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CHIMNEY ROCK: Chaco Or Not?

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Bianca
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« on: July 17, 2009, 12:32:55 pm »













                                                       Chimney Rock: Chaco or not?



                                                Research may answer lingering questions






by Ann Bond
San Juan National Forest
July 10, 2009
PAGOSA SPRINGS

- After a hiatus of more than three decades, archaeologists once again are conducting excavations on the Great House Pueblo high atop a knife-edge mesa at Chimney Rock Archaeological Area in the San Juan National Forest.

Participants on a recent tour of Chimney Rock Archaeological Area view the Great House Pueblo, which some archaeologists believe may have been built by the ancient Chacoan culture of New Mexico.

Brenda Todd, a University of Colorado graduate student, discusses what the archaeologists working behind her hope to accomplish at Chimney Rock.

People are beating down doors to do this work for free because Chimney Rock is so famous.

- Steven Lekson, anthropology professorWhat they're finding may help explain the significance of the nearly thousand-year-old structure.

"It's a chance to have a new look at this site, because archaeology has really advanced in the last few decades," said San Juan National Forest Archaeologist Julie Coleman.

Steven Lekson, professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, is heading the effort. Although often it is hard to find archaeological students willing to conduct field work on a tight budget, he said the allure
of Chimney Rock has made this project financially feasible.

"People are beating down doors to do this work for free because Chimney Rock is so famous," he said.

One of the site's claims to fame is its possible tie to the major lunar standstill, an astronomical phenomenon
marking the end of the moon's northern migration cycle.

Every 18.6 years from the vantage point of the Great House, the moon will rise within a narrow window of sky framed by the giant rock spires that give Chimney Rock its name.

The most recent lunar standstill took place from 2004 to 2008. The next opportunity to view a major lunar
standstill at Chimney Rock will not take place until about 2022.

Earlier research at Chimney Rock conducted by Kim Malville, professor of astrophysical, planetary and atmospheric sciences at the University of Colorado, proposes that periods of construction at the Great House corresponded with the dates of historic lunar standstills.

"Based on research from the 1970s, we do think it was constructed in time for the major lunar standstill in 1076, and we think it was rebuilt in time for the next lunar standstill in the 1090s," Coleman said.

The current excavations may help clarify a connection.

"We've found pieces of burned beams we can carbon-date to help verify whether the major building episodes
here correspond with lunar standstills," said Brenda Todd, a University of Colorado graduate student working
on the project as part of her dissertation.

A fixation with solar and lunar cycles is something many associate with the ancient architecture found at New Mexico's Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The archaeologists working at Chimney Rock hope to unearth
other clues as to whether it was, indeed, part of the Chacoan world.

"We've found hundreds of tiny ears of burned corn we can chemically source to reveal nutrients in the soil
where it was grown," Lekson said. "We speculate that corn was grown all over the Four Corners to be
transported to Chacoan cities."

Past studies have indicated that timber from the forests around Chimney Rock may have been used in the construction of the Aztec and Salmon ruins near Farmington.

Line-of-sight surveys have revealed that signaling between Chimney Rock and Chaco would have been
possible from atop Huerfano Peak in New Mexico.

Despite these clues, Chimney Rock's inclusion in the Chacoan culture is still debated.

"Is it real Chaco? We're north of the so-called 'Adobe Curtain' at the New Mexico border, and some
archaeologists still say no," said Jason Chuipka, a former CU graduate student working on the excavation.

The Colorado archaeologists onsite, however, are convinced of the connection. They say Chimney Rock
was beautiful and unique, and therefore, coveted.

"With Chimney Rock, it's location, location, location," Todd said. "Of course, the Chacoans had to claim it."

Another important part of the ongoing project is to stabilize the Great House walls, which are losing a battle
with the elements in some spots.

Earlier excavations inadvertently put the sandstone-and-mud walls in jeopardy by leaving some adjacent
rooms filled with earth on one side and open to the air on the other.

Moisture from damp soil in the filled rooms has been wicking through to the open rooms on the other side,
taking a little bit of sandstone with it each time. Plans are to slow the deterioration by bringing soil to equal
levels on both sides of exposed walls.

"We're helping to fund the excavation and stabilization, but would also like to see the resulting information
used to build on educational aspects and interpretation," said James Stratis, who is with the Colorado
Historical Society State Historical Fund.



The efforts also are being funded by Save America's Treasures, the Gates Family Foundation, Tourism Cares
for Tomorrow and National Trust for Historic Preservation.





Ann Bond

is the public affairs specialist for the

San Juan National Forest.
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Bianca
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« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2009, 12:34:40 pm »

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Bianca
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« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2009, 12:36:18 pm »


                         






             
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Bianca
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« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2009, 12:37:52 pm »

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