Pueblo Bonito - Chaco Canyon Great House
Chacoan Phenomenon 828–1126 CE·Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) Chaco·🇺🇸 New Mexico, United States
About
About Pueblo Bonito - Chaco Canyon Great House
Pueblo Bonito – Chaco's 800-room D-shaped great house (828–1126 CE), 4 stories, 650 rooms, theatral central plaza and 32 kivas, aligned to cardinal directions and Chaco meridian. Contained in 3 ha enclosure, largest North American building until 1880s. Roads (Chacoan great north/south), turquoise, macaw and cacao trade integrate regional ritual landscape; UNESCO 1987.
Why it mattersLargest and most astronomically aligned Ancestral Puebloan great house
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Construction labor organization
- 02Chronology and phasing
Theories
- 01Ceremonial centre and cosmological alignment
- 02Territorial marker and ritual landscape
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- 828–1126 CE phased great house; core 860–1040
- Period
- Chacoan Phenomenon 828–1126 CE
- Culture
- Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) Chaco
- Builders
- Ancestral Puebloan communities
- Purpose
- Great house ritual and residential centre, Chaco road nexus, solstice astronomy
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
828–1126 CE phased great house; core 860–1040
Initial construction
On the ground
Structures & features
36.0606° N · 107.9617° W · 1890 m · 3 mapped features
D-Shaped Great House Core
great houseCentral curved room block 190m arc with 4 stories
36.0606° N · 107.9617° WCentral Plaza and Kivas
plazaPlaza with 32 kivas and ritual road alignments
36.0609° N · 107.9615° WThreatening Rock Block
geologicalSandstone slab that collapsed 1941 damaging north wall; earlier threat marker
36.0602° N · 107.9620° W