Pueblo Bonito is the largest and best-known great house in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico. It was built by the Ancestral Puebloans who occupied the structure between AD 828 and 1126.
A Timeline of Chacoan history includes Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Twin Angels Pueblo, Casamero Pueblo, Kin Nizhoni, Pierre's Site, and Halfway House.
Una Vida is an archaeological site located in Chaco Canyon, San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. According to tree rings surrounding the site, its construction began around 800 AD, at the same time as Pueblo Bonito, and it is one of the three earliest Chacoan Ancestral Puebloan great houses. Comprising at least two stories and 160 rooms, it shares an arc or D-shaped design with its contemporaries, Peñasco Blanco and Pueblo Bonito, but has a unique "dog leg" addition made necessary by topography. It is located in one of the canyon's major side drainages, near Gallo Wash, and was massively expanded after 930 AD.
Kin Kletso is a Chacoan Ancestral Pueblo great house and notable archaeological site located in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, 25 miles southwest of Nageezi, New Mexico, US. It was a medium-sized great house located 0.5 miles (0.8 m) west of Pueblo Bonito; it shows strong evidence of construction and occupation by Pueblo peoples who migrated to Chaco from the northern San Juan Basin in the time period of 1125 to 1200. From its masonry work, rectangular shape and design Kletso is identified as Pueblo III architecture by prominent Chaco archaeologists Stephen H. Lekson and Tom Windes. They also argue that this great house was only occupied by one or two households. Fagen writes that Kletso contained around 55 rooms, four ground-floor kivas, and a two-story cylindrical tower that may have functioned as a kiva or religious center. Evidence of an obsidian production industry were discovered here. The house was erected between 1125 and 1130.
Casa Rinconada is an Ancestral Puebloan archaeological site located atop a ridge adjacent to a small rincon across from Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northwestern New Mexico, United States.
Kin Ya'a is a Chacoan great house and the center of a significant Ancestral Puebloan outlier community. It is located near Crownpoint, New Mexico on the Dutton Plateau, 25 miles (40 km) south of Chaco Canyon.
Atlatl Cave is an important archeological site that contains organic evidence of occupation by Archaic North Americans c. 900 BCE. It is located at the west end of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. During the 1970s, archeologists discovered plant material, a yucca fiber sandal, beads, basketry, and fabric made from rabbit fur in the cave. They also found part of an atlatl, or spear-thrower, from which the site got its name. Atlatl Cave is important because unlike most Archaic sites in the canyon, the shelter protected the organic materials inside, which allowed for accurate radiocarbon dating.
Small house refers to small masonry dwellings built by the Ancestral Puebloans. There are hundreds of small house sites in Chaco Canyon. They were first constructed during the late 8th and early 9th centuries, about fifty to seventy-five years before work began on great houses. They differ from great houses in that they do not feature core-and-veneer construction, nor do they include great kivas. Archeologists believe that the residents of small house sites were connected by marriage or kinship, and were part of larger communities based on association with nearby great houses.
The Cerrillos Turquoise Mines are Ancestral Puebloan turquoise mines located in the Cerrillos Hills, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Archeologists believe that most of the turquoise found at Chaco Canyon was mined in the Cerrillos Hills. Many modern Pueblo people claim to have ancient rights to these mines. In 1977, neutron activation analysis linked an artifact from Chetro Ketl to the Cerrillos mines.
The Chaco Meridian is a theoretical north-south axis on which lie the Ancestral Puebloan sites, Aztec Ruins and Chaco Canyon, as well as Paquime at Casas Grandes in northern Mexico. Archeologist Stephen H. Lekson developed the theory, which suggests the location of these sites on the same approximate line of longitude (107°57'25") was intentional, and represents a ceremonial connection between them.
Dune Dam is a long sand dune that lies at the western end of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, near the confluence of the Chaco and Escavada Washs. The dune was created by winds that brought sand up the Chaco River. When the dune was large enough, it dammed the Chaco Wash and created a small and shallow lake near the Ancestral Puebloan great house, Penasco Blanco. Archeological evidence suggests that the dune was breached around 900 CE. Chacoans filled the breach with masonry sometime in the early 11th century, and built an accompanying reservoir lined with stones that was visible until 1920. The dam stopped Chaco Wash from further deepening, which helped raise the water table in the canyon, aiding Chacoan farming. The absence of a lacustrine plain behind the dam led geologist Stephen A. Hall to question this interpretation.
East Community is an Ancestral Puebloan great house community and archeological site located 12 miles (19 km) east of Pueblo Bonito, at the eastern end of Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico. Archeological evidence uncovered during the 1980s suggests the site was occupied by both Chacoans and Mesa Verdeans. Eighty-two structures have been identified in the area, including a great house that contains twenty-five rooms and several small house sites. At least one kiva has been uncovered there, but no great kivas. A partial road segment is visible there, but archeologists are unsure of it connects with a longer segment thought to originate near Pueblo Pintado. The great house at East Community was constructed in the 10th century, with significant additions completed during the 11th century. The associated small house sites were occupied by Chacoans from 875 to 1300, and thirty-nine of them by Mesa Verdeans, from 1175 to 1300. Archeologist Thomas Windes believes the site was linked to Chaco Canyon through a system of signaling stations atop the area's mesas.
Gallo Cliff Dwelling is a pair of Ancestral Puebloan room blocks that lie under a cliff in Gallo Canyon, New Mexico. Located adjacent to the National Park Service campground, the site includes a central room that features a multi-storied wall and a five-room structure with kiva that was probably occupied during the early 12th century by Mesa Veredans, who built in a distinctive McElmo masonry style. The inhabitants of these dwellings dates from 1150 to 1200 AD, or the late Chacoan Period. National Park Service excavations there during the 1960s uncovered a quantity of perishable items, including sandals and baskets, from the rooms.
The Great North Road is an Ancestral Puebloan road that stretches from Pueblo Alto, in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, to Kutz Canyon in the northern portion of the San Juan Basin. It is thought to follow Kutz Canyon to the San Juan River and Salmon Ruins. Several archeological sites along the road are thought to have been ancient way stations, including Halfway House Outlier, Pierre's Outlier, and Twin Angels Outlier. The Great North Road is one of the best studied Chacoan roads, and includes four parallel roads along some segments, as well as low masonry features thought to be curbs. Herraduras are often found along segments of the road system.
Hillside Ruin is a large McElmo style great house and archeological site located near Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico. The mostly unexcavated building was occupied during the mid-12th century.
The Jackson Staircase is a pair of Ancestral Puebloan steps cut into the cliff of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Located north of Chetro Ketl and east of Pueblo Alto, the stairs gave Chacoans access to the Great North Road. The feature is named after William Henry Jackson, who discovered the stairs in 1877.
Lizard House is an Ancestral Puebloan small house located near Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico. Constructed in two phases, starting in the early 12th century, the site is an example of the changing Puebloan architecture of the 12th century.
