Chaco Culture National Historic Park is located in the west/center of the state. It is at the end of the non-paved NMRoads-7900/7950 off of USHwy-550 not far from Nageezi. You can also get there on a very small road from the south, NMRoad-57, out of Crownpoint. There are no places to spend the night close to the park except the campsites in the park itself so plan for a long day trip if you have not previously made plans with the park service to camp there.

The buildings in Chaco are very unusual in the pueblo world. They are very large "Great Houses" built between 850 and 1150 when they were all abandoned. The purpose of the structures is unclear, but they may have been to house large numbers of people, religious leaders, or royalty. The area has been extensively studied by archaeologists. There are six major sites located along the 9-mile long Canyon Loop Drive.

These sites include Una Vida, Hungo Pavi, Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl, Pueblo del Arroyo, and Casa Rinconada. There are others throughout the canyon that can be reached by short hikes from the main section if the canyon. The alignment of the buildings to the cardinal directions, the sun and the moon has also been studied.

There has been much written about the Chaco culture and the questions that are posed about its purpose, reason for being and for its abandonment several hundreds of years ago. There are many current puebloans who trace their heritage to the site.

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Gallery

Supernova Pictograph 1054?

 

Pueblo Arroyo	Pueblo Kin Kletso	Fajada Butte

 

Pueblo Bonito	Pueblo Penasco Blanco