Wilson and Kram rest their log on supports called "tokmas." The sample of Chacoan Great Houses assessed for astronomical associations was unchanged from the mid 1990s to 2007. Read About our Chaco Tours in 360 West Magazine Article, The Dallas News, Adventure Pro Magazine and Cowboys & Indians. This newly conceived series (in progress) will bring recent revelations about the ancient Native Americans who built massive enigmatic structures throughout the southwest. video produced and directed by Anna Sofaer. I cut a 1-foot-long section of pine and weighed it on my bathroom scale, said Kram, who lives on a wooded property in the hills west of Boulder. This documentary examines the ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built between 850 and 1150 A.D. in northwest New Mexico. A new study has solved the third mystery - how they carry as many as 200,000 16-foot-long wooden beams to Chaco Canyon from forests over 60 miles away. A 1925 publication featured a photograph depicting eight young men from Zuni Pueblo carrying a log: four on each side holding thin cross-poles at hip height, with the log laid on top. Landscape, directions, sun and moon, and movement of shadow and light were used by the Chacoan builders to unite with a cosmic order. They built "Great Houses," which were as much as four stories tall and contained hundreds of rooms. Keep up with all the latest news, arts and culture, and TV highlights from KPBS. of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder). These timbers brought pieces of the sacred mountains to Chaco Canyon.. The astonishing discovery of an ancient celestial calendar in Chaco Canyon,, Tells the story of three indigenous communities and the land they struggle, An in-depth portrait of Edward S. Curtis, the preeminent photographer, 2023 Docuseek, LLCAll rights reserved | Privacy Statement | Accessibility Statement, astronomy, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico,; cosmology, Pueblo Bonito,; Robert Redford, architecture, solstice, sun, moon, petroglyphs, native americans, sun dagger, lunar cycle, equinox, celestial calendar, archaeology, Anasazi, Hopi, archaeology, art history, architecture,"The Mystery of Chaco Canyon",Bullfrog Films,doc; history; science; religion. "I multiplied by 16 feet and realized, 'That can't add up to 275 kilograms.'". (2019). Written by Anna Sofaer and Matt Dibble. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon full movie HD - YouTube Archaeological evidence suggests thatancient peoplesin the Southwest employed tumplines woven from yucca plants to transport everyday items like food and water. That's where we go to heal, to pray,' said Weiner, who will receive his doctorate in anthropology from CU Boulder later this spring. 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. Published work includes a variety of proposals including horizon calendars, solar calendrical constructs in architecture, cardinal North-South and/or East-West (NS/EW) alignments of architecture and roads, building alignments to lunar standstills or June solstice sunrise, wall alignments to equinox sunrise or sunset, and the positioning of structures at observation points for horizon calendrical stations. Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. 167-175. He and Wilson, who was then an undergraduate in biochemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder, read up on the properties of dried wood and published their conclusions last year. New Mexico's Chaco Canyon was once the center of the most influential culture in the American Southwest. The type of artifacts in the collection include the full range of Chacoan material culture -- prehistoric vessels, stone and bone tools, matting and sandals, ground stone tools for making corn flour, projectile points, hammers and mauls, hoes and digging sticks, corn cobs and turkey bones, and ornaments of shell, Turquoise, jet, and bone. I've heard people say, 'That's our church. Now researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder say they may have solved this 1,000-year-old supply chain mystery. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. LiDAR and 3D modeling Reveal Untold Stories of Chaco Canyon Chaco Canyon, the Architectural Heart of the Anasazi - ThoughtCo Examines the enigmas presented by the prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. In Handbook of Landscape Archaeology, edited by Bruno David and Julian Thomas, pp. 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. 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. A new explanation of the mystery is emerging. The teaching materials in the Guide are designed to be used with the film THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON. That's five miles round trip.. Dr. R. Gwinn Vivian, former Curator of Archaeology, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona'I highly recommend this video for anthropological, sociological, and American studies classes.' Rina Swentzell, Architect, Santa Clara Pueblo, Sofaer, Anna (film director) Docuseek | The Mystery of Chaco Canyon Then the researchers hit on the idea of tumplines, which are depicted in ceramic effigiesrecovered from close to Chaco Canyon. L'Astronomie culturelle la croise des chemins - Inti yaykuna : Annexes, The Chacoan World: Light and Shadow, Stone and Sky, Solar-Aligned Pictographs at the Paleoindian Site of Painel do Pilo along the Lower Amazon River at Monte Alegre, Brazil, The Primary Architecture of the Chaco Culture: A Cosmological Expression, The Great North Road: a Cosmographic Expression of the Chaco Culture of New Mexico, Remote Sensing of Chaco Roads Revisited: Lidar Documentation of the Great North Road, Pueblo Alto Landscape, and Aztec Airport Mesa Road, The Sun Dagger Interactive Computer Graphics Model: A Digital Restoration of a Chacoan Calendrical site, Lunar Markings on Fajada Butte, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Astronomical Markings at Three Sites on Fajada Butte, Pueblo Bonito Petroglyph On Fajada Butte: Solar Aspects, The Enigmas of Fajada Butte, Chaco Canyon, HOUSES OF THE SUN AND THE COLLAPSE OF CHACOAN CULTURE. Well-paced and absorbing, simultaneously poetic and analytical, this film provides a new benchmark of understanding for serious studies of ancestral-Pueblo astronomy and culture.' Peter Whiteley, Dept. That changed the calculation significantly when determining how many people would have been needed to carry the timbers 60-70 miles. Yearning to be the center of everything, when we are the center of nothing: The parallels and reversals in Chaco, Hubble, and Facebook, "The Sky Starts at Our Feet: Anasazi Clues about Overcoming the Mind/Body Dualism through the Unity of Earth/Sky, A Sensory Approach to Exotica, Ritual Practice, and Cosmology at Chaco Canyon, MRES Thesis: The Fluteplayer of Chaco Canyon, Ritual, Timelessness, and Lived Experience in the Pueblo World, Materialities of Place: Ideology on the Chacoan Landscape, The Beginning of Prehistoric Settlements of the American SouthwestThe Beginning of Prehistoric Settlements of the American Southwest, Rock Art Studies: A Bibliographic Database_North America_United States_Arizona, Rock Art Studies: A Bibliographic Database_North America_United States_New Mexico, Unheard Voices, Part 1: The Astronomy of Many Cultures -- A Resource Guide, Rock Art Studies: A Bibliographic Database_North America_United States_Southwest_Navajo Rock Art, Great Houses, Shrines, and High Places: Intervisibility in the Chacoan World. The Late Bonito calendrical Great Houses may have been intended as pilgrimage destinations where people could witness a dramatic solstice sunrise or sunset. Director Anna Sofaer Writers Matt Dibble Anna Sofaer Stars Paul Pino Robert Redford (voice) Anna Sofaer See production, box office & company info Watch on Prime Video included with Prime More watch options Add to Watchlist 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. Pueblo leaders speak of the significance of Chaco to the Pueblo world today. Multiple Great Houses exhibit two of these traditions in combination. The most uncomfortable part, Wilson noted, was the strap of the tumpline rubbing into his head. Its wide roads, circular ritual sites called kivas, and sprawling. In a 2022 study, they and their colleagues estimated that a pine log measuring about 16 feet longprobably weighed closer to 85 kilograms(a little over 185 pounds). University of Colorado at Boulder. They help porters to support weight using the bones of their neck and spine rather than their muscles. or, by Daniel Strain, University of Colorado at Boulder. The team's findings show that the key to this testament to human labor may have been simple devices called tumplines. The Collapse of Chaco Canyon: Recent Study Challenges Drought Theory It should be mentioned that archaeological work at Chaco Canyon had a significant contribution to the film. The Chacoan civilization reflects a unique time in the history of the "Ancestral Puebloans," a group of ancient people. Your California Privacy Rights | Do Not Sell My Personal Information 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. Workable solstice horizon calendars are now confirmed at Casa Chiquita, Kin Kletso, Headquarters Site A, Wijiji, Bis saani, and 125 m from Roberts Small Pueblo at 29SJ 2538/2539. Summaries America's Stonehenge? You can download the paper by clicking the button above. One such road, the Great North Road, connects the central canyons ceremonial buildings across 35 miles of desert to a steep badlands canyon in the North a direction of profound significance to descendant Pueblo people. Its massive stone and timber buildings were constructed starting in 800 A.D. with materials taken from as far away as the Zuni Mountains to the south and the Chuska Mountains to the west. The largest structure built in the US until the early 1890's is Pueblo Bonito . These scientists lugged logs on their heads to resolve Chaco Canyon mystery It's now a Guinness World Record, Hundreds of students march on the Colorado Capitol to demand action on gun violence, Nevada tribe claims desecration as digging begins at site of planned lithium mine, What was life like 10,000 years ago? Join this. Shining light on the astronomical brilliance of the austere civilization of Chaco Canyon Narrated by Robert Redford . Chaco Canyon Facts, Worksheets & Early Settlement For Kids - KidsKonnect Chaco Canyon sits near the border between New Mexico and Colorado. Narrated by Robert Redford. Weiner said the teams results show that supplying Chaco Canyon with goods may not have been as back-breaking an undertaking as archaeologists once assumed. (PDF) The Mystery of Chaco Canyon - ResearchGate The latest theory is that the Chacoans may have used simple devices called tumplines, still favored by sherpas in Nepal, according to a new paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. the mystery of chaco canyon transcript - startup-agenda.com Kram said the next step is to do more experimental work - this time, on location at Chaco Canyon, where they can demonstrate the tumpline method works as they trace the ancient hauling routes of the ancestral Puebloans. 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. The site remains one of the most important . 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. All rights reserved. The ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built in 850 and 1150 A.D. in New Mexico, are described in the movie. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex . Cosmic Gateway | Mysteries of the Outdoors | Travel Channel It is the summation of 20 years of research. The so-called "great houses" of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico may have taken decades or longer to construct. 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 . It's likely the best way to do it.. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy The Mystery of Chaco Canyon - DocuWiki "We feel that it is dubious to infer Chaco era timber transportation methods from a staged 20th century image," they wrote. Jen is a web producer at KPBS, responsible for program promotion, online membership-related activities, and is the editor of the KPBS community calendar. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is an historical fiction, a mystery and a love story set against the background of the American Civil War in the Southwest. Dec 3, 2018. Pot from Chaco collection . They first tried carrying a log on their shoulders. Hundreds of mysterious, ancient structures haunt this canyon and the entire region, meticulously aligned along the paths of the Sun, Moon, and constellation Orion. Chaco Canyon Day Tour - Heritage Inspirations LLC These straps, which sherpas, or native mountain peoples of Nepal, still widely use today, loop over the top of the head. The solitary tree was once thought to represent the living "center of the world" for the people of Pueblo Bonito, the largest of Chaco Canyon's "great houses," which was occupied between A.D. 850 . 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. So the logs must have been carried by people, most likely along the wide roadways that linked this world. New to Docuseek? The Mystery of Chaco Canyon: Unveiling the Ancient Astronomy Since its release in 2000, our award-winning film, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon, has aired more than 10,000 times on 95% of PBS stations across the country. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon (TV Movie 1999) - IMDb The Mystery of Chaco Canyon (TV Movie 1999) - IMDb In a new study, several researchers at CUBoulder reenacted a small part of a trek that people in what is today the SouthwestUnited States may have made more than 1,000 years ago. Chaco Canyon, NM | Lolo's Extreme Cross Country RV Trips When/Where: Thursday, January 24, 2019 / 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. / James A. We chose a forest road up here in the foothills and outside of Nederland and we walked up and down this darn road. 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. The complexes also featured large circular ceremonial areas called kivas. The halo Great House at Bis saani includes a cardinal North-South and East-West (NS/EW) structure, a possible SSE-facing room block, and a June solstice sunrise horizon foresight. 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. I multiplied by 16 feet and realized, That cant add up to 275 kilograms.. The irritation paid off. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Once you get it positioned so that it's right on the crown of your head, then the load lines up with your neck and with the rest of your spine, Kram said. A majority of the Great Houses built before A.D. 1000 are front-facing to the SSE. Human porters would have needed to carry 16-foot-long wooden beamsto Chaco Canyon by footfollowing a network of ancient roads to sites like the Chuska Mountains to the west. In and around Chaco Canyon, archaeologists have found ceramic effigies illustrating Puebloan people using tumplines to carry resources, as well as yucca fiber wraps that could be the remains of ancient tumplines.. DNA Offers Clues to Mysterious Crypt in Ancient Pueblo - History That way the inconceivable course of events became tangible by establishing and constructing spheres of spatiotemporal order. Did you know the U.S. has a pre-historic Puebloan place of mystery that has . They recall the brilliant knowledge of the ancestors that gave them control over natural forces, but suggest also the corrupting effect of such power. When a load is positioned at the top of the head, the spine supports the weight and it doesnt fatigue muscles. the mystery of chaco canyon transcript. These straps, which sherpas, or native mountain peoples of Nepal, still widely use today, loop over the top of the head. That astonished CU Boulder Integrative Physiology Professor Rodger Kram. Chaco Culture For over 2,000 years, Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern throughout a vast desert region. 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. 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. 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). 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). You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties. 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. Your feedback is important to us. Once we corrected the mass of the timbers, Wilson said, that changed almost everything about how many people were required to carry those timbers, how much time it would take to cover 60 miles., Peeking out of adoorway inside Pueblo Bonito. 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). This third orientation tradition may represent some form of cultural affiliation with contemporary Rio Grande Valley people based upon comparison to previous orientation studies conducted by Lakatos, or it may perhaps represent an alternative cosmological intent. Engineered roads stretch across dozens of miles in straight lines to significant landforms, but with little evidence of travel or trade. Why did this society, ancestors of. This small calendar allowed for those living at Chaco Canyon to determine the beginning . "It was just debilitating," Kram said. Its just a dumb way to carry a heavy object.. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no 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. University of Colorado Boulder Regents of the University of Colorado The site is an artifact of the Pueblo peoples of north america and is now a protected national heritage site. These scientists lugged logs on their heads to resolve Chaco Canyon mystery Chaco Canyon's famous 'tree of life' might have just been a bench THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. 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. "Some people baked sourdough bread during COVID, Instead, we carried sand and heavy logs around using our heads," said Kram, who is a passionate runner in his free time. The number, Kram discovered, could be traced back to a study published in the 1980s. "It's just a dumb way to carry a heavy object.". America's Stonehenge?America's Stonehenge?America's Stonehenge? New Mexico's Chaco Canyon is home to some of the most impressive pre-Columbian architecture in the Western Hemisphere. "The mountains are the most sacred places for the descendant Din and Pueblo peoples. The consistency of cosmological and solstitial references among Late Bonito Phase Great Houses at Chaco indicates that the Late Bonito Chacoan elites power may have rested in part on esoteric astronomical knowledge, and an elevated cultural status for solar events. Music by Michael Stearns. 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.' During the same period, the first cardinal NS and EW architectural alignments were also completed. Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request. Read our affiliate link policy. "It was just debilitating," Kram said. And the published oral traditions and ethnography of the Pueblo and Dineo peoples descended from the Chachoans don't shed much light on the issue, either. New CU Boulder research finds that overweight populations have a 22% higher mortality risk than those of healthy weight, while obese populations have as much as double the risk. I cut a section that was one foot long and I weighed it on my bathroom scale. You've just tried to add this show to My List. Chaco Canyon sits near the border between New Mexico and Colorado. While the Chacoans left no written text, their thoughts are preserved in their works. An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. PDF The Mystery of Chaco Canyon - solsticeproject.org of Anthropology, Sarah Lawrence College'It does an outstanding job of weaving Pueblo traditions of migration and human agency into scientific accounts of the past at Chaco Canyon, affording both forms of knowledge the respect they deservehelps place Pueblo people in their contemporary context, as well as explain the pastI highly recommend it.'