Chaco Canyon

Rock art at Una Vida pueblo site. This was my first on-hand encounter with southwestern rock art and I almost peed myself with excitement.

Jack's a happy guy. :)

Chacoan beauty.

This is the great Kiva at Chetre Ketl with seating pits, vaults, and firebox intact. I again, almost peed on myself...to study this stuff in class is one thing, but to see it firsthand, is something extravagant.

Some smaller kivas at Chetro Ketl.

The great Kiva at Pueblo Bonito. :D

Jack is getting happier with every step into the canyon...

These petroglyphs perplex me. The holes apparently held a bench at one point, probably for astronomical tracking, as the sun rises on the right side of this photo and sets as it falls through the canyon on the left. However, the things that look like clawmarks are unlike any petroglyphs I have ever seen...

Detail of the "claw marks." One suggestion in the pamphlet for the "petroglyph trail" was that these might've been used as tool sharpeners. However, I don't like this interpretation because on this same wall is carved hundreds of sacred markings, and is located right behind/between pueblo bonito and chetro ketl, obviously a sacred spot.

Bricked up door at pueblo bonito. Apparently, when these folks left, they closed the passageways in some form of sacred ritual practice. I would also like to note that some of these pueblos in the canyon lie only a mile (on average) apart, giving rise to the idea that they were used more for sacred practices than simply for everyday living.

I liked this room in pueblo bonito. Notice the diagonal window/doors at the top left and right.

This picture does it no justice...I'm serious...Pueblo bonito is freaking huge!

Pueblo Bonito.

Grinding stone at Pueblo Bonito.

One of the great kivas at Pueblo Bonito. Notice the deflector behind the firebox in the center (used for light manipulation.) These things were covered with wooden beams for roofing at one point, so the use of light through several holes in the sides and the deflector were of sacred significance. Truly magical if you ask me. To think of what went on in that room...

A smaller kiva at Pueblo Bonito. I liked the support columns in this one. I noticed a couple of these smaller ones at this site had six beams in each kiva. I assume there was some significance.

The great Kiva at Pueblo Bonito. Notice the holes in the sides of the walls. I'm not sure if these were meant for light manipulation or simply to hold timber supports for either benches or the roofs. Ask me later. :P

A dig that was underway on the NW side of Pueblo Bonito.

Again, no justice. This doesn't even show the outliers of Pueblo Bonito...the place is freaking huge!

I wandered off the trail and found this petroglyph. :)

And alas, the famous "sun spirals" found throughout the canyon and of course, Native American rock art across the country. I learned different interpretations of these from people I talked to in New Mexico about Chaco. Some think they signify "sun watcher spots" but I am still led to believe that the spiral represents shamanistic assention/descention of power. But I haven't graduated yet, so... :P  

This one looks like some idiot has carved it out recently, or applied chalk to it. THIS is why there needs to be more education on rock art, especially in areas like the southwest where good preservation has left us with handfuls of sites.

I liked this little guy. Again, I found this one on my own, off the trail. :P

Cool, huh?!?! :D

Check out their heads. They're all different. This whole rock face, which extends the north side of the canyon is covered with stuff like this. Jack heaven. :)

This was about 20 feet in the air, so those folks must've had some pretty impressive ladders. I love the designs on this panel, though.

A historic image! Obviously of a railroad. There are several historic images of rock art in the park, but I thought this one to be especially cool. When I say historic, that simply means not-ancient. (To all you non-archaeological folks).

Peekaboo! :) Nice little shaman.

It was on a larger panel, but again, I see this as a shaman and a representation of his assention/descention into the spirit world. Any other suggestions?

This is the entire panel.

Lizard monster on the way to the Supernova Pictograph.

And yes, there are cactuses in the canyon. After my trip last year, I thought cacti to be merely elusive critters of fiction and legend, but no, they actually do exist in the desert. :P

Finally, after a three mile hike into the canyon by myself, with no food, I forded a fast-flowing, muddy, two-and-a-half-foot deep river 'til I found this supernova pictograph. This image has been featured in numerous books that I've studied, one that particularly comes to mind is Painted Dreams, by Thor Conway. Carol Diaz-Granados, the famous rock art researcher that is reviewing my paper has also mentioned some correlations to the explosion of 1054 in the rock art of Missouri, so it seems this event was of great spiritual significance within the realm of the natural world to the indigenous people of the Americas as it is clear these images seem to pop up around here and there. There is documented evidence from Chinese astronomers that the supernova explosion took place around July 2, 1054 and would've appeared as a "second sun in the sky" for quite some time. This obviously represents the light from the supernova (left) while the moon was present (right). And I assume the handprint (based on prior research in other parts of the country) has something to do with the shaman or artist that painted these images.

I liked these three. Notice the shaman on the left and in the middle are women.

Another historic petroglyph of a horse (from the Spanish conquests) and a railroad track. This was obviously created later by the Zuni or Navajo, or maybe even the Apache...I'm not really sure who was living in the area around the high-time of railroads in the west...

Preservation/reconstruction work at Pueblo del Arroyo. I thought this was cool.

Several small kivas at Pueblo del Arroyo.

Gazing at Fajada Butte, trying to see the elusive Sun Dagger rocks. There are three rocks placed high up on the Butte by the Chacoans that lie in front of a spiral petroglyph. On different days of the year, particularly the solstices and equinoxes, a beam of light shines through the three rocks and moves its way down through different parts of the spiral (during the summer solstice, the light pierces through the middle of the spiral.) Amazing archaeostronomical work by Ana Solfer, the leader of the solstice project has documented much of the rock art in the canyon and found many solar and lunar alignments to these sites. They have discovered amazing correlations to the placement of the pueblos and the movement of the sun and moon, some of the patterns taking hundreds of years of tracking by the ancients to correctly document. Fortunately for Solfer and others involved with the solstice project, computer technology has given us the ability to see these correlations in a matter of hours. There has been amazing work done in Chaco canyon, and it is truly a magical, magical place. :)

On the way out, took a picture of the sign. If you look to the top of the Butte on the right, you will see a small rock poking up. This is part of the sun-dagger site.

This little guys was waiting to say "hidy" on my way out of the canyon.

They weren't joking. It was the craziest road I've ever been on.

If you can imagine speed bumps every two inches, than you'd have this road. That's how you get in and out of the canyon, though, and even though driving into/out of the canyon was one of the scariest experiences of my life, I would love to return again someday and study further the ancient people that lived in Chaco canyon. :) 

I took over 300 pictures of the canyon and its rock art. Not all of those are featured on here. I'd be glad to show any and all of you all of the images, though...as this was only a handful of its amazingness. :) Be sure to check out my blog on Arizona...I should be posting tonight or tomorrow!

Life is good. Peace be with you all.