Thoughts on Chaco Canyon

The road to Chaco was long and exciting. I was not very familiar with petroglyphs or Native American culture from the New Mexico region. Throughout the entire time I was walking among the ruins of the Chaco culture, I kept thinking that I wished I could have seen it in its prime. The buildings were so carefully built and their craftsmanship resulted in the walls being able to remain fairly intact for centuries. There were theories that the residents may have burnt the buildings as they left, which means that the structures may have held up better had there not been an arson during their exodus.

The landscape of the Chaco region was admirable and there didn’t seem to be enough time to explore all of the paths and views. I was so enthralled with exploring and admiring the artifacts of the ancient inhabitants that I didn’t take time to make any art of my own. Instead, I was content to soak in the art present in the petroglyphs, architecture, and natural surroundings.

I took time to attend a “Moon Walk” which involved a guided tour and more information about the region. The great houses that we walked among were most likely used in religious and festival activities. This would explain why there was such care taken to building the structures. The small size of the rocks used to construct the walls shows that it was most likely a painstakingly intricate and time-consuming process. The rocks had to be mined from the tops of the mesas. The wood used in the construction had to be dragged great distances from where it were harvested. One scientific report mentioned that a beam of wood from a doorway’s lintel was from a Douglas Fir. I don’t know what the vegetation looked like back around 850 AD, but there are currently no forests of Douglas Firs in the area that I know of. This means that they either sent out parties to harvest wood or that they traded with others tribes to obtain the resources they needed.

Based on other research, it is most likely that there was greater rainfall during the occupation of the region than currently occurs. Even with that, it must have been a hard life. It was a much slower lifestyle than what we are used to. You could get a sense of that as you walked among the ruins and hiked the trails. There were no stores, no gadgets, just what you could find or make for yourself. They grew their own crops and made their own pots, baskets, and homes. I would love to learn more about their daily life. What must it have been like to live there? I know that it is not someplace that I would want to try and live right now. I admire their ingenuity and tenacity to etch out a civilization in a region that seems so inhospitable.

During our travels to and from the Chaco Culture Center, we experienced many great encounters with other people. We talked with natives in Shiprock, visited with tourists in Arches, and shared greetings with travelers at Hovenweep. I had brought a book to read, but I was more interested in conversations in the van and getting lost in my thoughts as we made our way through the landscapes of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. I plan to think on my adventures for many days to come and hope that they will bring new inspiration to my thoughts on teaching, art, and life.