, kokopelli etc. we are used to seeing - more symbolic in nature - these are known ancestral puebloan, or anasazi. That is my understanding. But there are another kind of glyphs present at Chaco. These are VERY actual lifelike drawings, pictographs that are meant to convey detail and something very explicit. Etched with a sharp point, not chiseled. I don't know who made these with certainty, but I have heard they are from the Diné. I would like to emphasize just HOW detailed these pictographs are... whoever made them, they were serious about telling what happened here in graphic terms, not symbolically.

The pictograph I walked up to was this:

In the center, and above- seven winged, angelic looking beings in the skies looking below. They appeared to be gazing down on the gruesome scene below.

On the left, facing right (from left to right): small children, looking frightened. Women, guarding them. In front of them were several severed heads, facing right. Their spinal cords were attached to their heads, dripping blood. They were in headgear of what looked like warrior attire and feathers.

Now... On the right, facing left, towards the dismembered warriors and the woman guarding the children:

This was a very tall, humanoid being, twice as tall as the human women figures. Claws. Tail, a long tail that looked like a monitor lizard's tail. And if that wasn't shocking enough, this being had what looked like a HELMET complete with a visor. It was definitely some kind of head gear.

It has been years and I still remember this vividly in my mind. It changed a lot for me. whether or not this was a depiction of something real or imagined later by the Diné, it was the headgear that did it for me. We took pictures, yes, but my ex still has them somewhere on here digital camera's archives. I am still trying to retrieve them and if I can't, I remember the general area of where this place is, and I will return some day to photograph it because it blows my mind they haven't surfaced yet.

As we were near the car, a native man was looking at the 'visitor guide' panel and smiling this devillish grin. We exchanged a few words and he said "its nothing like they say it is. What happened here. Nothing like they say it is..."

I believe him. Whether or not these beings were real or imagined... it sheds some light on the Mesoamerican gods of sacrifice, and the feathered serpent. The snake gods. And that is a whole other discussion. Whoever the observers were, or the seven "angels"... my only guess is the "seven holy people" I hear about in Diné mythology and oral history, or a representation of the Pleiades. The seven sister stars. But I don't know.

In the end, I'm just an anglo white boy who grew up in the land of enchantment, that hauntingly beautiful land of so many secrets... and I have seen things with my own eyes in that realm of the Americas, that I cannot explain. No ones gotta believe it, but unless you've grown up there, at the very least been there and immersed yourself in the land, culture, history and legends .. seen these things, experienced the phenomena... it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or believes. I'm not even sure what I believe. But I know for damn sure, the mainstream narrative of the Americas is missing some vital components to the story. With or without shapeshifting, man eating monsters.

What a crazy place. Still can't believe New Mexico, and the fascinating civilizations before us are slept on 😂like they are. Thanks for reading a glimpse of my experiences there, if anyone actually read this.

[cooksburg]

Cool video! I am from one of the NM pueblos and visit Chaco recreationally and religiously. The place was inhabited by so e different groups of peoples over time and the mix of findings delute the original use.
I was told that this place was a holy land where only the enlightened were allowed. They would pilgrimage to this place, and meet others who would discuss and share remedies, treatments, planting, songs....kind of like a school. Then the elders would go back to their own people and teach them.
They have found exotic feathers, shells from both coasts, and even chocoa. Maybe for trade or for ritual.
One story of why they abandoned is, something very powerful and infinite was discovered. Something that all the elders deamed to much for humankind. And they left or removed it.
I have so many stories about this place but i think thats what makes it special, is the way it speaks to each individual.
Be safe!

[UATU.]

I live near Chaco and love going there when it is empty to sit quietly soaking up the natural sounds and feel the passage of time.

I recommend reading Craig Childs’ books for a real feel for the period. He walked along the old pathways between various ruin sites in NM, CO, AZ, UT and writes so vividly you can imagine yourself walking with him.

[Lawarch]

This is a truly glorious Thursday the 20th when an Ancient Americas video comes out

[darkwynggryph]

Hypotheses about Chaco’s main role aside, it’s seriously impressive how its people managed to build the place and eke out a living in such a harsh environment. Sometimes I feel that Aridamerica (at least that’s what we name the region in MX) doesn’t get enough credit for its achievements, past or present!

[TealCheetah]

I live a couple hours from Chaco. I have fond memories of going there a few times during the winter with my dad. We had the park to ourselves. Near by is the Bisti Badlands which are pretty awesome too.

[clearsig]

Thank you for a concise and coherent summary of the research on Chaco Canyon. After visiting Chaco Canyon last week myself, I came away eager to learn as much about the site as I could. Your video provides a convenient overview of the main areas of inquiry, without the irritating sensationalism that mars a lot of similar content these days. In addition to Lekson's book, I would recommend Jill Neitzel's 'Pueblo Bonito' and 'Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest' by Rohn & Ferguson.

[SkunkApe]

I've worked this site as an Archaeological Surveyor. I'm excited to see what you put together on what is one of my favorite digs. You always do an excellent job of compiling and presenting these videos. I'm expecting nothing less than your usual, superb standard!

[Jacob-yglz]

One thing I always wondered about the sun daggers was how useful they'd be as a time telling device if everyone had a walk a week to the sparsely inhabited town to check anyways. IMO the fires kinda clear it up, because from what I can tell they can only really encode one message at a time, which would be okay for an "it's the equinox plant/harvest your corn and celebrate" kind of thing

[AncientAmericas]

If you're interested in joining me on this trip, please fill out the survey below! Please let me know if you have any questions!

[syndahra]

I grew up in Southern Colorado and Chaco Canyon has always been an amazing place for me and my family. I am so happy to learn more about the southwest in general but Chaco Canyon in particular. Thank you for an informative video.

[atlasaltera]

All of these theories are very interesting and I'm excited to see what LiDAR illuminates in the future. The road networks and ceremonial constructions remind me of how all roads lead to Cusco in the Andes... Also, the name "Aztec Ruins" for one of the sites probably doesn't help with the discounted the Aztec ancestors theory hehe.