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
edit- 11000 BC
- First foragers?
Archaic Period
edit- 6000 BC-800 BC
- Hunter-gatherers
4th century CE
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5th century
edit- 490
- Basketmaker farming begins
6th century
edit- 500
- Turquoise beads and pendants appear; offerings in great kivas (sites 29SJ423, Shabik' eshchee Village)
7th century
edit- 600-800
- La Plata Black-on-White ceramic
- 700
- Population of Chaco Canyon between 100 and 201 people [1]
8th century
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9th century
edit- 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
edit- 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
- 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]
11th century
edit- 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
edit- 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.
13th century
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14th century
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15th century
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16th century
edit- 1539
- Marcos de Niza erroneously describes the pueblo of Háwikuh as the Seven Cities of Gold.
17th century
edit- 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".
18th century
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19th century
edit- 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
edit- 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
edit- 2001
- Two-thirds of large roof timbers traced to Chuska Mountains and one-third to San Mateo Mountains.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Fagan, Brian M. (2005). Chaco Canyon. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517043-1
- ^ Kohler, Timothy A. Sebastian, Lynne. (July 1996). "Population aggregation in the prehistoric North American Southwest." American Antiquity v61.n3 : pp597(6).
- ^ The Chaco World Great House Database Archived 2006-12-30 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b 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).
- ^ a b Jorgensen, Joseph G. (Winter 2005). "Archaeological sociology in America's Southwest". Journal of the Southwest 47.4: 637(28).
- ^ "Chocolate Drink Used In Rituals In New Mexico 1,000 Years Ago". ScienceDaily. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Greening, Dan. "1054 Supernova Petrograph". Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ a b Lekson 1999
- ^ Neitzel, 2003
- ^ Diamond, 2001