http://www.he.net/~mine/anasazi/
Pictures of the surrounding sites(a must see...look around as it's amazing)



http://www.nps.gov/chcu/


Chaco Culture

National Historical Park

Located in Nageezi, NM






"Diné" or "Dineh" which is Navajo for ancient enemy or ancient ones who are not us. The Anasazi were from the Pueblo Nation, the Hopi Nation, and the Navajo Nation. Chaco Canyon is still considered Holy grounds by all of the tribes. The modern use of the word means the "ancient one" as The Pueblo nation and Hopi Nation take offense to the use of ancient enemy. The Pueble have no word to describe the ancient ones and the Hopi use the Hopi word Moqui (or Moki) "the dead". The Anasazi had ties to the Aztec as well but most of this will deal with Chaco Canyon which is an area two miles by nine miles. The people of Chaco Canyon started construction around 700 AD and completed it around 1100 AD. They built a city that served as a religious center, cultural center, and trade center. The ruins show they used an architectural plan based on astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping, and engineering. They built a complex of buildings, homes, Kivas(a place for religious ceremony) an irrigation system, water wells, ramps, dams, mounds, and roads. They manufactured turquoise and pottery for commerce and trade. Their roads went north to the Aztec , and east, and northeast to the Navajo. I feel south to Mexico as well but I am unable to show any proof other than the use of Peyote as a religious ceremony by some of the Native American tribes. This is an issue that is debated among the tribes of North America but I like to point out not all tribes worshipped the same and the same can be said for most churches.


http://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/archeology/chaco_compare.html View from Nasa of these roads.


8500 BC Pueblo Indians are hunters in the region.


1000BC evidence of other tribes moving into the area. Pueblo start farming.

700 AD Pueblo start living in pueblo's. Some many stories.

900 AD Chaco Canyon starts construction of the ruins. A turquoise and pottery trade is started.

1130 construction is completed in the canyon.



1200 to 1300 population is declining rapidly in the area.

1720 Navajo's are living in the Canyon .

1823 European's arrive at Chaco canyon and record it in history.


The mystery surrounding the Kivas will never be shared with the world. Evidence shows the Aztec, Pueblo, Navajo, and Hopi all used the Kivas and had similair belief's. Starting around 1600 the catholics from Spain tried imposing their belief's on the Pueblo. The puelbo started a culture of outside appearance to please the priest and hid underground for their belief's. Later as Europe entered the area their Christains started trying to impose their belief's as well. The United States government made laws prohibiting the use of their religious ceremonies and once again the Pueblo took their religion underground. To this day they have a mistrust of "outsiders" and their beleif's are more like a secret society or by birth only. The Navajo nation has been open with their belief's and has been attacked by mainstream society in this country. The reality is Moses isn't the only human to have claimed to seen and held a conversation with God in a burning bush. The so called monopoly of God by mainstream society of this country and other countries is sad as Native Americans teach God created the heavens and the earth and we are to love all of God's creation including the tools of evolution: plants, animals, and the earth itself. The Pueblo deny any roots to Asia(the only tribe of North America as far as I know) and to this day say they were created in the Canyon from the earth itself.


The decline of Chaco Canyon was probably due to poor crops due to a drought(this area is still a harsh place to farm, but its location was based on astronomy and religious reasons, and evidence shows they moved North to join the Aztez, further north to Utah, south to Mexico, and the drainages of the Little Colorado and Rio Grande rivers in Arizona and New Mexico. Their descendants are still there in the few surviving pueblos.




sources


Chaco Canyon by Robert Lister

New Light On Chaco Canyon by David Noble

Peyote Church of God

Navajo Nation

Hopi Nation

Puelbo tribe as much as I could get *shrugs*



http://www.cr.nps.gov/worldheritage/chaco.htm


http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/archeology/chaco.htm


http://www.chaco.com/park/contents.html


http://www.Colorado.EDU/Conferences/chaco/tour/


http://www.nps.gov/chcu.home.htm


http://www.hfac.uh.edu/gbrown/99-1/ChacoCanyon/ChacoCanyon.html


http://www.navajoland.com/tourguide/chaco/



http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/archeology/sites/northamerica/chaco.html


http://www.towson.edu/~brenda/newmexico/anasazi.htm


http://sipapu.gsu.edu/html/outliers.html

Wonderful site, with the pictures of the Ancient Places.

Sadly I have to admit that I know the history about the Natives you are telling here and how the Christian Europeans tried to indoctrinate them and keep them away from their own traditions.

It is real sad this happened, for the Natives have wonderful and peaceful traditions which should be sacred in stead of being ignored. Their caring for Earth and Universe is one of truth and dedication. It is good to know they still have their ceremonies, not in public, they do it anyway.

I think their knowledge is highly underestimated...

The Anasazi always fasinated me. Here is a civilization, like many others, that just sprung up and then one day disappeared. They left traces of themselves, in bits and pieces, over a large area.

I think that I remember that it has been showed that the Anasazi were faced with drought. Long and sustained. Hard to keep your peoples feed with corn (maize) when there is not enough water to help it grow. It seems to me that tree rings reflect a drop in growth, due to a lack of water, at about the same time as the Anasazi were shrinking in population. I also think I remember seeing something about satellite photo's showing traces of that civilization but I could be wrong here, as it has been some time since I had researched this.

People build upon past building sites. Here like in many other places, the builders were aware of previous tenants but not of who they were. I guess what makes this unusal is that a lot of the past peoples built at river sites and other places that traveling could bring in trade from far places. Here you have an isolated site. One in which the raising of food is a problem.

That was not the only problem though. These people were faced with the need for a fortress to protect them from their enemies. It was not just for religious purposes. I guess what I am saying is that they were beseiged on more than one front.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/worldheritage/chacoc.gif

The Pueblo peoples left a lot of stuff around that they had used. Most of it damaged or missing through treasure hunters and antiquity hunters. There are many missing pieces that we may never know about. They are now national monuments and protected from the scavanger hunter but it is too late to save what has already been taken. It is a shame that a heritage should so be ravaged...