A Brief History of Chaco Culture National Historical Park

900s BC 1680-17005 The first dated evidence of human occupation of Cha­ The Revolt of 1680 briefly unified the Pueblo co Canyon comes from an archaeological site protect­ peoples of and their neighbors. However, ed by a cliff overhang. This sheltered area protected the Spanish returned in 1692 and re-conquered the fragile materials that were able to be dated. Early area. This forced many of the Pueblo peoples into ex­ peoples were likely hunting and ile. gathering throughout the canyon. Human occupation of the canyon likely began much Many of these people sought refuge with the earlier. people in Chaco Canyon and the surrounding area. These people intermarried and ex­ 200sAD changed ideas. In the canyon, archeologists Pithouses, or partially subterranean features with discover defensive Navajo sites that reflect this era of 1-2 rooms begin to appear throughout the canyon. conflict. Starting in 500 AD, large pithouse villages containing 20-80 pithouses and features are con­ 1774 structed within the canyon. Don Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco, identified the Cha­ co Canyon area as "Chaca" on a Spanish map. 700s Small house sites, visible at Casa Rinconada, begin to 1823 be constructed. Jose Antonio Viscarra, the Spanish Governor of New Mexico, led a military force west of Jemez Pueblo on­ 850-1150 to Navajo lands. He noted many Chacoan buildings Chaco Canyon served as a major center of along the route. ancestral Puebloan culture. Remarkable for its monu­ mental buildings, distinctive architecture, astronomy, 1849 artistic achievements, it served as a hub of ceremony, The Washington Expedition, a military trade, and administration for the Area­ reconnaissance under the direction of Col unlike anything before or since. Washington passed through Chaco. On that expedition Lt. James Simpson, of the Army Corps of 1150-1250 Topographical Engineers, surveyed Navajo lands and People stop constructing Great House sites and begin wrote reports of the Chacoan sites while the Kern migrating to other locations. These people become the brothers drew illustrations of the Pueblo Peoples of New Mexico and the Hopi of Arizo­ buildings. na and many maintain their connections with Chaco today. 1877 William Henry Jackson, with the US Geological and Ge­ 1600s ographical Survey, produced expanded By this time, what archaeologists recognize as descriptions and maps of Chacoan sites, in Navajo settlement patterns begin to appear in the addition to identifying additional structures canyon, although evide_nce of Navajo occupation including a stairway in the cliffs. Jackson took photos in the larger region is already established. Some oral of these sites, but none turned out as he experiment­ histories place the Navajo, or Dine, people in Chaco ed with a new photographic process that failed. Canyon much earlier. , 1888 1906 Victor and Cosmos Mindeleff of the Bureau of Ameri­ The Federal Antiquities Act was passed with the help can Ethnology spent several weeks of Hewett and many others. This was the first federal surveying and photographing the major Chacoan sites. legislation to protect archeological sites . Their photographs document early vandalism and looting which now help the park 1907 determine the modern effects of visitation, natural Chaco Canyon National Monument was processes, and vandalism to the sites. established on March 11, 1907 by Theodore Roosevelt. The monument was administered by the 1896-1900 General Land Office until the establishment of the Na­ After excavating Mesa Verde cliff dwellings and other tional Park Service in 1916 and was ancestral Puebloan sites, Richard Wetherill monitored through inspections and by canyon resi­ petitioned to excavate the sites at Chaco. The Hyde dents. Exploring Expedition was formed. Led by George H. Pepper from the American Museum of Natural History 1910 in New York City, funded by the Hyde family, and led Having been prohibited from further excavation, Rich­ by Richard Wetherill, the ard Wetherill continued to ranch in Chaco Canyon. In Expedition established large excavations at Pueblo Bo­ 1910, Richard Wetherill was murdered by Chiishchi'ilin nito. Begay. Wetherill is buried in a small cemetery west of . The focus of the expedition was the accumulation of artifacts for the museum collection and thus 1920 numerous crates of artifacts were shipped to the Hewett returned to Chaco to excavate , but American Museum of Natural History in New York. The his expedition was short-lived. excavation was a large undertaking with many local workers. In order to supply these workers and turn a 1921-1927 profit the expedition built , of the Smithsonian Institution and spon­ several trading posts. sored by the National Geographic Society, excavated several hundred rooms at Pueblo 1901 Bonito, as well as portions of and Samuel Joseph Holsinger, directed by the several smaller sites. Artifacts from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, came to expedition were sent to the Smithsonian Chaco to investigate the Hyde Exploring Institution. Neil Judd also worked to preserve the exca­ Expedition. He spent weeks compiling an 80 page re­ vated portions of the building by repairing walls and port with over 125 photographs of Chaco replacing door lintels. He believed the great houses Canyon. He recommended the creation of a were large apartment complexes. National Park to protect the archeological sites. The investigation halted work in progress with the Hyde 1923 Exploring Expedition. A. C. Griffin was appointed the first part-time custodian of the park. He came to the canyon in 1921 In the same year, Richard Wetherill filed a to run the trading post and continued to live in the homestead claim on land that included Pueblo park until 1936, after his official work ended in 1928. Bonito, Chetro Ketl, and Pueblo del Arroyo. The claim was granted in 1910 after Wetherill's death. 1927 Frank H. H. Roberts excavated the pithouse 1902 village, Shabik' eschee. One of the few excavations of Edgar L. Hewett of the School of American pithouse villages, this site became the Research, Museum of New Mexico, and archeological "type-site" or example for such sites. University of New Mexico mapped many Chacoan sites. 1928-29 1949 Dr. A. E. Douglas of the University of Arizona The University of New Mexico deeded state-owned applied the new method of tree-ring dating, or den­ lands in Chaco Canyon National drochronology, to Pueblo Bonito and many other sites Monument o the , in in Chaco Canyon for the National exchange for continued rights to conduct Geographic Society. scientific research in the area.

1929-49 1959 Hewett and Donald D. Brand of the University of New A new park visitor center was dedicated in its Mexico directed field schools at Chetro Ketl, Casa Rin­ current location, replacing an old building on the west conada and other sites. Many of the end of the canyon. Staff housing and campgrounds students on those field schools became Chacoan schol­ were also built as part of the National Park Service ars or future employees of the Park Service. "Mission 66" construction boom from 1956-1966,

1937 1971 Gordon Vivian began a long career with the park. Jonathon Raymon proposed that a corner door at Throughout his tenure he worked to preserve many Pueblo Bonito marked the winter solstice. This sites including Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl, and Casa launched the study of which Rinconada, setting NPS standards in attempts to understand the astronomical ruins stabilization in the Southwest. practices of ancient peoples. This work was followed by discoveries of alignments at Casa 1937-1942 Rinconada by Ray Williamson and the A local division of the Civilian Conservation Corps, or discovery of the "Sun Dagger" by Anna Sofa er in the CCC, designed to put people to work during the Great 1970s. Depression, was established at Chaco. Comprised of local Navajo men, the 1969-1982 Mobile Unit worked to repair, stabilize and The National Park Service and the University of New protect portions of 6 sites in the canyon. The Mexico established the Division of Cultural Research program's success led to the establishment of or "Chaco Center" under the direction of Dr. Robert H. permanent Ruins Stabilization Units in many other Lister and later Dr. James Judge. Multi-disciplinary re­ parks including Chaco. search, archaeological surveys, and excavations began. For the first time, a 1939-1941 complete inventory of cultural resources into the park A general CCC camp known as CCC Camp was established. The project also excavated portions NP-2-N was established at Chaco. The camp's nearly of Pueblo Alto and investigated Chacoan roadways, 1000 young men who worked at the park over 3 years outlier sites and both earlier and later periods of occu­ created erosion control by planting thousands of trees pation in the canyon. The results of this research led to and shrubs and creating berms, developing infrastruc­ changing ideas about the Canyon and drastically re­ tur~, and constructing roads. duced population estimates for the Great Houses. 1941 On January 21, 1941 Threatening Rock, a large boulder 1975-1981 behind Pueblo Bonito, fell and crushed 30-60 rooms The Rock Art Field School, led by James Bin and at Pueblo Bonito. sponspored by the Achaeological Society of New Mexi­ co, began rock art surveys with the help of volunteers. 1947 Petroglyphs and pictographs had been Tomasito, the last Navajo resident living in Chaco Can­ sporadically noted before, but this began the first or­ yon, was removed from the Monument. Monument ganized effort to document rock images. Since then boundaries were fenced to exclude livestock grazing. other groups including the Chaco Rock-Art Reassess­ ment Project and the Chaco Navajo Rock-Art Project continue to document and providing valuable assistance with museum collec- protect these images. tions, site preservation, and public education.

1980 1998 On December 19, 1980, Chaco Canyon National Monu­ Working with the Albuquerque Astronomical ment was re-designated Chaco Culture Society, Chaco established the first observatory in the National Historical Park, an act passed by National Park Service. The observatory dome and tele­ Congress. An additional 13,000 acres were added to scope were donated by Jon Sefick and the park. The Chaco Culture Archaeological Protection assembled and operated by dedicated volunteers. The Site program was inaugurated to jointly protect Cha­ observatory has been used for research and public coan sites on lands managed by the Bureau of Land programming. Chaco, remotely located, also preserves Management, dark night skies. Today the park is engaged in on-going Forest Service, State of New Mexico, San Juan County, efforts to protect night skies in the . and the Navajo Nation. 2000-2006 1987 The Chaco Synthesis Project summarized the On December 8, 1987, Chaco Culture National Histori­ archaeological work completed by the Chaco Center's cal Park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Chaco Project (1971-1982). A series of seven confer­ Site, joining a select list of protected ences consolidated information areas "whose outstanding natural and cultural concerning different aspects of Chacoan resources form the common inheritance of all man­ archaeology. Subject-matter experts produced both kind." technical and popular publications.

1981-present 2005 Around this time a major philosophical change in ar­ Chaco began the first park wide inventory of chaeology shifted attention from costly, large-scale paleontological resources, building on past efforts to excavations. New concerns about respecting Native record the fossils and geology of the park. American beliefs regarding the archaeological sites also came to the fore. Many 2012 groups believe that the buildings should not be dis­ The park completed construction of a new Visitor Cen­ turbed. Their oral histories offer new insights into Cha­ ter. co. Instead of excavating buildings, other techniques such as remote sensing are used to gather Present information without disturbing the sites. Research continues in the park. In recent years Patricia Crown of the University of New Mexico (UNM) discov­ 1989 ered cacao on cylinder jars found at Pueblo Bonito In this year Chaco National Historical Park began con­ offering further information on these valuable objects. sultation with native groups. This was one year before Wirt Wills of the UNM NAGRPRA or the Native American Graves Protection excavated portions of the mounds in front of Pueblo and Repatriation Act was passed mandating that all Bonito which had been previously institutions receiving federal funding return burial re- excavated by Neil Judd in the 1920's. He has also led mains. The process involved identifying which excavations at Richard Wetherill's trading post. This groups were culturally affiliated with the Chacoan sites research offers new insights into the park. and how those groups like us to take care of the re­ The park continues to protect these important places mains. In 2005, the burial remains and objects in the by monitoring sites with the help of park's possession were reburied within the park. students and volunteers. We continue to share the stories of these past peoples. Today, Native American representatives actively con­ sult with the park on important management issues, sharing their knowledge and history and