Chaco Culture

Chaco Culture is an archaeological area in northwestern New Mexico centered on Chaco Canyon, a major prehistoric cultural and ceremonial center of the Ancestral Puebloans. It contains some of the most elaborate prehistoric masonry in North America, including multistory great houses and ceremonial kivas.

The canyon contains large masonry complexes known as great houses, a compact layout of plazas and kivas, and associated ceremonial architecture. Key on-site features include Pueblo Bonito, which is among the largest great houses with several hundred rooms, and Fajada Butte with astronomical markings.

The complex was built and occupied by Ancestral Puebloan peoples primarily between about AD 850 and AD 1150, when Chaco functioned as a regional ceremonial, administrative and economic center. Construction of great houses, road networks and ceremonial features reflects intensive social organization over several centuries.

The site sits within the arid landscape of the Colorado Plateau in northwestern New Mexico, inside Chaco Canyon and its surrounding badlands and mesas. It is accessed from the region’s rural road network and lies within a federal protected area managed for archaeological preservation.

• Pueblo Bonito size: Pueblo Bonito is one of the largest great houses and contains roughly 600 to 700 rooms in a multistory masonry complex.
• Best times to visit: Spring and autumn offer milder temperatures and clearer skies for walking the canyon and viewing ruins.

What to See #

• Great houses: Ancestral Puebloan great houses and public buildings concentrated in Chaco Canyon, including multiroom masonry compounds organized around plazas and kivas.
• Fajada Butte: Fajada Butte, a rocky outcrop associated with petroglyphs and archaeoastronomical markings that align with solar and lunar events.
• Chaco road network: Road system and outlier sites that connect Chaco Canyon with distant settlements, extending for tens of kilometers across the Colorado Plateau.