Chaco Canyon

The Pueblo Bonito Great House

Throughout history certain places on earth have been designated as Sacred. For the Chaco Culture, Chaco Canyon was and continues to be the center of their Universe or the Center of the Center.  Ruins of the great houses, Pueblo Bonito, Una Vida and Penasco Blanco where built around the mid-800s and construction continued throughout countless generations.   A visit to the Chaco Culture National Historical Park will allow you to visit many of the ruins that remain and continue to be excavated today to help us understand, acknowledge and preserve our heritage.  While the great houses in Chaco Canyon held significant meaning and purpose, many Native Peoples believe the Pueblo Bonito great house was built in the “Heart of the Chacoan World” and was the primary center for trade, ceremony and great gatherings.  The beautiful visitors center at Chaco Canyon along with the professional park rangers did an excellent job with answering questions and making it possible for us to access the information displays describing the historical facts of this sacred site.  In the final weeks of a one year testing phase are the high-tech display cases being readied to comply with the strict climate-controlled guidelines required to receive and house future museum pieces from around the world.  Josie and I hiked the 5.1-mile Pueblo Alto Trail loop tracing the footsteps of the Chacoan people.  The route traverses the cliffs edge in many places providing a birds-eye view of the ruins seen far below.  We met a hiker along our journey that told us that he’s been here a total of six times and has never experienced such harsh windy conditions.  For me it just confirmed that the great spirits of Chaco Canyon were rejoicing in our presence for being there and honoring them.  For as we stood facing a sacred stone circle near the cliff edge directly above Pueblo Bonito, a Raven slowly floated into view above the ridge at eye level, wings fluttering, suspended, defying time and space, looking deep within our souls, acknowledging, knowing, celebrating.

“To encounter the sacred is to be alive at the deepest center of human existence. Sacred places are the truest definitions of the earth; they stand for the earth immediately and forever; they are its flags and shields. If you would know the earth for what it really is, learn it through its sacred places. … you touch the pulse of the living planet; you feel its breath upon you. You become one with a spirit that pervades geologic time and space.”  ~N. Scott Momaday