USATODAY.com – Nights with a heavenly view By Laura Bly, USA TODAY

Particularly here in the Land of Enchantment. Home to some of the country’s darkest and clearest skies, New Mexico has long been a magnet for star buffs. …

One of the best-known portals to New Mexico’s nighttime marvels is Chaco Canyon, eerie, windswept desert ruins about midway between Grants and Farmington (or the proverbial Middle of Nowhere).

Chaco began offering astronomy programs in 1991 and opened its own observatory — the only one in a national park — seven years later. Park managers have designated Chaco’s night sky a critical resource in need of protection, and they have retrofitted all park lighting to enhance after-dark viewing and reduce light pollution from cities as far afield as Albuquerque, about 150 miles to the southeast.

Today, about 14,000 self-sufficient visitors a year come to gaze and graze on ancient tales. (Aside from the park’s 49-space campground and a bare-bones inn in Nageezi, the closest food and lodging is an hour and a half’s drive away.)

Given New Mexico’s average of more than 300 sunny days a year, chances of scoring a cloudless night in Chaco are high. But even on a Saturday evening when the Anasazi’s beloved Father Sky is cloaked by thunderheads, magic is in the air.

Search this blog for astronomy

Albuquerque Tribune Online By James W. Brosnan, Tribune Reporter

WASHINGTON – Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal mining company, is seeking $19 million in federal aid to demonstrate “clean coal technology” at a proposed 300-megawatt power plant about 80 miles west of Albuquerque. …

If the DOE approves the Peabody funds, the Mustang Generation Station north of Grants would move close to the goal of “near-zero emissions,” Peabody spokeswoman Beth Sutton said. …

The National Parks Conservation Association expressed concern the Mustang plant would pollute the night skies over Chaco Culture National Historical Park 24 miles north of the plant site.

Chaco Canyon was a center of pueblo culture between A.D. 850 and 1250, and was probably used for astronomical observations and ceremonies.

“The integrity of the Chaco culture needs to be preserved,” said Jill Stephens, who works with the conservation association’s Clean Air for Parks and People campaign. “We expect the Park Service and the state to be fully involved to ensure that any impact on Chaco culture would be mitigated.”

Ely said the National Park Service or the U.S. Forest Service have also expressed concern about the plant’s impact on the air over other properties in the region including Mesa Verde National Park and Bandelier National Monument.

Who wants a coal-fired power plant so close to Chaco Canyon? Shareholders and corporate thugs who will never see the damage they do. mjh

j f l e c k : : a t : : i n k s t a i n: Was it Drought?

We can now return to the question subject to longstanding debate: was Chaco Canyon abandoned because of human impact on the environment or because of drought? The answer is: it was abandoned for both reasons. Over the course of five centuries the human population of Chaco Canyon grew, their demands on the environment grew, their environmental resources declined, and people came to be living increasingly close to the margin of what the environment could support. That was the ultimate cause of abandonment. The proximate cause, the proverbial last straw that broke the camel’s back, was a drought that finally pushed Chacoans over the edge. — Jared Diamond

He gave the stars By Lawrence Spohn, Albuquerque Tribune Online

This astronomy buff didn’t want to keep the sky to himself, so he chose to share it with Chaco Canyon visitors.

No household name, John Sefick nevertheless is having a large impact on visitors to this remote national park in northwestern New Mexico.

Thanks mostly to him, Chaco Canyon boasts the only observatory in a national park. Despite its isolation, the park is visited by nearly 14,000 people per year – a number that has surprised even its most ardent proponents. …

park officials were enthusiastic and provided the additional construction and operating funds to get the observatory opened by 1999. The decision had ripples, he said, spurring much more modest astronomy programs at other dark sky national parks, notably in southern Utah.

Sefick said he feels especially good about his gift when he has the opportunity to return to Chaco, as he did last month, to use the telescopes and watch the excitement first-hand. He’s said it was “the right idea at the right time at the right place.”

Chaco’s dark sky is officially listed as “a natural resource,” warranting park service protection….

A window to the sky By Lawrence Spohn

A thousand years later, folks still flock to Chaco Canyon National Park to witness the summer solstice.

They watched the window-shaped beacon of sunlight inch down and across the curved rock wall, mirroring the sun’s path up and across the cobalt sky that draped over the canyon walls. Eventually, the solar beacon rested almost perfectly within a similarly shaped internal cove, or niche, on the wall opposite the window. So began summer solstice 2004 – exactly as it did a thousand years ago here at the height the Chacoan Culture, which reigned from about 850 to 1150.

The window and niche, archaeo-astronomers believe, are among many astronomical markers that the observationally astute Chacoans created to mark the passage of time on a seasonal basis. Archaeologists say the markers – including an impressive, moving sun-dagger of light discovered atop Fajada Butte – likely were used to regulate the ancient Indian society and culture – perhaps everything from religion and civil ceremonies to agricultural practices.

More and more, researchers are discovering evidence in the canyon ruins that suggest Chacoans built their muti-room, multi-story buildings – one the size of the ancient Roman Coliseum – along lines traced through the canyon by the seasonal passages of the sun and moon. While much remains speculative, some scientists argue proof is mounting that the elaborate astronomical design was implemented over centuries, suggesting an extensive and provocative, long-term architectural master plan.

U.S. must polish up on national treasures’ value (Editorial)

Among the cuts suggested to park superintendents: closing visitor centers or parks on holidays or Sundays; eliminating guided ranger tours; or forgoing lifeguards at beaches. This is another unfortunate and close-to-home example of how this administration promises one thing but does another.

Seven of 388 national parks are in New Mexico. One – Chaco Culture National Historical Park – is among several that the private, nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association said recently is in particular jeopardy.

The group reported last month that there is insufficient money at Chaco to protect some of the ancient pueblo’s structures.

Hopi Food & Agriculture Symposium By Somana Yaiva, Navajo-Hopi Observer

The Hopi Tribal Department of Natural Resources Planner, Micah Loma’omvaya, gave a very informative presentation on land management practices in the past and a brief overview of ethno-botanical research techniques and how they can benefit Hopi farmers.

”When we look at the practice of Hopi farming we must recognize the ancient origins of this technology in the many prehistoric sites of the Southwest and beyond,” he said. ”Archaeology and archaeobotany provide a window of opportunity to view and understand the practices of our ancestors in farming and plant use in various environments.

”The Hopi have benefited from the technology and knowledge developed by our ancestors known to the field of archaeology by various archaeological complexes named the Anasazi, Sinagua, Salado, Hohokam, Hakataya, Mogollon, etc. but all known to the Hopi as the ‘Hisatsinom,’ (Our People of Long Ago).”

This is the first time I’ve seen the name ”Hakataya” (for what that’s worth). Many New Mexico Pueblos also have kinship with the ”Ancestral Puebloans.”

By the way, www.navajohopiobserver.com makes for interesting reading from time to time. mjh

Groundwork was laid in the stars By SETH MULLER

Near the Crack-in-the-Rock pueblo in Flagstaff’s Wupatki National Monument, a formation known as Calendar Wall has a portal. When the sun is halfway between the equinox and the solstice in November and February, the sun appears at the portal’s center. …

[A] ruin [in Chaco Canyon] known as the Great House of Wijiji has an alignment with a notch in front of the eastern horizon. Two weeks before the winter solstice the sun rises at the north corner of the notch, and two weeks later it’s at the south end of the notch.

Researchers believe a ”sunwatcher” would gather important information from such markers in order to determine preparation times for ceremonial events or agricultural activities. Wijiji is one of many structures at Chaco that has formations demarcating the seasons.

Q: I’m very keen to drive up to Chaco, which I know you’re a big fan of. Any recommendations on how to spend a long weekend up yonder? — PB

PB-

All the ruins I’ve seen in the Four Corners are unique and fascinating. Still, Chaco tops everything (and I would understand anyone saying, ‘no, it’s Mesa Verde’ or Hovenweap or Montezuma’s Castle, etc).

I think the way to do it is to plan to camp in the campground at Chaco at least two nights (though many people do it all in one long day trip). On weekends, the CG tends to fill-up, especially in summer (which is a crazy time to be there). Try to get to the CG by early afternoon on a Friday (mid-week is really better) — stop at the CG first and get your spot (it’s 3 to 4 hours from Albuquerque). After the CG, visit the Visitors Center; look at the glorious 3D map. You’ll visit all the ruins along the main 8-mile loop road (“Downtown Chaco,” some say) — one can do that in a few hours or a few days. Eventually, you should hit one of the backcountry ruins — start early in the day; Wijiji is easiest (flattest route); Pueblo Peñasco is farthest; Tsin Kletsin may be least impressive, but a really neat hike if you loop through South Gap — great vistas at the beginning and end of that loop. If one could only do one backcountry ruin, it probably should be Pueblo Alto for the combination of terrain, vistas and ruins.

I will be very happy to answer any questions or offer more advice. I have lots of thoughts about things to see outside of Chaco Canyon (outliers, etc). And I look forward to your photos and blog entry. mjh

See also:
www.mjhinton.com/chaco/
www.mjhinton.com/outliers/

Unearthing canyon’s clues
Mysteries of Anasazi revealed in Chaco’s centuries-old corn
By Jim Erickson, Rocky Mountain News

[Scientists have recently] concluded that the Anasazi, also known as the Ancestral Puebloans, hauled corn on their backs more than 50 miles to feed canyon dwellers.

That result is overturning the long-held belief that the Chacoans were agriculturally self-sufficient, growing everything they needed within the canyon through the clever use of captured and diverted surface runoff.

The findings also reinforce the view that Chaco was the ceremonial, administrative and economic center of a vast region spanning northwestern New Mexico’s San Juan Basin.

”We continually underestimate the ability of these people to organize themselves on huge scales without the aid of modern technology,” said University of Colorado archaeologist Linda Cordell, one of the authors of last fall’s paper. …

According to some Navajo clan traditions, [Chaco leaders] included a ruthless ruler known as the Gambler, who gained control of people by defeating them in various games of chance.

”The Navajo will tell you it was a powerful place ruled by a man who misused his power for black magic,” Stein said.

Something unique in this article is the inclusion of the Navajo view of Chaco. The article is worth reading just for that, as long as you take the view with a grain of salt. The Navajo arrived long after it was over, which isn’t to say they know nothing about it, but that they weren’t contemporaries watching their neighbors (and how accurate would that view be, for that matter?). mjh

I recommend a visit to Aztec Ruins in far northwest New Mexico; it is on the way between Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. The location among trees is a stark contrast to Chaco. One of the unique features not mentioned in this otherwise very good article is a band of dark green stones along one of the exterior walls. A little farther south is Salmon Ruins, which is far less stunning but recommended to ruins freaks. mjh

ABQjournal: Ruins a Link Between Pueblo People, Anasazi Builders By James Abarr

WHAT: Aztec Ruins National Monument, administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; telephone: 334-6174.

WHERE: In northwest New Nexico on Ruins Road on the northwest outskirts of the town of Aztec.

HOURS: Open daily, Memorial Day through Labor Day, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Remainder of year, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed Christmas, New Year’s Day and Thanksgiving.

FEES: Adults, $4; children, no charge.

FACILITIES: Visitor Center provides information, exhibits and a book store. A 25-minute video, “Hisatsinom: The Ancient Ones,” is shown several times daily.

A self-guiding trail leads through the main West Ruin, a multistory pueblo of 400 rooms and 24 kivas. The trail passes through several rooms with intact original roofs.

Outside the West Ruin, the trail provides access to the Great Kiva, a large underground ceremonial chamber, which has been restored to appear as it would have looked in the 12th century.

A shaded picnic area with tables is also provided.

AZTEC RUINS NATIONAL MONUMENT— It’s the perennial waters of the Animas River that likely drew the ancient Indian people to this corner of far northwest New Mexico nearly 900 years ago. [Read more…]
Continue reading Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico →

I ran across this map of the ruins within Chaco Canyon. I have my own version (the second link below) mjh

Chaco Map

Map of Chaco Canyon

Lecture to explore Chaco Canyon enigma by ERICA ENRIQUE, For the Monitor

David Grant Noble, author of the popular book, ”Ancient Ruins of the Southwest: An Archaeological Guide,” which is now in its third printing [mjh: highly recommended]. Noble is the editor of the forthcoming ”In Search of Chaco: New Approaches to an Archaeological Enigma” to be published this spring.

The book presents the views of many noted Chaco scholars, including representatives of three different Native American groups, the Hopi, the Navajo and the Pueblo.

Noble edited a previous book on the site, ”New Light on Chaco Canyon.”

”I’m going to talk about some of the recent research and interpretations of Chaco culture in the last 15 years,” Noble said. ”Some of the important facts are still controversial.”

One of the mysteries that continue to intrigue experts is the purpose of the dozen or so very large, elaborate buildings, Noble said. One theory is that an elite class lived in them.

“The relationship between this elite class and the rest of the group is very controversial,” Noble said. “Was support of this class voluntary or were the common people coerced into supporting them?” Some believe this elite was a military aristocracy, others think they were a religious caste.

Another enduring mystery about Chaco is why the site was abandoned. “The Hopi believe the gods gave the people a message to move on,” Noble explained.

“Archaeologists agree that a severe drought coincided with the abandonment of the site,” he said. Perhaps the prestige of the elite crumbled when the gods refused to provide rain, some speculate.