Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Memories 2007
After two
days “off the grid” at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, I
reemerged into my normal “wired” lifestyle. As of this writing, I am in
Taos, New Mexico, where I will attend the
Quantum Leap Celebration. The Celebration starts later today and will extend across the next two days.
If you visit Chaco Canyon, you will find its geographical features as interesting as its ancient culture. The
Pre-Puebloan “
Chaco Culture” is on of the great mysteries of the past
millennium. In the high and
dry Canyonlands of
Northwestern New Mexico,
native cultures rose and fell between 600 CE and 1250 CE. During that
time, the populous built masonry buildings of great elegance and unique
architectural style.
These “
great houses” or “
great kivas” flourished throughout the
Four Corners area (
Arizona,
New Mexico,
Colorado,
Utah). Then,
in the thirteenth century AD, the high culture of Chaco disbanded, with
evidence of deconstruction and destruction by the
Anasazi, who originally built these huge structures. As they disbanded, possibly heading south to greener valleys, their
Great Disappearance became one of the enduring mysteries of humankind. When they were done with Chaco Canyon,
the ancients
set fire to many roof timbers and toppled many walls. It was as if
they did not want anyone, including themselves to settle again in that
place.
Everyone
loves a mystery. Why else would people flock to this desolate and
long-deserted place? We all want to know who they were, what they were
doing here and where they went. To learn more about this now vanished
culture, I suggest reading “
House of Rain:
Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest”, by
author Craig Childs. With scholarly detail and down-home story
telling, Craig brings ancient sandstone haunts back to life.
While in Chaco, I sought out the least-visited great house, known as
Kin Klizhin,
which is nine miles out a 4-wheel-drive road. On the road, the only
living things I saw were birds and a herd of elk. When I arrived at the
Kin Klizhin Ruin,
the visitors’ register indicated that I was the first person to visit
there in the past six days. With no mobile telephone, no radio and no
sounds other than the wind, I spent a couple of peaceful hours there.
Occasionally, I ducked behind ruined walls, seeking shade from the hot
afternoon sun.
Sometimes,
our lives feel overfilled with actions and activities. Although there
is apparent loneliness to places like Kin Klizhin, I found it ironic
that it was once a “
welcoming center”
for the Chaco Canyon Culture. For the fast-walking Pre-Puebloans, Kin
Klizhin was less than one day away from the combination Mecca, Las
Vegas, World’s Fair, Vatican, Angkor Watt, Taj Mahal, which we now call
Chaco Canyon.
Why did they come to
Chaco Canyon? Why
did they leave? These questions are simple, but definitive answers
continue to elude us. From my perspective, I believe that a unique, but
inexplicable
group consciousness arose then in the
Four Corners, centering itself in Chaco Canyon. With its
celestial aspects, geographical features and ancient cultural alignments, we look forward to our next visit.
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_lg.JPG "Barbara With, Channeling Albert Einstein at the Quantum Leap Celebration in Taos, New Mexico 2007 - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)")
could see while standing behind the short wall, this was certainly the place to be this week.
_lg.JPG "Brigitte London (right), singing with Grammy Winner and Country Legend, Lynn Anderson - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)")
_lg.JPG "Titan LE pickup truck and Pioneer Travel Trailer - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)")
