In the 11th century when everyone else in the Southwest was building small, crude structures, Puebloans in Chaco Canyon constructed magnificent, well-planned, five-story buildings using masonry instead of earth and rubble. More than anything, it is this monumental architecture that defines the Chaco culture that was the center of the Pueblo universe from about A.D. 850 to 1130. Abandoned for some 900 years, these monuments still amaze us today, which is why Chaco Canyon has been designated a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This timely volume is an in-depth study of Chacoan architecture through the eyes 13 outstanding Chaco scholars. Editor Steve Lekson of the University of Colorado organized this topic as part of a broader “Chaco Synthesis” project to pull together the latest in Chaco thinking. The chapters focus on great houses, great kivas, and the spatial alignments of them in the overall community. More than 150 maps, floor plans, elevations, and photos illustrate the text, making it easily understandable for the reader.
Of special interest is the chapter constructing a three-dimensional model of “downtown” Chaco Canyon in 1130, as it was coming to an abrupt end. Here’s where the new technologies of Global Information System (GIS) mapping and computer imaging combine to produce a realistic vision of the past, turning ruins into buildings and grainy images into detailed maps. We can see how all the structures in the canyon were connected by wide, straight “roads,” often tied to celestial events. The chapter on cosmological expression goes even further in trying to tie this community to the heavens.
So what does all of this say about Chaco culture? Some say it was a valley of peaceful farming villages and others find the capital of an empire. The dozen Great Houses in the park could be Puebloan towns, expressions of ritual, or perhaps royal palaces. This volume gives new insights and perspectives that bring us much closer to the answers than ever before.
