19 June 2024 – Trip Day 80
After getting settled in our new site and resting a bit, we made the drive down to Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a 2 hour drive south.
The drive was not too bad, but the last 20 miles or so were on reservation land and it was a dirt road. Fortunately, there was no recent rain and the road was in good condition.
We beat feet from the visitor’s center out into the park to where a volunteer was giving a guided tour of the Pueblo Bonito ruins.
Our guide pointed out the solar alignment of some of the structures. The picture he held up shows the sun on a solstice hitting a specific spot on the wall in the building. The working theory was a person or persons were the ‘sun watcher’ priests, and that their job was to monitor the movement of the sun and keep the calendar so they would be able to mark important dates.
We then went on to explore the excavated ruins. Numerous small openings in the wall required some advanced crawling to get through with the packs. At one point, Alan had to take the pack off as it was so narrow and small to get the kids through.
One of the rooms with a ceiling reconstructed.
A section of the wall, showing the construction of the multiple levels. The wooden beams would have extended across forming the roofs/floors of the various rooms.
The corner window. Our volunteer pointed out that this weakened the wall, so it must have been very important for the builders to make such an opening. This was related to the solar calendar function of the buildings. The volunteer pointed out that there was an outer structure that was likely used in the summer, but in the winter the watchers moved inside to mark the days.
Arya helps wrangle Randal as he stretches his legs.
Out the other side of the structure, we were able to look down on the excavated kivas.
One of the larger excavated kivas with structures in it similar to those seen at the Great Kiva of Aztec. One possible use for the squares was for floor drums. They would be covered with boards or other materials and people would dance/stomp on them to make the sounds.
After our tour, we returned to the visitor center so the kids could complete their books. There was a nice model of the kiva construction to see how it stood in the past.
Randal was all about being able to run around. The spinny wheel was one of his favorite exhibits.
Done with their books, the kids turned them in and got their badges.
After our drive back, I set up a hose mister kit for the kids to play with. They enjoyed the water mist on a hot day!
Taking advantage of the cool night, Alan gets some work done on the laptop.
Our guest photographer, Garrett, nabs a selfie as he documents various parts of the campsite.
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