The composition and photography could not have been betterthe publicwill eat it up and ask for more.'F. Colorado scientists form a better picture after uncovering the earliest known female infant burial site in Europe, U.S. Officials To Put Off Oil Leases Near Sacred Tribal Land. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder). The duo wanted to find out if such a journey would be possible. These straps, which sherpas, or native mountain peoples of Nepal, still widely use today, loop over the top of the head. 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? Hundreds of mysterious, ancient structures haunt this canyon and the entire region, meticulously aligned along the paths of the Sun, Moon, and constellation Orion. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern . However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages. Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Chacoan people, regard Chaco as a place where their ancestors lived in a sacred past. Chaco Canyon was the center of the ancestral Puebloan world, home to immense great houses as high as five stories tall and containing as many as 800 rooms, cavernous kivas built so that dancers . A summary of the film provides the teacher with useful background knowledge for his or her own preparation and to share with students prior to viewing the film. In a 2022 study, they and their colleagues estimated that a pine log measuring about 16 feet long probably weighed closer to 85 kilograms (a little over 185 pounds). They built Great Houses, which were as much as four stories tall and contained hundreds of rooms. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon - Ritterbush - 2001 - American Anthropologist - Wiley Online Library Skip to Article Content Skip to Article Information Gazing at the horizon: heavenly phenomena and cultural preferences within northwest Scotland? After three months of training with tumplines for six or seven days a week, Kram and Wilson were ready to try a real log. CNMN Collection the mystery of chaco canyon transcript. Explore how the Chacoan people expressed a complex solar and lunar cosmology in their archMoreMore, Chaco Canyon, located in northwest New Mexico, is perhaps the only site in the world constructed in an elaborate pattern that mirrors the yearly cycle of the sun and the 19-year cycle of the moon. 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. Written by Anna Sofaer and Matt Dibble. W. David Laird, Books of the Southwest'The video, then, is a multi-leveled phenomenon, like Chaco, which embraces complexity, beauty and mystery.' "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.". That photograph influenced many of the proposed mechanisms for transporting the logs. For more information, contact Bullfrog Films, Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 1-800-543-FROG . Thousands of people, the ancestors of todays Din, or Navajo,and Pueblo peoples, may have lived there from around A.D. 850 to 1200. The irritation paid off. That still left a bigger question unanswered, though. 1999. Its wide roads, circular ritual sites called kivas, and sprawling. The actual demonstration was to try and walk a long distance carrying 66 pounds per person, walking side by side, Kram said. Since its release in 2000, our award-winning film, that our award-winning film, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is now, the DVD of our full-length documentary on, US Release Date: 1999; Copyright Date: 1999, Silver Plaque, The Chicago International Television Competition, Bronze Plaque, Columbus International Film & Video Festival, Honorable Mention, The Archaeology Channel International Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History, New York, National Museum of National History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient peoples in the Southwest employed tumplines woven from yucca plants to transport everyday items like food and water. The Mystery Of Chaco Canyon examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico, revealing that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings oriented in a complex celestial pattern throughout this vast desert region. It's likely the best way to do it.. On todays show, we hear from two Colorado scientists who recently discovered one of the oldest female infant burial sites in a cave in Europe. The site remains one of the most important . Chaco is central to the origins of several Navajo clans and ceremonies. When/Where: Thursday, January 24, 2019 / 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. / James A. That astonishment was Krams entry point into the mystery. The canyon itself has been carved from ancient sea beds by centuries of erosion. 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. "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.". He and Wilson decided to read everything they could about the properties of dried wood. That's five miles round trip.. Located 72 miles south of Farmington, Chaco Canyon contains the largest collection of ruins in Northwestern New Mexico. 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. Refereed proceedings of The Oxford VI International Conference on Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy and Culture and SEAC in 1999, Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the American Southwest, The Architecture of Chaco Canyon, edited by Stephen Lekson, Kim Malville, J. McKim Malville, Andy Munro, The Southwest School of Landscape Archaeology, Memory, Meaning, and Masonry: The Late Bonito Chacoan Landscape, Anasazi solar marker: The use of a natural rockfall, Religious Behavior in the Post-Chaco Years, The Housing of the World: About the Significance of Cosmographic Concepts for Habitation, The Astronomical Context of the Archaeology and Architecture of the Chacoan Culture, 2006 National Conference on the Beginning Design Student An Inquiry into the Intersection and Fusion of Astronomical Alignments and Sacred Geometry in the Design Process of Architecture, Foundation Studio, Naked-Eye Astronomy for Cultural Astronomers (2008), The Hooper Ranch Pueblo Sun Dagger Shrine Revisited - Revealing Greater Regional Significance, Possible astronomical references in the planning of the Great Hopewell Road, Visions of the Cosmos: Ceremonial Landscapes and Civic Plans (2008), Pueblo Folklore, Landscape Phenomenology and the Visual Poetics of Fajada Butte, Astronomy and the Design of Late Bonito Great Houses at Chaco Canyon, ARCHAEOASTRONOMY IN THE FIELD; METHODOLOGIES APPLIED IN CHACO CANYON, Ancestors and the sun: astronomy, architecture and culture at Chaco Canyon, 2013. So how did the ancestral Puebloans manage it? 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. But that account is inconsistent with the known sourcing of the timbersthe Chuska, Zuni, San Mateo, La Plata, ad Sa Juan Mountainsand there is also no archaeological evidence for the existence of such carts, according to the authors. There is one account of the timbers for Pueblo Bonita being hauled on little wagons made of a small tree, with a cross-section at either end serving as a rudimentary wheel. Dr. R. Gwinn Vivian, Ex-Curator of Archaeology at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. Airs Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV. Newresearch helps explain why. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no I multiplied by 16 feet and realized, That cant add up to 275 kilograms.. They built "Great Houses," which were as much as four stories tall and contained hundreds of rooms. Ars may earn compensation on sales from links on this site. Robert Redford, The video becomes part of the ongoing dialogue between archeologists, anthropologists, and native peoples [It's] a multi-level phenomenon, like Chaco, which embraces complexity, beauty, and mystery. Rina Swentzell, Architect, Santa Clara Pueblo, "A stunning piece of work the graphics are astounding and the entire production is powerful." Study Traces DNA Of Inca Emperors To Their Modern-Day Descendants, 2,000-Year Old Engraved Kurdistan Tablet Referring To A Hellenistic Ruler Demetrius Analyzed, Does A 2,000-Year-Old Tomb Belong To Marquis of Haihun? 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. Sofaer, Anna (screenwriter) - Feb 24, 2023 9:00 pm UTC. I multiplied by 16 feet and realized, That cant add up to 275 kilograms.. Kram developed his own theory about how the Chacoans managed the feat, starting with his realization a few years ago that the assumptions since 1980 about the mass of a typical roof beam (viga) used in one of the great houses was likely too high: 275 kilograms, a bit more than 600 pounds. They first tried carrying a log on their shoulders. These structures offered humans a domestic sphere within a realm of wild nature, ensuring stability, centricity, meaning, security, familiarities, knowledge of controlling, social and power classifications. New aerial cinematography and lidar--an aerial laser-scanning technology--are revealing a vast network of linear . You can download the paper by clicking the button above. The duo wanted to find out if such a journey would be possible. From the 9th to the 12th century BCE, Chaco Canyon was the center of a pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the San Juan Basin of the American Southwest. Understanding all aspects of the thing wasn't important to me. Chaco Culture For over 2,000 years, Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States. Dr. Gerald S. Hawkins, Commissioner, History of Astronomy, International Astronomical Union'A captivating look at one of the most impressive archaeological sites in North AmericaAnna Sofaer reveals the solar and lunar complexity of Chacoan buildings with impressive visual economy and clarity. 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). Pueblo leaders speak of the significance of Chaco to the Pueblo world today. I also felt that the place had been meant only for a certain time and a specific purpose, which thought was echoed at the end of the film. Kram decided to take proving his theory a stepor haulfurther, though. Chaco Canyon sits near the border between New Mexico and Colorado. Each attached a tumpline to one end of that log to share the load. The teaching materials in the Guide are designed to be used with the film THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON. 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). The Mystery of Chaco Canyon challenges the long-held assumption that Chaco was a center of trade and offers an explanation of the site which reveals the brilliant astronomy of ancient pueblo people. One of the characteristics of the human mode of existence shows up in modelling the structures and processes of the world onto the living space, which consists of certain landscapes, locations, and habitations. The roads around Chaco Canyon would have been wide enough to accommodate a line of people walking next to each other in a row - an ideal setup for Kram's multi-person tumpline theory. Everybody else who was hiking there scratched their head and asked us what the heck we were doing, Kram recalled. Learn more about our captivating exploration of ancient astronomy in the American Southwest, directed by the Solstice Project founder Anna Sofaer and narrated by Robert Redford. It is located in the region known as the Four Corners, where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. That's where we go to heal, to pray,'" said Weiner, who will receive his doctorate in anthropology from CU Boulder later this spring. Focusing on the enigmatic monumental center at Chaco Canyon, the book provides a historical analysis of how Southwest archaeology confined itself, how it can break out of those confines, and how it can proceed into the future. Others have suggested that the timbers were rolled rather than carried to construction sites, perhaps bundled within smaller wood pieces for protection or carried on the shoulders. To make sure they were being safe, Kram and Wilson started with light loads and worked their way up, said Joseph Carzoli, a study co-author and certified strength and conditioning coach. Their immense buildings in Chaco Canyon, a remote, barely habitable canyon innorthwestern New Mexico, have been the subject of heated archaeological debate for decades. It should be mentioned that archaeological work at Chaco Canyon had a significant contribution to the film. Produced by The Solstice Project. This documentary examines the ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built between 850 and 1150 A.D. in northwest New Mexico. Ancient Chaco. 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. Rather it argues that it was a center of astronomy and cosmology and that a primary purpose for the construction of the elaborate Chacoan buildings and certain roads was to express astronomical interests and to be integral parts of a celestial patterning.While the Chacoans left no written text to help us to understand their culture, their thoughts are preserved in the language of their architecture, roads and light markings. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. Once home to the Ancient Puebloans, Chaco Canyon was a major center of ancestral Puebloan culture between 850 and 1250 A.D. By 1000 A.D., the Chaco culture had firmly established a spiritual, political, and economic center serving the Four Corners area. It is the summation of 20 years of research. Keep up with all the latest news, arts and culture, and TV highlights from KPBS. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. Archeologists estimate that the main architectual landmark, the great Kiva of Chetro Keti, was . The ancient Anasazi built Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, but now the area is stalked by shape-shifting creatures and visited by time travelers who left behind a mysterious artifact. Murphy said it's not uncommon to see lights moving among the ruins or to hear sounds coming from parts of the canyon.. The content is provided for information purposes only. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon 2000 0 hr 56 mins Documentary NR Watchlist Robert Redford narrates this report exploring magnificent 1000-year-old Native American ruins in Chaco Canyon, N.M. At. The duo and their colleaguesdescribed their experimentFeb. 22 in theJournal of Archaeological Science: Reports. Instead, we carried sand and heavy logs around using our heads, said Kram, who is a passionate runner in his free time. Sofaer, Anna (film producer) Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Stephen Lekson, Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado Boulder, "The Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico", Rina Swentzell, Architect, Santa Clara Pueblo, News study outlines air pollution from Tijuana sewage, Art Show: 'The Possibility of Something Happening', Current rainy season could be a drought buster, forecaster says, Settlement reached in Tijuana sewage lawsuit, Brittney Griner urges the return of U.S. detainees abroad at NAACP Image Awards, Washington state attorney general says FDA rules on abortion drug are unreasonable, An Arizona driver is in custody after crashing into bicycling group, killing 2, How Cardiff's new farmers market may help keep small farms in business, San Diego officials work to stop elephant poaching. I've heard people say, 'That's our church. Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines). It was a long, hard day.. In the process, we get a whole new picture of the intelligence at work behind Chacoan society and its architectureThe Mystery of Chaco Canyon interweaves a narrative that is both attentive to indigenous thought and values, and robustly grounded in the rigors of scientific method. How did an ancient civilization, with no known written language, arrange its buildings into a virtual celestial calendar, spanning an area roughly the size of Ireland? "I multiplied by 16 feet and realized, 'That can't add up to 275 kilograms.'". The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. Kram hypothesized that they pulled it off with tumplines straps that allow freight to be suspended from the top of the head, making it physiologically easier to lug heavy loads. Chaco Canyon sits near the border between New Mexico and Colorado. Chaco Canyon National Historical Park is one of those extraordinary gems and an excellent example of ArchaeoAstronomy. The complexes also featured large circular ceremonial areas called kivas. The Mystery Of Chaco Canyon reveals that, instead, Chaco was a complex ceremonial center with extraordinary astronomical alignments of buildings and roads. Thousands of people, the ancestors of today's Din, or Navajo, and Pueblo peoples, may have lived there from around A.D. 850 to 1200. "It's just a dumb way to carry a heavy object.". The irritation paid off. Without permission or understanding. Significantly, recently a large effigy of Quetzalcoatl which was removed from the site prior to the Field Museum's 1961 excavation has been recovered, and the embellishment of the shrine itself as an equinox marker has been noted. These and other bizarre encounters suggest the park may be a portal between our world and distant star system. The film argues that the massive multistory buildings and roads the Chacoans constructed in a forbidding stretch of what is now New Mexico were designed to form a vast, stunningly precise map of the yearly cycle of the sun and the 19-year cycle of the moon.' They help porters to support weight using the bones of their neck and spine rather than their muscles. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. "It was just debilitating," Kram said. For years archaeologists have assumed that Chaco Canyon was primarily an ancient trading center. What Does The Brain Of The Homo Erectus Fossil With The Lowest Cranial Capacity Tell About Evolution? In consequence and accompanying hominid evolution, which caused a partially freeing up from strong drives, organizing the world into a meaningful consistent and dynamic framework of interacting subsystems was necessary to integrate and orientate the human lifeworld within changing natural ecospheres. By creating an account, you acknowledge that PBS may share your information with our member stations and our respective service providers, and that you have read and understand the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. In dialogue and narrative, one deeply feels that Chaco is haunted, magical. 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. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. Many scientists have hypothesized about how the Chacoans might have accomplished this feat. See production, box office & company info, Self - Laguna Pueblo Council member - this is not the same Paul Pino in your database, The Extraordinary Tale of William Buckley: The great untold story of Australia's Robinson Crusoe, Australia's Lost Gold: The Legend of Lasseter. 22K views 1 year ago The Mystery Of Chaco Canyon examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico, revealing that. U.S. I have found that a majority of the studied Chacoan structures to conform to one or more of four architectural traditions that have astronomical associations. Cosmographic concepts of the world edifice can be regarded as holistic, multi-layered models of evolving human ecosystems, which, by using symbolic language, helped man making the world homely and transcending the profane. Lecture: Chacoan Astronomy, Cosmography, Roads, and Ritual Power: Insights into the Chaco World Using New Technologies. The Mystery Of Chaco Canyon examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico, revealing that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings oriented in a complex celestial pattern throughout this vast desert region. Riddle Of The Ancient Sarcophagus And Its Strange Properties Can Science Solve This Mystery? It is the summation of 20 years of research. The structures and ruins are protected from destruction and development and . I've heard people say: That's our church. During the same time period, SSE orientation was dominant in the Totah region to the north at sites including Aztec and Chimney Rock. Concepts of housing the world are implemented in the architecture of lodgings, cultic buildings, settlements, territories, and the artificial shaping of the landscape. Landscape, directions, sun and moon, and movement of shadow and light were used by the Chacoan builders to unite with a cosmic order. 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 NASA began researching Chaco Canyon in the 1970s, when the organization discovered some 300 kilometers of sophisticated roadways and underground kivas through multispectral scanning technology. They describe the deliberate action of their ancestors to seal off the buildings and these aspects of their past. For decades, people have wondered how ancient ancestral Puebloans transported heavy building materials to Chaco Canyon, one of the most important archaeological sites in the Southwest. Two hours later a rock chimney allows a narrow beam of sunlight to pass through, forming a Sun Dagger that illuminates the petroglyphs beneath it in a dynamic manner, similar to the solar marker located upon Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon. New Mexico's Chaco Canyon is home to some of the most impressive pre-Columbian architecture in the Western Hemisphere. This film is relevant to secondary- and college-level courses in Social Studies, Earth and Space Science, Traditional Literature, Pueblo Culture, Art, Symbols, and Architecture, . I don't know how they could have possibly done that.. Most large complexes had four or five stories and averaged over 200 rooms, with the. These straps, which sherpas, or native mountain peoples of Nepal, still widely use today, loop over the top of the head. But how this society got its construction supplies has been a long-standing mystery. Pot from Chaco collection . Today, the legacy of the extraordinary Chaco culture is threatened by both natural and human developments. Kiva: Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History, Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica, Astronomy and Cultural Diversity. His first move was to revise the inaccurate 600 pound weight estimate by doing his own weight estimations on a log from his wood pile. Located above the Little Colorado River in east-central Arizona, a natural rock formation casts a dynamic shadow-line onto a panel of ancient rock art during the summer solstice. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon and The Sun Dagger are available for HOME use and for EDUCATIONAL use. The EDUCATIONAL version has an accompanying Teachers Study Guide. To test that hypothesis, co-authors Rodger Kram and James Wilson spent the summer of 2020 training until they could haul a heavy log some 15 miles using tumplines.