Timeline of Chacoan history explained

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.

Paleo-Indian Period

11000 BC
  • First foragers?

    Archaic Period

    6000 BC-800 BC: Hunter-gatherers

    5th century

    490: Basketmaker farming begins

    6th century

    500: Turquoise beads and pendants appear; offerings in great kivas (sites 29SJ423, Shabik' eshchee Village)

    7th century

    600-800: La Plata Black-on-White ceramic
  • 700: Population of Chaco Canyon between 100 and 201 people [1]

    • 9th century

    800-900: Builders use piñon, juniper, and cottonwood trees that grew close by [1]
    850-925: Large construction projects.
    875-1040: Red Mesa Black-on-White ceramics

    10th century

    900-1150: Large buildings, mounds, roadways, great kivas, and tri-walled structures are built throughout the San Juan Basin.[2]
    900-1125: Construction of Penasco Blanco
    900: Emergence of the Chaco Anasazi[3]
    900: Chetro Ketl pueblo begun
    900-1025: Chaco Wash in erosional cycle and cut a paleo-channel.[4]
    925-1130: Stable environmental conditions favorable to dry farming throughout the Colorado Plateau. Human populations also stable.[5]
    950: Keet Seel, second largest cliff dwelling. is inhabited
  • 950: Nonlocal ponderosa is the dominant beam timber; spruce and fir increase

    • 11th century

    960-1020: Unpredictable rainfall. Little building at Pueblo Bonito [1]
    1000: "Chaco phenomenon" acceleration of cultural development
    1000-1075:Great House construction, and roads expanded. The first usage of chocolate further than central Mexico was first used in ceramic cylinders for rituals.[6]
    1000-1140:Escavada Black-on-White ceramics
    1025-1090: Depositional period during which time the paleo-channel was filling. There is some historical, anecdotal evidence that the inhabitants of Chaco Canyon may have constructed a dam at the west end of the canyon.[4]
    1030:Chacoans seek trees at higher altitudes [1]
    1040: Increased rainfall [1]
    1040-1050: Building resumes at Old Bonito. Pueblo Bonito construction stage II [1]
    1050-1070: Pueblo Bonito becomes more complex. Pueblo Bonito construction stage III [1]
    1050: Imports of copper bells, Macaws, and shells (origin unknown)
    1054: ~July 4 - Cliff painting near Penasco Blanco consisting of three symbols: a large star, a crescent moon, and a handprint, may portray the sighting of SN 1054, the Crab Nebula supernova.[7]
    1064, 1066: Sunset Crater volcanic eruptions; volcanic debris blankets Jemez Mountains and Bandelier area.
    1080-1100: Great North Road construction.[8]
    1080: Salmon Ruin established.[8]
    1080: Construction of Pueblo Alto begins.
    1090: Drought

    12th century

    1075-1123: Pueblo Bonito constructed at Chaco.
    ?: Five astronomical observatories are built
    1100: Peak of Chaco culture.
    1100-1104: Tree felling at Pueblo del Arroyo
    1106-1125: Aztec Ruins built.
    1130: Pueblo Bonito is four stories tall and contains 800 rooms [9]
    1130-1180: Fifty-year drought in the Southwest. Rain and snow cease to fall. Alluvial groundwater declines, floodplain erosion occurs. Dry-farming zone reduced, crop production potential decreased. Severe arroyo cutting and depression of alluvial groundwater. Severe environmental stress.[5]
    1140–1150: Collapse of the Ancestral Puebloan culture at Chaco Canyon.
    1150: Great Houses empty
    1180: Sunset Crater erupts for the second time.

    16th century

    1539: Marcos de Niza erroneously describes the pueblo of Háwikuh as the Seven Cities of Gold.

    17th century

    1680-1692: The Pueblo Revolt of the Pueblo people against Spanish colonists in the New Spain province.
    1774: Don Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco identifies the Chaco Canyon area as "Chaca" on a map. The term, a Spanish translation of a Navajo word, is thought to be the origin for "Chacra Mesa" and "Chaco".

    19th century

    1844: Josiah Gregg refers to the Chaco pueblos in his book Commerce of the Prairies, making its first appearance in popular culture.
    1849: Lt. James H. Simpson leads the Washington Expedition, a military reconnaissance team which surveys Navajo lands and records cultural sites in Chaco Canyon. Illustrations created by the Kern brothers are included in a government report.
    1877: Artist and photographer William Henry Jackson participates in the Hayden Survey of the Western United States, producing maps of Chaco Canyon, but no photographs due to technical problems.
    1888: Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason find the Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree House and Square Tower House.
  • Chaco Canyon is surveyed and photographed by Victor and Cosmos Mindeleff of the Bureau of American Ethnology
    1896: Richard Wetherill begins excavating Chaco Canyon
    1896-1899: George H. Pepper from the American Museum of Natural History leads the Hyde Exploring Expedition in excavating Pueblo Bonito

    20th century

    1901: General Land Office special agent S. J. Holsinger recommends creating a national park to preserve archaeological sites in Chaco Canyon
    1907: Chaco Canyon National Monument is established.
    1928-1929: American astronomer and University of Arizona professor A. E. Douglass participates in a National Geographic Society research project exploring Chaco Canyon. Using his newly invented technique of dendrochronology, Douglass dates Chetro Ketl and dozens of Chacoan sites

    Expedition under Neil Merton Judd to collect dendrochronological specimens to date habitation of Chaco Canyon

    1937: A Civilian Conservation Corps of Navajo stonemasons repairs Chacoan buildings in Chaco Canyon. A previous group built soil conservation devices, planted trees, and improved roads and trails.
    1941: Heavy rains cause Threatening Rock to fall, destroying ~60 rooms at Pueblo Bonito.
    1960: Floors excavated at Una Vida
    1971-1982: The Chaco Project, conducted by the National Park Service and the University of New Mexico, surveys and excavates Chaco Canyon
    1976-1978: Fourteen rooms at Pueblo Alto excavated by the Chaco Project
    1980: Chaco Canyon National Monument is renamed Chaco Culture National Historical Park with 13,000 acres (53 km2) added. The Chaco Culture Archaeological Protection Site program is created to protect Chacoan sites.
    1982: NASA's Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) detects over 200 miles of a prehistoric (AD 900 or 1000) road system in Chaco Canyon, as well as walls, buildings, and agricultural fields.
    1983: Dean and Warren estimate 200,000 trees were used to build great houses.
    1987: Chaco Culture National Historical Park is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    21st century

    2001: Two-thirds of large roof timbers traced to Chuska Mountains and one-third to San Mateo Mountains.[10]

    Notes and References

    1. Fagan, Brian M. (2005). Chaco Canyon. Oxford University Press.
    2. Kohler, Timothy A. Sebastian, Lynne. (July 1996). "Population aggregation in the prehistoric North American Southwest." American Antiquity v61.n3 : pp597(6).
    3. http://sipapu.gsu.edu/Chacoworld.html The Chaco World Great House Database
    4. Durand, Stephen R. (Jan 2004). "Relation of "Bonito" Paleo-channels and Base-level Variations to Anasazi Occupation, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico." American Antiquity 69.1: 191(1).
    5. Jorgensen, Joseph G. (Winter 2005). "Archaeological sociology in America's Southwest". Journal of the Southwest 47.4: 637(28).
    6. News: Chocolate Drink Used In Rituals In New Mexico 1,000 Years Ago. . ScienceDaily . 5 February 2009 . 6 February 2009 .
    7. Web site: 1054 Supernova Petrograph . 2009-02-06 . Greening . Dan .
    8. Lekson 1999
    9. Neitzel, 2003
    10. Diamond, 2001

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