the mystery of chaco canyon transcript the mystery of chaco canyon transcript

Krams big insight was that multiple tumplines could have been attached, side by side, to a single log, allowing several people to share the load. A new study has solved the third mystery - how they carry as many as 200,000 16-foot-long wooden beams to Chaco Canyon from forests over 60 miles away. Privacy Legal & Trademarks Campus Map. Tells that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern throughout a vast desert region, and uses aerial and time lapse footage and computer modeling to show how the Chacoan culture designed, oriented and located these buildings . With Chaco Canyon now declared a national park and UNESCO World Heritage site, visitors to Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico can marvel at the remains of 12 great houses and more than 4,000 areas of archaeological interest in the rocky landscape. Since its release in 2000, our award-winning film, that our award-winning film, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is now, the DVD of our full-length documentary on, US Release Date: 1999; Copyright Date: 1999, Silver Plaque, The Chicago International Television Competition, Bronze Plaque, Columbus International Film & Video Festival, Honorable Mention, The Archaeology Channel International Film & Video Festival, American Museum of Natural History, New York, National Museum of National History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. video produced and directed by Anna Sofaer. "Once we corrected the mass of the timbers," Wilson said, "that changed almost everything about how many people were required to carry those timbers, how much time it would take to cover 60 miles.". And they decided to test whether the journey was possible themselves. Kram rewrote history when he published a paper showing the Chaco logs were actually much lighter, weighing closer to 200 pounds. Were thrilled to announcethat our award-winning film, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is nowstreaming on Amazon Prime CLICK HERE, You can now purchase the DVD of our full-length documentary on Amazon CLICK HERE, Rent and stream the full version on Vimeo CLICK HERE. Left Coat Press, Walnut Creek CA. 56 minutes, color. "I had Dr. Kram and James initially focus on walking greater and greater distances with what felt like light tumpline training loads," said Carzoli, who earned his doctorate in integrative physiology from CU Boulder in 2022. The average logs that were carried to build these great houses at Chaco were about 16 feet long, so I multiplied it by 16, he said. Kram got interested in Chaco Canyon several years ago. They help porters to support weight using the bones of their neck and spine rather than their muscles. That's where we go to heal, to pray,'" said Weiner, who will receive his doctorate in anthropology from CU Boulder later this spring. The film has also streamed at 130 colleges and universities where 5,000 viewings have taken place in classrooms, student centers, dorm rooms and apartments for a total time viewed of 1,800 hours. In a 2022 study, they and their colleagues estimated that a pine log measuring about 16 feet longprobably weighed closer to 85 kilograms(a little over 185 pounds). See production, box office & company info, Self - Laguna Pueblo Council member - this is not the same Paul Pino in your database, The Extraordinary Tale of William Buckley: The great untold story of Australia's Robinson Crusoe, Australia's Lost Gold: The Legend of Lasseter. Instead, they were hoping to solve an archaeological mystery that has perplexed researchers for decades: How did ancient peoples transport more than 200,000 heavy construction timbers over 60 miles to a famous site in the Southwest called Chaco Canyon? Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request. What is known is that beginning around the mid-800s, Chaco people began building here, creating multi-story stone buildings on a grand scale. Nonetheless, there is general acceptance among archaeologists of the idea that visual astronomy had a role in Chacoan culture, if for no other reason than to provide a calendrical system. A majority of the Great Houses built before A.D. 1000 are front-facing to the SSE. These timbers brought pieces of the sacred mountains to Chaco Canyon.. New Mexico's Chaco Canyon is home to some of the most impressive pre-Columbian architecture in the Western Hemisphere. America's Stonehenge?America's Stonehenge?America's Stonehenge? Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. I cut a 1-foot-long section of pine and weighed it on my bathroom scale, said Kram, who lives on a wooded property in the hills west of Boulder. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon Unveiling the Ancient Astronomy Educational documentaries Follow Browse more videos Playing next 55:42 The Mystery of Chaco Canyon Unveiling the Ancient Astronomy Educational documentaries 0:32 Sacred Tattoos of Thailand: Unveiling the Magic, Power and Mystery of Thailand's Ancient Tattoos 167-175. 56 minutes, color. The most uncomfortable part, Wilson noted, was the strap of the tumpline rubbing into his head. Chaco Canyon sits near the border between New Mexico and Colorado. Keep up with all the latest news, arts and culture, and TV highlights from KPBS. Kiva: Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History, Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica, Astronomy and Cultural Diversity. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon: Unveiling the Ancient Astronomy Since its release in 2000, our award-winning film, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon, has aired more than 10,000 times on 95% of PBS stations across the country. I cut a 1-foot-long section of pine and weighed it on my bathroom scale, said Kram. CU Boulder Today is created by Strategic Relations and Communications. Kram got interested in Chaco Canyon several years ago. Could more local solutions work. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. Your feedback is important to us. Sofaer, Anna (screenwriter) That's five miles round trip.. The Mystery of Chaco Canyoncontinues to impact and inform audiences in significant ways; 800 K-12 schools and colleges have purchased copies ofThe Mystery of Chaco Canyonto teach about the remarkable archaeoastronomy of the ancient Pueblo people of Chaco. An examination of the prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, which functioned as a complex ceremonial center, harmonized by extraordinary astronomical alignments of buildings and roads, and elegant light and shadow markings. Speaker: Anna Sofaer and her colleagues Robert Weiner and Richard Friedman. Published work includes a variety of proposals including horizon calendars, solar calendrical constructs in architecture, cardinal North-South and/or East-West (NS/EW) alignments of architecture and roads, building alignments to lunar standstills or June solstice sunrise, wall alignments to equinox sunrise or sunset, and the positioning of structures at observation points for horizon calendrical stations. When I watched this I had mixed feelings. Read About our Chaco Tours in 360 West Magazine Article, The Dallas News, Adventure Pro Magazine and Cowboys & Indians. This documentary examines the ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built between 850 and 1150 A.D. in northwest New Mexico. Between approximately 800 A.D. and 1100 A.D., the ancient Chacoans built settlements . I am the Rural and Small Communities Reporter at KUNC. Then the researchers hit on the idea of tumplines, which are depicted in ceramic effigies recovered from close to Chaco Canyon. The duo and their colleaguesdescribed their experimentFeb. 22 in theJournal of Archaeological Science: Reports. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Then the researchers hit on the idea of tumplines, which are depicted in ceramic effigies recovered from close to Chaco Canyon. Riddle Of The Ancient Sarcophagus And Its Strange Properties Can Science Solve This Mystery? "Once we corrected the mass of the timbers," Wilson said, "that changed almost everything about how many people were required to carry those timbers, how much time it would take to cover 60 miles.". For the next 300 or so years, they quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances to build fifteen . That photograph influenced many of the proposed mechanisms for transporting the logs. Thus specific cultural systems including cosmovisions emerged, which allowed man to establish and maintain order and rhythm in personal and social life, interacting with given environmental conditions and to answer the human questions about the whys and wherefores concerning him and the world. Kram said the next step is to do more experimental work - this time, on location at Chaco Canyon, where they can demonstrate the tumpline method works as they trace the ancient hauling routes of the ancestral Puebloans. Weiner said the team's results show that supplying Chaco Canyon with goods may not have been as back-breaking an undertaking as archaeologists once assumed. Ever since she . These and other bizarre encounters suggest the park may be a portal between our world and distant star system. That changed the calculation significantly when determining how many people would have been needed to carry the timbers 60-70 miles. The SSE orientation tradition continued during the peak of Bonito Phase construction activity (A.D. 1020-1100). This newly conceived series (in progress) will bring recent revelations about the ancient Native Americans who built massive enigmatic structures throughout the southwest. It seemed unrealistically high to him. 56 minutes, ColorGrade Level: 7-12, College, AdultUS Release Date: 1999; Copyright Date: 1999ISBN: 1-56029-812-XDirected by Anna SofaerProduced by The Solstice ProjectNarrated by Robert RedfordWritten by Anna Sofaer and Matt DibbleMusic by Michael Stearns. The teaching materials in the Guide are designed to be used with the film THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON. They first tried carrying a log on their shoulders. There are no preserved timber scrape marks near the site, and the people of Chaco Canyon didn't have draft animals or even wheels, according to Kram and his co-authors. Stephen Lekson, Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado Boulder, "The Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico", Rina Swentzell, Architect, Santa Clara Pueblo, News study outlines air pollution from Tijuana sewage, Art Show: 'The Possibility of Something Happening', Current rainy season could be a drought buster, forecaster says, Settlement reached in Tijuana sewage lawsuit, Brittney Griner urges the return of U.S. detainees abroad at NAACP Image Awards, Washington state attorney general says FDA rules on abortion drug are unreasonable, An Arizona driver is in custody after crashing into bicycling group, killing 2, How Cardiff's new farmers market may help keep small farms in business, San Diego officials work to stop elephant poaching. Building upon Hayes and Leksons assessments of orientations, temporal analysis of these four traditions may improve our understanding of shifting patterns of multi-cultural collaboration and dominance among ancestral Pueblo groups. Summaries America's Stonehenge? New aerial cinematography and lidar--an aerial laser-scanning technology--are revealing a vast network of linear . In the center of America's Four Corners Region, Chaco Canyon is an arid, desolate place, sprinkled with the occasional, lonely juniper tree, cactus, or sage bush. The structures and ruins are protected from destruction and development and . In a 2022 study, they and their colleagues estimated that a pine log measuring about 16 feet long probably weighed closer to 85 kilograms (a little over 185 pounds). That still left a bigger question unanswered, though. The ancient ruins of Chaco Canyon, built in 850 and 1150 A.D. in New Mexico, are described in the movie. For more information, contact Bullfrog Films, Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 1-800-543-FROG . Astronomical analysis of 10th to 12th century A.D. cultural evidence at Chaco Canyon New Mexico began in the 1970s. This small calendar allowed for those living at Chaco Canyon to determine the beginning . Lecture: Chacoan Astronomy, Cosmography, Roads, and Ritual Power: Insights into the Chaco World Using New Technologies. Then the researchers hit on the idea of tumplines, which are depicted in ceramic effigiesrecovered from close to Chaco Canyon. Weiner said the team's results show that supplying Chaco Canyon with goods may not have been as back-breaking an undertaking as archaeologists once assumed. "Tumplines allow one to carry heavier weights over larger distances without getting fatigued," said Wilson, now a medical student at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. The activities in the Guide are primarily for grade-levels 5-12, although they also may be useful to college students. As the title states - they used their heads but not just by thinking about it. It fits with all the evidence: they used tumplines, they made the roads very wide, Kram said. The most uncomfortable part, Wilson noted, was the strap of the tumpline rubbing into his head. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no The largest structure built in the US until the early 1890's is Pueblo Bonito . The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern throughout a vast desert region. To test that hypothesis, co-authors Rodger Kram and James Wilson spent the summer of 2020 training until they could haul a heavy log some 15 miles using tumplines. February 17, 2014 Chaco Canyon in New Mexico is one of the largest archeoastronmical sites in the world. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties. Complete List Of Included Worksheets. Aerial and time lapse footage, computer modeling, and interviews with scholars show how the Chacoan culture designed, oriented and located its major buildings in relationship to the sun and moon. Rodger Kram, associate professor emeritus of integrative physiology, and James Wilson, then an undergraduate studying biochemistry, spent the summer of 2020 training for an impressive test of endurance: Together, they carried a ponderosa pine log weighing more than 130 pounds for 15 miles up and down a forest road in Boulder County, Coloradoand they did it using only their heads in a technique inspired, in part, by sherpas in Nepal. minimum distance between toilet and shower. Human porters would have needed to carry 16-foot-long wooden beams to Chaco Canyon by footfollowing a network of ancient roads to sites like the Chuska Mountains to the west. "I multiplied by 16 feet and realized, 'That can't add up to 275 kilograms.'". I had Dr. Kram and James initially focus on walking greater and greater distances with what felt like light tumpline training loads, said Carzoli, who earned his doctorate in integrative physiology from CU Boulder in 2022. Did you know the U.S. has a pre-historic Puebloan place of mystery that has . Four ESE facing Great Houses were constructed within and in proximity to Chaco between A.D. 860 and A.D. 1090. The Chacoan civilization reflects a unique time in the history of the "Ancestral Puebloans," a group of ancient people. THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. This film describes and demonstrates the intricate and precise astronomical alignments among the many buildings spread over a wide desert area. For years, archaeologists believed that the 16-foot-long timbers transported long distances to Chaco Canyon weighed about 600 pounds. Survey results were assessed in the context of positional astronomy, Pueblo ethnography, and the archaeological record including published construction dates for the sites. The Mystery Of Chaco Canyon examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico, revealing that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings oriented in a complex celestial pattern throughout this vast desert region. These straps, which sherpas, or native mountain peoples of Nepal, still widely use today, loop over the top of the head. NASA began researching Chaco Canyon in the 1970s, when the organization discovered some 300 kilometers of sophisticated roadways and underground kivas through multispectral scanning technology. It is the summation of 20 years of research. Archaeological evidence suggests thatancient peoplesin the Southwest employed tumplines woven from yucca plants to transport everyday items like food and water. Each attached a tumpline to one end of that log to share the load. Everybody else who was hiking there scratched their head and asked us what the heck we were doing, Kram recalled. THE MYSTERY OF CHACO CANYON examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. Anna Sofaer, producer and director of the Robert Redford-narrated documentaries The Sun Dagger (1982) and The Mystery of Chaco Canyon (2000), gives a 6:30 p.m. lecture on Thursday, Jan. 24. One such road, the Great North Road, connects the central canyons ceremonial buildings across 35 miles of desert to a steep badlands canyon in the North a direction of profound significance to descendant Pueblo people. The team's findings show that the key to this testament to human labor may have been simple devices called tumplines. 1.The purpose of the construction of the Fajada Butte calendar. They describe the deliberate action of their ancestors to seal off the buildings and these aspects of their past. Copyright 2023 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), all rights reserved. Ars may earn compensation on sales from links on this site. and Terms of Use. Dr. Brad Eden, UNLV, MC Journal'Make(s) a compelling case for this ancient people's astronomical prowess. The Late Bonito calendrical Great Houses may have been intended as pilgrimage destinations where people could witness a dramatic solstice sunrise or sunset. The ancient Native American ruins of a Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park Robert Redford, The video becomes part of the ongoing dialogue between archeologists, anthropologists, and native peoples [It's] a multi-level phenomenon, like Chaco, which embraces complexity, beauty, and mystery. Rina Swentzell, Architect, Santa Clara Pueblo, "A stunning piece of work the graphics are astounding and the entire production is powerful." Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - In a new study, several researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder reenacted a small part of a trek that people in the Southwest United States may have made more than 1,000 years ago. A study finds that those on the CU Boulder and Colorado State University campuses showed high levels of mask use and positive attitudes about masks during pandemic. World Archaeological Congress Handbook Series. I am grateful to Anna Sofaer for involving me in her decades-long passion to explain this extraordinary and magical place.Robert Redford, The videobecomes part of the ongoing dialogue between archeologists, anthropologists, and native peoples(Its) a multi-level phenomenon, like Chaco, which embraces complexity, beauty and mystery.Rina Swentzell, Architect, Santa Clara Pueblo, A captivating look at one of the most impressive archaeological sites in North AmericaAnna Sofaer reveals the solar and lunar complexity of Chacoan buildings with impressive visual economy and clarity. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern . The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. For decades, people have wondered how ancient ancestral Puebloans transported heavy building materials to Chaco Canyon, one of the most important archaeological sites in the Southwest. To make sure they were being safe, Kram and Wilson started with light loads and worked their way up, said Joseph Carzoli, a study co-author and certified strength and conditioning coach. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder may have solved a 1,000-year-old supply chain mystery: How did ancient ancestral Puebloans transport heavy building materials to Chaco Canyon, one of the Southwests most important archaeological sites? Explore how the Chacoan people expressed a complex solar and lunar cosmology in their arch, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is a local public television program presented by. I have found that a majority of the studied Chacoan structures to conform to one or more of four architectural traditions that have astronomical associations. In a 2022 study, they and their colleagues estimated that a pine log measuring about 16 feet long probably weighed closer to 85 kilograms (a little over 185 pounds). Significantly, recently a large effigy of Quetzalcoatl which was removed from the site prior to the Field Museum's 1961 excavation has been recovered, and the embellishment of the shrine itself as an equinox marker has been noted. The EDUCATIONAL version has an accompanying Teachers Study Guide. Located 72 miles south of Farmington, Chaco Canyon contains the largest collection of ruins in Northwestern New Mexico. "Some people baked sourdough bread during COVID, Instead, we carried sand and heavy logs around using our heads," said Kram, who is a passionate runner in his free time. But that account is inconsistent with the known sourcing of the timbersthe Chuska, Zuni, San Mateo, La Plata, ad Sa Juan Mountainsand there is also no archaeological evidence for the existence of such carts, according to the authors. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder). W. David Laird, Books of the Southwest'The video, then, is a multi-leveled phenomenon, like Chaco, which embraces complexity, beauty and mystery.' Archeologists estimate that the main architectual landmark, the great Kiva of Chetro Keti, was . Focusing on the enigmatic monumental center at Chaco Canyon, the book provides a historical analysis of how Southwest archaeology confined itself, how it can break out of those confines, and how it can proceed into the future. The film argues that the massive multistory buildings and roads the Chacoans constructed in a forbidding stretch of what is now New Mexico were designed to form a vast, stunningly precise map of the yearly cycle of the sun and the 19-year cycle of the moon.' Concepts of housing the world are implemented in the architecture of lodgings, cultic buildings, settlements, territories, and the artificial shaping of the landscape. Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder, "I cut a 1-foot-long section of pine and weighed it on my bathroom scale," said Kram, who lives on a wooded property in the hills west of Boulder. L'Astronomie culturelle la croise des chemins - Inti yaykuna : Annexes, The Chacoan World: Light and Shadow, Stone and Sky, Solar-Aligned Pictographs at the Paleoindian Site of Painel do Pilo along the Lower Amazon River at Monte Alegre, Brazil, The Primary Architecture of the Chaco Culture: A Cosmological Expression, The Great North Road: a Cosmographic Expression of the Chaco Culture of New Mexico, Remote Sensing of Chaco Roads Revisited: Lidar Documentation of the Great North Road, Pueblo Alto Landscape, and Aztec Airport Mesa Road, The Sun Dagger Interactive Computer Graphics Model: A Digital Restoration of a Chacoan Calendrical site, Lunar Markings on Fajada Butte, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Astronomical Markings at Three Sites on Fajada Butte, Pueblo Bonito Petroglyph On Fajada Butte: Solar Aspects, The Enigmas of Fajada Butte, Chaco Canyon, HOUSES OF THE SUN AND THE COLLAPSE OF CHACOAN CULTURE. University of Colorado at Boulder. "The mountains are the most sacred places for the descendant Din and Pueblo peoples. A potential calendrical station located in the vicinity of Peasco Blancos McElmo ruin is yet to be confirmed. New Mexico's Chaco Canyon was once the center of the most influential culture in the American Southwest.