The Lost & Mysterious Chacaon Civilization

Great civilization rise and fall. Others just disappear like the Chacoan. One thousand years ago, the city center of Chacoan culture in an American canyon was sealed, burnt and abandoned. It’s fascinating history and I couldn’t resist writing about this lost civilization in the prehistoric Four Corners area.

Hello Friends,

In February of this year, the mysterious Chacoan Civilization was in the news. Researchers were conducting DNA studies of the women buried at the Pueblo Bonito site in the Chacoan Canyon. The canyon is located in New Mexico, south-western USA. The new research has found the society was led by a "maternal elite" who passed power from female to female, or through a mother-daughter linage from 800-1130 A.D.

You can read more about the DNA studies here; Chacoan Maternal Lineage

The "Pueblo" Native American people are descended from the Chacoan civilization. Pueblo Bonito was the center of the Chacoan society in the desert canyon. Pueblo Bonito was a site used for ceremonial, cultural and trade purposes. The half-circle shaped city from a thousand years has buildings 4 to 5 storey’s high. There are great houses with over 800 rooms. Yet, it’s doubtful people lived in the rooms. For what reason were the great houses originally built? The mystery remains unsolved.

Pueblo Bonito houses made of sandstone blocks and the remains of timber poles used for the ceilings.
source: Google Earth

Pueblo Bonito was constructed of sandstone walls with pine log ceilings and roofs. Engineered road building was also part of the Chacaon complex. The stone blocks and timber were transported from great distance and perhaps carried over several centuries.

Further below, I have inserted a youtube documentary about the Chacaon civilization. The video is almost an hour long and is narrated by actor, Robert Redford.

Pueblo Bonito circular Kivas and houses set against the canyon walls.
source: Google Earth

From the video, there are many sites in the canyons that are aligned with the sun’s equinoxes and solstices. The Chacaon complex is a rare ancient site that aligns with the Moon’s rising and setting position on the horizon. The position of the moon’s ascent and descent is an 18.5 year cycle. It’s thought that generations of people would have been needed to record the moon’s cycle as it appeared over the Chacaon city.

Since the 1970’s, Anna Sofaer has been researching the Chacaon city sites. She’s discovered single and double spiral carvings in rocks, which remind me of the Celts. She speaks of the symbols creating light markers on stone solar and lunar calendars.

Some of the people interviewed in the documentary spoke of the canyon city being a sacred center where the sky and the earth mother were united. Cosmology and the relationship to earth were understood.

 That people of great power once lived there. People who had power over the weather, animals, and other people. This great spiritual power might have led to a corruption of some sort. Some people sense a dark energy lives on at the site.

The city was sealed by the Chacaon. The stone and timber were burned to purify them. Guardian spirits may watch over the scorched buildings.

Lessons about having power over nature were learned by the Chacaon and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why the sites were abandoned. The lessons were learnt, and the people moved on. 

Nothing quite like Chaco existed before or since...

Have a peaceful weekend. 
♥ Ashlyn