Chaco great houses built with 200,000 hauled logs despite small permanent population. The rise and fall of Pueblo Bonito Great House defines the Pueblo 2 period First great houses built were Una Vida and Penasco Blanco, at opposite ends of the canyon Great houses contained dozens to hundreds of rooms with multiple stories
Chaco Canyon's great houses required hauling 200,000+ tree trunks from mountains 50+ miles away. Burials and midden evidence suggest fewer than 3,000 permanent residents, and no visible elite residences appear in the record. Dendrochronology gives us year-precise construction dates.
Key Facts
- The rise and fall of Pueblo Bonito Great House defines the Pueblo 2 period
- First great houses built were Una Vida and Penasco Blanco, at opposite ends of the canyon
- Great houses contained dozens to hundreds of rooms with multiple stories
- Construction used core and veneer architecture, with cut-stone exteriors and rubble cores
- Over 200,000 tree trunks were hauled by hand from the Chuska and Zuni mountains, both more than 50 miles away
- Thousands of tons of stone were carried at least a mile from mesa tops down into the canyon floor
- Burials and trash midden evidence suggest a permanent population of less than 3,000
- Full-time residents lived in simple houses on the canyon floor, not in the great houses
- No visible elite residences or higher-status lifestyles appear in the archaeological record
- Dendrochronology provides year-precise construction dates
Related site: Pueblo Bonito Great House — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: How was Chaco Canyon really built? by Archaeologist Ed Barnhart