An examination of the prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, which functioned as a complex ceremonial center, harmonized by extraordinary astronomical alignments of buildings and roads, and elegant light and shadow markings. The film challenges the notion that Chaco Canyon was primarily a trade and redistribution center. Read About our Chaco Tours in 360 West Magazine Article, The Dallas News, Adventure Pro Magazine and Cowboys & Indians. I cut a section that was one foot long and I weighed it on my bathroom scale. minimum distance between toilet and shower. "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. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. New to Docuseek? Lekson suggests that much of what we believe about the ancient Southwest should be radically revised. 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. Understanding all aspects of the thing wasn't important to me. 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? googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2'); }); 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. In dialogue and narrative, one deeply feels that Chaco is haunted, magical. Privacy Legal & Trademarks Campus Map. The content is provided for information purposes only. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is an historical fiction, a mystery and a love story set against the background of the American Civil War in the Southwest. It is the summation of 20 years of research. That's where we go to heal, to pray,' said Weiner, who will receive his doctorate in anthropology from CU Boulder later this spring. Four ESE facing Great Houses were constructed within and in proximity to Chaco between A.D. 860 and A.D. 1090. A single case is identified that may incorporate three of the traditions. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern . The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. 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. These cosmographic concepts of habitation across cultures are transformed into designed landscapes, cultic caves, tents, campsites, houses, cities, or temples. Kram said the next step is to do more experimental work - this time, on location at Chaco Canyon, where they can demonstrate the tumpline method works as they trace the ancient hauling routes of the ancestral Puebloans. It proved worthwhile, though, because their efforts helped prove that the multiple-tumpline method was viable. 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. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no Ancient Chaco Canyon population likely relied on imported food, Molecular atlas of spider silk production could help bring unparalleled material to market, Tracing the history of grape domestication using genome sequencing, Students ate less meat in the three years after hearing talk on its negative environmental impacts, Giving plants animal antibodies to help them ward off diseases, Determining the tempo of evolution across species, Science X Daily and the Weekly Email Newsletter are free features that allow you to receive your favorite sci-tech news updates in your email inbox. 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 most uncomfortable part, Wilson noted, was the strap of the tumpline rubbing into his head. They first tried carrying a log on their shoulders. It seemed unrealistically high to him. 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. The teaching materials in the Guide are designed to be used with the film THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern . Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 1/1/20) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 1/1/20) and Ars Technica Addendum (effective 8/21/2018). Thousands of people, the ancestors of todays Din, or Navajo,and Pueblo peoples, may have lived there from around A.D. 850 to 1200. Tumplines are hardly a new innovation. A majority of the Great Houses built before A.D. 1000 are front-facing to the SSE. But how this society got its construction supplies has been a long-standing mystery. Millions of years of history reveal . Its wide roads, circular ritual sites called kivas, and sprawling. Colorado Sun. Your California Privacy Rights | Do Not Sell My Personal Information It seemed unrealistically high to him. Gazing at the horizon: heavenly phenomena and cultural preferences within northwest Scotland? It feels a little weird to have something pressing on your head for hours on hours, but it doesn't do any real damage, he said. 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. The authors mention that sherpas in Nepal still use tumplines to carry loads as heavy as 111 kilograms, all the while guiding tourists whose shoulders are likely burning with much . The solitary tree was once thought to represent the living "center of the world" for the people of Pueblo Bonito, the largest of Chaco Canyon's "great houses," which was occupied between A.D. 850 . Copyright 2023 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), all rights reserved. and Terms of Use. 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). 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. I felt that in opening the sealed rooms, the purpose of the rooms and their having been sealed being unknown to the archaeologists, something that had been meant to be kept there was being released. [DVD] examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. Archaeologist Bill Lipe thinks religion was a . However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages. famous site in the Southwest called Chaco Canyon, Majority of students masked up amid early COVID days, Excess weight, obesity more deadly than previously believed, Tend to get sick when the air is dry? Join this. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder). Thus specific cultural systems including cosmovisions emerged, which allowed man to establish and maintain order and rhythm in personal and social life, interacting with given environmental conditions and to answer the human questions about the whys and wherefores concerning him and the world. 56 minutes, color. In 1977 Sofaer visited Chaco Canyon as a volunteer recording ancient Southwestern American rock art. 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. As they became more comfortable with their training, we began alternating training days between carrying light loads for greater distances and heavier loads for shorter distances.. These include front-facing south-southeast (SSE) orientation, front facing east-southeast (ESE) orientation, alignments to the cardinal directions of North-South and/or East-West (NS/EW), and the construction of Great Houses at workable calendrical stations with horizon foresights for solstice dates. "Some people baked sourdough bread during COVID, Instead, we carried sand and heavy logs around using our heads," said Kram, who is a passionate runner in his free time. So the logs must have been carried by people, most likely along the wide roadways that linked this world. Pot from Chaco collection . 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. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. Each attached a tumpline to one end of that log to share the load. 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. The Mystery of CHACO CANYON - YouTube The biggest mystery in North America is Chaco Canyon . February 17, 2014 Chaco Canyon in New Mexico is one of the largest archeoastronmical sites in the world. 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. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder). The one hour documentary, narrated by Robert Redford . He and Wilson decided to read everything they could about the properties of dried wood. 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. The site is an artifact of the Pueblo peoples of north america and is now a protected national heritage site. That way the inconceivable course of events became tangible by establishing and constructing spheres of spatiotemporal order. Most large complexes had four or five stories and averaged over 200 rooms, with the largest boasting as many as 700 rooms. It's still not a piece of cake to haul a 200 pound log 60 miles, Kram said. Everybody else who was hiking there scratched their head and asked us what the heck we were doing, Kram recalled. They recall the brilliant knowledge of the ancestors that gave them control over natural forces, but suggest also the corrupting effect of such power. "Some people baked sourdough bread during COVID, Instead, we carried sand and heavy logs around using our heads," said Kram, who is a passionate runner in his free time. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form. 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 In and around Chaco Canyon, archaeologists have found ceramic effigies illustrating Puebloan people using tumplines to carry resources, as well as yucca fiber wraps that could be the remains of ancient tumplines.. "Maybe the best way is to do it yourself.. It is the summation of 20 years of research. 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. An enduring mystery from the great houses of Chaco Canyon is the origin of more than 240,000 construction timbers. He and Wilson werent trying to start a new exercise fad. These elaborate roads and kivas aren't visible to the naked eye or even through aerial photography. "It's just a dumb way to carry a heavy object.". Instead, they were hoping to solve an archaeological mystery that has perplexed researchers for decades: How did ancient peoples transport more than 200,000 heavy construction timbers over 60 miles to a famous site in the Southwest called Chaco Canyon? So how did the ancestral Puebloans manage it? The ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built in 850 and 1150 A.D. in New Mexico, are described in the movie. That's where we go to heal, to pray,'" said Weiner, who will receive his doctorate in anthropology from CU Boulder later this spring. America's Stonehenge?America's Stonehenge?America's Stonehenge? Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder. Were thrilled to announcethat our award-winning film, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is nowstreaming on Amazon Prime CLICK HERE, You can now purchase the DVD of our full-length documentary on Amazon CLICK HERE, Rent and stream the full version on Vimeo CLICK HERE. Multiple Great Houses exhibit two of these traditions in combination. Left Coat Press, Walnut Creek CA. Speaker: Anna Sofaer and her colleagues Robert Weiner and Richard Friedman. Engineered roads stretch across dozens of miles in straight lines to significant landforms, but with little evidence of travel or trade. Most large complexes had four or five stories and averaged over 200 rooms, with the largest boasting as many as 700 rooms. Weiner said the team's results show that supplying Chaco Canyon with goods may not have been as back-breaking an undertaking as archaeologists once assumed. 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. Under the terms of a U.S. National Park Service field research permit some location- specific site data has been deliberately redacted from this document, as required by the U.S. Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979. Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. The Late Bonito calendrical Great Houses may have been intended as pilgrimage destinations where people could witness a dramatic solstice sunrise or sunset. "The mountains are the most sacred places for the descendant Din and Pueblo peoples. The most uncomfortable part, Wilson noted, was the strap of the tumpline rubbing into his head. The halo Great House at Bis saani includes a cardinal North-South and East-West (NS/EW) structure, a possible SSE-facing room block, and a June solstice sunrise horizon foresight. Examines the enigmas presented by the prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Did you know the U.S. has a pre-historic Puebloan place of mystery that has . The irritation paid off. The mountains are the most sacred places for the descendant Din and Pueblo peoples. The ancient Native American ruins of a Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park 1999. Could more local solutions work. 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. 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. James Herriots adventures as a veterinarian in 1930s Yorkshire get a new TV adaptation. The Chacoan civilization reflects a unique time in the history of the "Ancestral Puebloans," a group of ancient people. 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