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. 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. 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. 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. Thus specific cultural systems including cosmovisions emerged, which allowed man to establish and maintain order and rhythm in personal and social life, interacting with given environmental conditions and to answer the human questions about the whys and wherefores concerning him and the world. As these guys showed, you dont have to be super trained to carry a log, he said. The Late Bonito calendrical Great Houses may have been intended as pilgrimage destinations where people could witness a dramatic solstice sunrise or sunset. With Chaco Canyon now declared a national park and UNESCO World Heritage site, visitors to Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico can marvel at the remains of 12 great houses and more than 4,000 areas of archaeological interest in the rocky landscape. They first tried carrying a log on their shoulders. New to Docuseek? An enduring mystery from the great houses of Chaco Canyon is the origin of more than 240,000 construction timbers. The great number of circular ritual structures, called kivas, tell of large-scale ceremonies, possibly drawing thousands of pilgrims from across the region of the Four Corners. 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. 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. For years, archaeologists believed that the 16-foot-long timbers transported long distances to Chaco Canyon weighed about 600 pounds. A single case is identified that may incorporate three of the traditions. part may be reproduced without the written permission. That's where we go to heal, to pray,'" said Weiner, who will receive his doctorate in anthropology from CU Boulder later this spring. 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? That photograph influenced many of the proposed mechanisms for transporting the logs. Keep up with all the latest news, arts and culture, and TV highlights from KPBS. "It's just a dumb way to carry a heavy object.". (2019). More information: Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no Explore how the Chacoan people expressed a complex solar and lunar cosmology in their arch, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is a local public television program presented by. Its wide roads, circular ritual sites called kivas, and sprawling. 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.. Well hear their analysis, and what they think life may have been like for the child and her family. (Credit: NPS). Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder, "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. Register to request a quote. Ad Choices. Jen has worked at KPBS since 2000. Under the terms of a U.S. National Park Service field research permit some location- specific site data has been deliberately redacted from this document, as required by the U.S. Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder). I felt that in opening the sealed rooms, the purpose of the rooms and their having been sealed being unknown to the archaeologists, something that had been meant to be kept there was being released. Directors Chaco Canyon, a major centre of ancestral Pueblo culture between 850 and 1250, was a focus for ceremonials, trade and political activity for the prehistoric Four Corners area. I've heard people say, 'That's our church. There is active debate among archaeologists regarding the relative importance of political, ritual, and economic factors in the Chacoan regional system. Ancient Mona Lisa Mosaic Of Kadirli Discovered, 2500-Year-Old Objects Made From Goat Bones Discovered In Turkeys City Of Aigai, Fragment Of Unique Egyptian Sphinx Unearthed In North Israel, Ancient Symbol Seed Of Life Contains Hidden Secrets Of The Seven Days Of Creation, Siege Of Alesia: Last Decisive Battle That Ended Gallic Independence In France And Belgium, Ostrich Eggs Dated More Than 4,000 Years Discovered In Negev Desert Of Southern Israel, Artifacts Shed Light On 2,100-Year-Old Jewish Town In Judea Dated Back To Hasmonean-Era. This region was historically occupied by Ancestral Puebloan people (better known as Anasazi) and is now part of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It is located in the region known as the Four Corners, where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. Chaco Culture For over 2,000 years, Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States. Millions of years of history reveal . By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy Speaker: Anna Sofaer and her colleagues Robert Weiner and Richard Friedman. In the center of America's Four Corners Region, Chaco Canyon is an arid, desolate place, sprinkled with the occasional, lonely juniper tree, cactus, or sage bush. Kram and a fellow researcher decided to test out the theorized method in the foothills outside of Boulder. 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. Some people baked sourdough bread during COVID. Instead, they were hoping to solve an archaeological mystery that has perplexed researchers for decades: How did ancient peoples transport more than 200,000 heavy construction timbers over 60 miles to a famous site in the Southwest called Chaco Canyon? 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. - Feb 24, 2023 9:00 pm UTC. Now researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder say they may have solved this 1,000-year-old supply chain mystery. 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. Ancient Chaco Canyon population likely relied on imported food, Molecular atlas of spider silk production could help bring unparalleled material to market, Tracing the history of grape domestication using genome sequencing, Students ate less meat in the three years after hearing talk on its negative environmental impacts, Giving plants animal antibodies to help them ward off diseases, Determining the tempo of evolution across species, Science X Daily and the Weekly Email Newsletter are free features that allow you to receive your favorite sci-tech news updates in your email inbox. Kram rewrote history when he published a paper showing the Chaco logs were actually much lighter, weighing closer to 200 pounds. Archaeologists have long been puzzled as to how the ancestral Puebloans managed to carry those heavy building materials that far - as much 60 miles away. Visit the Chaco Web Exhibit. "Instead, we carried sand and heavy logs around using our heads.". Complete List Of Included Worksheets. That astonished CU Boulder Integrative Physiology Professor Rodger Kram. June 12, 2022 . 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. "These timbers brought pieces of the sacred mountains to Chaco Canyon.". 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. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. She chanced to record petroglyphs on Fajada Butte at what is now called the Sun Dagger or Three Slab site, now perhaps the most famous site in Chaco Canyon, located at a southeastern facing cliff near the top of Fajada Butte. The number, Kram discovered, could be traced back to a study published in the 1980s. Scientists may have solved a Chaco Canyon mystery by hauling logs with their heads James Wilson, left, and Rodger Kram, right, use tumplines to carry a log weighing more than 130 pounds in Boulder's Chautauqua Park. Music by Michael Stearns. 'From the pyramids and temples of Egypt, to England's Stonehenge, (ancient peoples) locked their buildings to the movements of the sky gods. 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. Survey results were assessed in the context of positional astronomy, Pueblo ethnography, and the archaeological record including published construction dates for the sites. Narrated by Robert Redford. 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. Colorado Sun. 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 is valuable, respectful, and decent. "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.". James Wilson, left, and Rodger Kram, right, carry a ponderosa pine log weighing more than 130 pounds in Chautauqua Park in Boulder, Colorado. 2023 Cond Nast. The study found that about 1 in 6 adult deaths in the U.S. are related to excess weight or obesity. This film describes and demonstrates the intricate and precise astronomical alignments among the many buildings spread over a wide desert area. The teams findings suggest that the key to this testament to human labor may have been simple devices called tumplines. Ancient Desert Mystery Did Thousands Vanish Without A Trace Because Of An Ominous Prophecy And Revenge? A majority of the Great Houses built before A.D. 1000 are front-facing to the SSE. 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. As a person who studies biomechanics and physiology of the human body, I was like, that's crazy, Kram said. W. David Laird, Books of the Southwest'The video, then, is a multi-leveled phenomenon, like Chaco, which embraces complexity, beauty and mystery.' Kram got interested in Chaco Canyon several years ago. Peter Whiteley, Dept. Examines the enigmas presented by the prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Your feedback is important to us. In 1977 Sofaer visited Chaco Canyon as a volunteer recording ancient Southwestern American rock art. This newly conceived series (in progress) will bring recent revelations about the ancient Native Americans who built massive enigmatic structures throughout the southwest. Archeologists estimate that the main architectual landmark, the great Kiva of Chetro Keti, was . The actual demonstration was to try and walk a long distance carrying 66 pounds per person, walking side by side, Kram said. We can remove the first show in the list to add this one. That's where we go to heal, to pray,' said Weiner, who will receive his doctorate in anthropology from CU Boulder later this spring. It seemed unrealistically high to him. Tumplines are hardly a new innovation. After three months of training with tumplines for six or seven days a week, Kram and Wilson were ready to try a real log. In a remote canyon in northwestern New Mexico sits one of America's greatest historical treasures and one of the Southwest's greatest mysteries. Little Theater, New Mexico School for the Deaf / 1060 . These straps, which sherpas, or native mountain peoples of Nepal, still widely use today, loop over the top of the head. 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. 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. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder). 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. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form. When/Where: Thursday, January 24, 2019 / 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. / James A. Archaeological and ethnological records worldwide give evidence that, since Palaeolithic time, cosmovisions were an essential part of mans requirement to organize habitats. 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. Redford, Robert (narrator) CU Boulder researchers have found that airborne coronavirus remains infectious for twice as long in drier airin part because saliva serves as a protective barrier around the virus, especially at low humidity levels. America's Stonehenge?America's Stonehenge?America's Stonehenge? 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. 56 minutes, color. In dialogue and narrative, one deeply feels that Chaco is haunted, magical. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Archaeologist Bill Lipe thinks religion was a . Murphy said it's not uncommon to see lights moving among the ruins or to hear sounds coming from parts of the canyon.. They built "Great Houses," which were as much as four stories tall and contained hundreds of rooms. "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.". They used sticks called "tokmas," which Nepalese sherpas also employ, to take breaks, resting the log without lowering it all the way to the ground. 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. They first tried carrying a log on their shoulders. 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. It is the summation of 20 years of research. The number, Kram discovered, could be traced back to a study published in the 1980s. Riddle Of The Ancient Sarcophagus And Its Strange Properties Can Science Solve This Mystery? Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa6vhwh3rTB0rmu6mN9bj3A/joinMAD HISTORY .. HISTORY has no sides, no opinions no rig. Symbolically, the centerline of each of the three nearby Hooper Ranch Pueblo kivas aligns with this ancient Sun Dagger shrine. and Terms of Use. Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Chacoan people, regard Chaco as a place where their ancestors lived in a sacred past. They attempted their final test on a forest road leading to Gross Reservoir southwest of Boulder, carrying the timber using tumplines on either end. The so-called "great houses" of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico may have taken decades or longer to construct. Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request. Nonetheless, there is general acceptance among archaeologists of the idea that visual astronomy had a role in Chacoan culture, if for no other reason than to provide a calendrical system. We calculate that probably each of the big timbers took three people and took them about four days to get from where the trees were cut down to where they were used for the construction site, Kram said. 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. The composition and photography could not have been betterthe publicwill eat it up and ask for more.'F. Watch The Mystery of Chaco Canyon Full Movie IN HD Visit :: https://primeflixz.xyz/watch/tt0273858 Tlcharger : - https://primeflixz.xyz/watch/tt0273858 Thi. Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox. Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. An examination of the prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, which functioned as a complex ceremonial center, harmonized by extraordinary astronomical alignments of buildings and roads, and elegant light and shadow markings. They have been used by many cultures across the world for thousands of years, from African to Asia and the Americas. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. Landscape, directions, sun and moon, and movement of shadow and light were the materials used by the Chacoan architects and builders to express their knowledge of an order in the universe. He and Wilson weren't trying to start a new exercise fad. Did you know the U.S. has a pre-historic Puebloan place of mystery that has . Between approximately 800 A.D. and 1100 A.D., the ancient Chacoans built settlements . 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.' 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. But how this society got its construction supplies has been a long-standing mystery. The planned Thacker Pass lithium mine in remote northern Nevada has drawn protests and a lawsuit from local tribes. Chaco Canyon was a huge ancestral Puebloan city located in what is now Northern New Mexico, about 100 miles south of Durango. See page 43 of attached scanned book. That changed the calculation significantly when determining how many people would have been needed to carry the timbers 60-70 miles. "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.". Most large complexes had four or five stories and averaged over 200 rooms, with the. He and Wilson weren't trying to start a new exercise fad. There are no preserved timber scrape marks near the site, and the people of Chaco Canyon didn't have draft animals or even wheels, according to Kram and his co-authors. 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 Without permission or understanding. A feasibility study, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2023). The team's 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. The canyon itself has been carved from ancient sea beds by centuries of erosion. These elaborate roads and kivas aren't visible to the naked eye or even through aerial photography. The Mystery of Chaco Canyoncontinues to impact and inform audiences in significant ways; 800 K-12 schools and colleges have purchased copies ofThe Mystery of Chaco Canyonto teach about the remarkable archaeoastronomy of the ancient Pueblo people of Chaco. This documentary examines the ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built between 850 and 1150 A.D. in northwest New Mexico. These timbers brought pieces of the sacred mountains to Chaco Canyon.. 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. When a load is positioned at the top of the head, the spine supports the weight and it doesnt fatigue muscles. Dec 3, 2018. 56 minutes, ColorGrade Level: 7-12, College, AdultUS Release Date: 1999; Copyright Date: 1999ISBN: 1-56029-812-XDirected by Anna SofaerProduced by The Solstice ProjectNarrated by Robert RedfordWritten by Anna Sofaer and Matt DibbleMusic by Michael Stearns. They built Great Houses, which were as much as four stories tall and contained hundreds of rooms. Krams experiment isnt definitive proof that ancestral Puebloans used to haul their loads, but Kram says his research suggests that that's likely what happened. 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). They hit a hiking pace with the log of just under 3 mphnot much slower than their normal walking speed. He and Wilson decided to read everything they could about the properties of dried wood. The ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built in 850 and 1150 A.D. in New Mexico, are described in the movie. Most large complexes had four or five stories and averaged over 200 rooms, with the largest boasting as many as 700 rooms. 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). New Mexico's Chaco Canyon was once the center of the most influential culture in the American Southwest.