Differential Outrage

July 22, 2010 by teofilo

Yurt and Modular Office Unit in Chaco Visitor Center Parking Lot

Lots of visitors, seeing the boarded-up and fenced-off visitor center, have been asking what’s going on.  When I tell them, they often respond with a knowing chuckle.  People seem to understand that these things happen.  Some are a bit disappointed that we no longer have a museum to show any artifacts or an auditorium to show the park video, but even they are pretty understanding of the situation.  I’ve heard considerably more positive comments about the yurt than negative comments about the closed visitor center, in fact.  This is a marked contrast to the amount of outrage people showed when the campground was closed.  Luckily it’s now open, so at least that nightmare is over.  Just goes to show what the priorities of visitors to Chaco are, I guess.

Differential Outrage « Gambler’s House

I’m sure Teofilo isn’t as surprised as he sounds. It is much worse to drive a hundred miles to camp at Chaco and find there is no campground, than no visitors center. Moreover, the CG was closed due to a problem related to bathrooms. Those bathrooms should never have been built with running water and porta-potties should have been brought in immediately. (They were, eventually.) Not one site in that too-small CG should have been closed more than one night. Moreover, the lovely yurt befits a world-class destination in a way that orange traffic cones in the CG surely did not.

I am again recommending the Chacoan website created by Teofilo – Gambler’s House (an allusion to the Navajo history of Chaco). He writes well and thoughtfully, interspersing interesting photos in the text. In particular, Teofilo sums up the information about the source of all of the wood used in Chaco in this entry:

Where They Got the Wood « Gambler’s House
http://gamblershouse.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/where-they-got-the-wood/

I’m certain it is not for lack of knowledge that he doesn’t mention that some think Chimney Rock was an outpost for gathering wood that might have been floated as far as Chaco. I don’t know if there is any merit to this idea. However, waterways may explain why wood would come from some areas and not others. In particular, Jemez may not be upstream from Chaco. peace, mjh

Update 7/9/09: Asked and answered. In his next post, Teofilo destroys the floating logs hypothesis, which I think I heard at Chimney Rock — and clearly, the eponymous rocks are all the reason the Chacoans needed to be there. Nothing like the careful consideration of facts to undermine a lovely idea. Still, in all matters, remember that the word facts often should be followed by “as we know them now.” Not said to undermine Teofilo’s facts — he has quite a grasp.

Tom and Sue Weiss have posted some nice photos as well as an account of a trip led by Dr. David Wilcox. Worth a read — he mentions many sites I’ve never heard of. peace, mjh

Chaco May 2008 Trip – a set on Flickr

Data on Chacoan or Chacoan-Like Great Houses by David R. Wilcox
http://www.colorado.edu/Conferences/chaco/ghousen.html

I’ve gone to Chaco Canyon every year for most of 25 years. It’s my pilgrimage. This year was possibly the windiest (and that’s saying a lot). My journal may be a little less inspired than we’d like, but in it, you’ll read about my new friends and some old roads.

Read the journal (link to photos at the end) …

Continue reading Trip to Chaco 4/30-5/2/08 →

“The Chaco Collection contains approximately one million artifacts from over 120 sites in Chaco Canyon and the surrounding region. Because most of the artifacts were systematically collected and documented, the collections are extremely valuable for scientific studies.

The Archive documents over 100 years of excavation in Chaco Canyon, and contains approximately 300 linear feet of records, 30,000 photographs, 7,000 color slides, 600 glass lantern slides, 2,000 maps, 1,000 manuscripts, and field notes, reports, and other written records.

The objects in this exhibit represent the range of materials in the Chaco Collection. They give us insight into the remarkable achievements of the Chacoan culture, and help us connect more directly to the past. ”

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/chcu/overview3.html

[mjh: Intentional reburial of ruins. I knew it is done, but didn’t realize it has been done a lot at Chaco lately. Follow the link and compare the two photos.]

NPS Archeology Program: Research in the Parks

“Intentional site reburial is an effective, practical, and economical treatment for the most threatened structures with the greatest visitation and is a sustainable and relatively low-tech solution to some of the more complex structural problems”

http://www.nps.gov/archeology/sites/npSites/chacoReburial.htm

[mjh: From my alma mater, UVa.]

“Welcome to the Chaco Digital Initiative! CDI is a collaborative effort
to create a digital archive that will integrate much of the widely dispersed archaeological data collected from Chaco Canyon in the late 1890s and the first half of the 20th century.”

http://www.chacoarchive.org/