Archeologists: We will never know what Chaco was, or why it ended! Surrounding Pueblos: Oh, actually we know what happened at Chaco! It's part of our history and we have a strong oral tradition that tells us exactly what Archeologists: It's the most enduring mystery in all of archeology! Navajo: We were also there and our oral histories match up with what the pueblo people Archeologists: If only there was some way to know what happened! Navajo and Pueblo peoples: ...
Fantastic comment. Our group visited there from Aotearoa New Zealand. We were invited to New Mexico by the Acoma and Jemez Pueblo communities. We went out to Chaco Canyon with our Pueblo hosts and enjoyed a “Real” narrative from the descendants of the Chacoan peoples. Later we got the non-indigenous archaeology worldview of a limited science narrative … It’s a fascinating thing for indigenous visitors being privileged by indigenous hosts speaking on their history vs a modern western view. There’s a sharing that is shared between place, space, indigeneity and ceremony which we shared in the telling of the narrative of Chaco Canyon vs the non-ceremonial presentation of “facts” gathered from data interpreted by guesstimation masquerading as methodology. Thank you for you comment - it validates our experience beautifully.
@@nancyscottartprojects7848 Thank you for the request. I believe it’s more appropriate for the descendants of Chaco Canyon to tell their stories. I don’t mean to deny your request nor disrespect your inner attraction to the history and herstory of Chaco and it’s traditions. I mean only to support “our” traditions as indigenous peoples to contribute and support other brothers and sisters globally in their aspirations for protecting their indigenous rights to their customs, their stories and to the telling and sharing of those in “their” way. Acoma and Jemez Pueblo’ s are two separate Pueblo’s with deep and strong connections to their respective traditions. Those traditions exist inside the historical context of New Mexico’s multiple Pueblo’s and also to Native American nations north, west, south and east. What I can encourage is for you to go on that journey as Cherokee and meet the descendants of Chaco and nurture a relationship that brings you into the orbit of their origin stories first hand. Blessings on your path.
This as a Native person is what we are waiting for, non native archeologists with the common sense and brilliance to look at the physical evidence but also the undeniable information of simple native family knowledge from old stories. What a great talk Steve Lekson gives.
This makes way more sense than anything else I've read or heard on Chaco. Though this is an old video, TFS! (i just got a 2002 copy of "the chaco handbook" and it does repeatedly speak of the unknowable mystery of Chaco, etc, so much so that i found myself thinking, well then wth did i even buy this book for if Chaco culture is supposedly so completely unknowable. It's amazing how we as humans can get so locked into seeing thru such narcissistic eyes.
I'm a Hopi and my grndfather told me😮 that we were one people at one time and we all talked the same language and when we all went our different ways, we started talking different languages. This was when I was a young boy. And I thought he was talking about all the natives of Amarca, but he was talking about us Hopis the New Maxico Peablo people. Our language at that time was complax at that time, but now our language is more simple. He use to tell me that we talk like babies now. He also told me that the Navajos came down from alaska somewhere that why their hogonsl are shaped like igloos. Hogons are made out of mud cause there's no snow down in this area. He told me that when he was a litte boy, he use to travel around with his grandfather to trade his crop after harvest time with other tribes in his grandfather's wagon and they would travel so far, and camp the night and go on the next day to their destination and he told me that they wouldn't see any Navajos anyway. This is his true story. Older men told my family that he was way older then he says je was. So I beleave his stories about the Navajos. He use to tell about how we Hopis use to live. Use to love to listen to him. I guess I was luck to have a grandfater like him. Learned a lot from him.
Been there many, many times over 55 years, awesome place but remote. Year's ago I watched a documentary film that showed satellite images showing a vast road network with C.C. being the center with roads heading out in every direction.
Like many here, I've followed Steve Lekson for years and have watched his linear progression of cracking the so called "Chaco Phenomenon enigma." Once you grasp the simple concept of his nobles/commoners hypothesis associated with Chaco and its outliers (corn production/collection via the roads and noble ceremonial and warehousing at the great houses), coupled by learning the altepetl polity system of mesoamerica, especially the Maya, everything makes sense... what a brilliant, elegant effort on his part. Chaco enigma/mystery? ...Nope, Lekson fixed that. Thanks to Dr. Lekson and to ArchaeologySouthwest for another great presentation.
The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is now up on RUclips. It's the Robert Redford narrated one that deals with the astrological alignments etc.. Anna Sofaer and her team are important players in this research and there it is a whole other perspective on the mystery. This guy makes a lot of sense in anthropological study but the questions still remain 🤔
Your hypothesis fits the aztec mexica origin story. The azteca said they were the last of 7 tribes to leave theyre origin "cave" (possibly a pueblo?) guided by there war god Huitzilopotchli (possibly katchina idol?) they "carried on their backs" south to lake Texcoco which was already occupied by other civs. They said Aztlan was a place of abundance but their god commanded them to leave. Then they got lost and "forgot" how to get back too Aztlan. This was all pre- Tenochtitlan. Hope your right cuz it sounds cool! Also Nahuatl, a Uto-Aztecan language related to Hopi and Shoshone was spoken by multiple mesoamerican civilizations. And another thing to add is Corn. Earliest archeological micro botanical evidence found in Mexico Rio Balsas region, domesticated maize starch was found in a cave with charcoal at the same layer, dating back to 8700. Clearly showing trade of plant goods and agriculture northwards. Along with macaw feathers. Maize also features into both mesoamerican and native American art. Super interesting 👍
I personally don't really see it for a few reasons. The nahuan language distribution compared to, say, the Athabaskan language distribution dont really add up, it shows a movement from a different direction, maybe mesoamerica came here but i doubt that the mesoamerican cultures we know and love today came from ours. obviously they must have come from the north at some point, but that was way before the time period were looking at. and besides language groups theres also huge economic and cultural differences that are much harder to shake. Most importantly, i dont think it aligns up with what the native people know about their history. Another thing that might be controversial, but these are religious stories with cultural significance that people like us cant even begin to fathom without spending time in the community, without being raised that way, its like trying to understand buddhism from the perspective of an oklahoma born christian, its possible but its more complicated than a google search can explain, dharma, dukkha, all of that. i mean these langauges alone are so specialized for this specific way of life that theyre difficult enough on their own. Dine alone is almost a family based language. we know they traded and we know they knew eachother, probably sent wives up and down the pipeline, but i dont really think that mesoamerica can be explained by aridoamerica. i think youre onto something but not this.
I agree with a lot of what Steve has to say; however - and this is big and important - he needs to integrate a better understanding of Anna Sofaer and Solstice Project research around Chaco Astronomy. It is a big missing link for him, and given some time to let that research simmer with his own thoughts, I think he could be on to what Chaco really was.
Well said! There is so much evidence that Calendars abound in Chaco. The orientation of buildings, The Sun Dagger at Fajada Butte. The fact is, her research disputed many of the papers that were being written at the time and since. She was somewhat discredited because she was "only a female artist" and got a LOT of resistance from other researchers. Proof is everywhere. She is THE PRIMARY PERSON who discovered that these people of Chaco knew and paid great attention to the movement of sun, moon, stars and planets. Of course they would need to have this information in order to plant and harvest food, pay attention to animal migrations etc.
because "HE gets PAID to figure this out." So of course he's not going to mention something he didn't figure out himself or that contradicts his theory, expands on it, or even disproves it. Its a palace, there's no mystery. Nothing to see here. move along. haha!
@@svenlundergard1 He drew a link to the way the Aztecs built pyramids though. I wonder if maybe he just didn't feel like mentioning that? I'm not sure if what you say actually changes anything he says.
There are thousands of earthworks structures that were build to capture and control water. I suspect the population was much higher and that they were much more skilled at agriculture than we modern folks give credit.
Just recently visited Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde...I see people living in Chaco and the surrounding areas and then retreating to the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde for safety. No one would willing choose to live like swallows unless they had to. I see invaders driving people into the cliffs. What convinces me of this is that those very capable builders living in their cliffs, never bothered to build stairs or useable trails leading up to their roost-homes. Most are only accessible by footholds cut into the cliff walls. Even their young children were always at risk of falling off the edge to a certain death. Who would willing live like that? Somebody was hunting people.
I saw a documentary documentary that showed cannibalism was practiced there and evidence of invaders from central Mexico. That goes alone why people built homes in the cliff's
This is exactly how I felt visiting walnut canyon. A thousand feet up to the rim to grow crops, and another thousand feet down to get water. Whoever built like that was clearly terrified of *something*
Via Chaco, modern species of edible vegetables & fruits were cultivated & stored & traded between North & South lands to be later spread out across North America.
@@headlessspaceman5681. Corn. This is the End of Anglo-Euro narrative manipulation of North American history. Death & Hell are coming upon the enemies of Quetzalcoatl who taught civilization to the Uto-Aztecan peoples aside from all others in various incarnations throughout time. Quetzalcoatl (Michael the Archangel) is Jesus Christ here in tHis second coming.
I've been to C. C. many times starting 55 years ago as a small boy, but not until I was 38 years old did I actually stay the night. My girlfriend and I slept in the bed of my pickup truck and watched the night sky and the rising of the moon. It was a memory I shall never forget. It's remote with no services so go prepared.
I'm an Englishman that's done just that in 1994, what an experience. I also subscribe to Anna Sofaer and her Solstice Project with her credible research 're Astronomy. If it could be done at Stonehenge,. I think some "experts" should not discount her credible research.
The good scholar forgot to mention the witch the two brothers ran into in legend was carrying a large iron stone around her neck...this makes the meteorite find in that location 300 years later much more interesting.
He goes pretty fast! I have re-watched and gotten more out of his presentation. I had to look up the meteorite...shows what I know! Interesting for all of us. Best@@watcherofthewest8597
He goes pretty fast! I re watched the presentation and got much more out of it. I had to look up the Paquime meteorite! We are all learners! Best! @@watcherofthewest8597
I love that concept of upstreaming. It's a fallacy that everyone uses because it's so easy. Simply taking what we know about the present and applying to a mystery doesn't solve the mystery.
I wonder... Linguistic barriers between peoples are not always because the people don't interact. In China the emperors didn't speak the same language as the peasants by choice. This is because the ruling class saw themselves as a different cultural entity than the commoners. The Zuni may have in some way seen their language as an important aspect of their cultural identity and CHOSE to not use the languages of their neighbors.
IMAO, it was part of a fairly elaborate community that ranged to the Grand Canyon area. I am particularly interested in the dozens of pueblos that were researched by the University of Southern Utah before Glenn Canyon was built.
An astounding number of gaming pieces have been found at Chaco - far more than one might expect at a strictly residential or ceremonial complex. My bet is that - seriously - it was a casino - a gambling mecca. We all know that gambling was ubiquitous among Native Americans - one could win a slave, or become a slave, lose your wife, or win another one, along with simple gain or loss of wealth and/or goods. Compulsive gambling was common, according to oral histories. When gambling and spiritual/ritual/astrological considerations blur, one can easily imagine that a pilgrimage to the Uber Casino could carry great spiritual significance - similar to an oracle like Delphi. Questions of marriages, alliances, trade arrangements, warfare, etc could be placed in the hands of the spirits via gaming and the placing of wagers. The center itself (where there was no major agriculture nearby) could be sustained by the imposition of a vig, or "juice" on all wagers placed to cover the overhead of the complex. It all holds together for me, and I've never heard a reasoned discussion of this possibility...
His endless side comments and tangents really interfere with points he’s trying to make. Interesting stuff but I don’t find his delivery as compelling as many of the comments here.
@@calvinlotz7595 he had TWO Americano espressos before his talk, and he's all over the place. too much energy coming too fast. at least I can understand him, unlike the Brits that constantly dominate these Arch. vids.
This is a fantastic talk. Absolutely right regarding borders influencing scope of vision, plus lack of ability to be open minded about others' theories. It's like some sort of slash and burn turf wars deep fries cognition and theoretical open mindedness. Anyway, thank you for a very refreshing and intelligent talk
The Las Vegas of the 11th Century , Red Haired Giants , Native Navajo , Mongols from the Land Bridge , Taller People Good People and the Real Medicine Men Worked There :) QC
While I acknowledge and appreciate his work and study of Chaco Canyon, I find his dismissal of the center as being just a place for the elite with little regard for the astronomical evidence in the architecture, unfounded and unsettling. This incredible place was built using an advanced scientific understanding of the cosmos, cycles of the sun and moon, astrological events and positions, and knowledge of how the planets and stars impact our cycles on the Earth. Even the construction of the buildings align with the cardinal directions, movements of the sun and moon at the equinoxes, and the long and short 9 1/2 year cycles of the moon. Downplaying the cultural and scientific significance of this incredible place only contributes to the misunderstanding of the great culture of people the America’s once were inhabited by.
The common people were ruled by Mexican Indians. Parrots and Macaws were luxury items as was shell and turquoise. Skulls with filed and inlaid teeth were found there. That modification of the teeth was something done by the Mexican Indians.
A poor presentation of a historical veiw-too much vague conceptializingwith very little direction. I prefer a presentation that actually presents parallels and theory even if speculated. This guy should stick to tour guiding.
Get a hold of me. Ill tell yo what chaco was. Bring some bone dna from there and black river and ill bring my dna and you will believe my Grandmother passed down knowledge that archeology wouldnt believe in thee 70s ;;;; My grandmother told me thee stories past;;;; She told me the cover ups of real knowledge when she was a child. They took her family's heirlooms history and tried deportation of them. Seriously holler at me and we can chat and go from there. Its not pueblos and only partial Navajo & ill leave it at that 🚪🧷🧬🔬🗿📡
do nerds ever come up to you in public and freak out like you're a celebrity? I just wanna know bc if I ever see you walkin around Arizona I might flip lmao!
if the Native Culture that was here for thousands of years had not been systematically destroyed by invaders we might know what was going on at these sites
The amount of artifacts found that have no explanation that are buried in the basements of museums might open a whole new way of thinking. What everyone believes to be true are merely judgments based on opinions ,influenced by prejudice thinking. Look at Hebrew writing on artifacts found in those Mississippi River sites. Or the Egyptian words and symbols used by the Hopi. This talk explains some of the reasons everything is such a mystery. Get out of the box and learn something new.
Maybe at the end, people wanted in..m so they pretended to initiate people but ritually murdered and ate them instead. Then they tell the people outside to keep building because now they need more rooms! 😅🤦♂️✌ Not really.
There was no Navajo's living during the time of the Chacoan, but Navajos (Dine People) do live close to the site. But I was confused when he said there was Navajos living in Chaco. Dine People stay away from Chaco Canyon, it is forbidden, and if one does, you will get an illness, and need to have extensive ceremonies to heal.
Im navajo and yes its forbidden for us to go to chaco its a spritual place we do get sick and other illnesesIf we go to chaco but yes We live near and we are protectors of chaco my familyis from the chaco area
Archeologists: We will never know what Chaco was, or why it ended!
Surrounding Pueblos: Oh, actually we know what happened at Chaco! It's part of our history and we have a strong oral tradition that tells us exactly what
Archeologists: It's the most enduring mystery in all of archeology!
Navajo: We were also there and our oral histories match up with what the pueblo people
Archeologists: If only there was some way to know what happened!
Navajo and Pueblo peoples: ...
Fantastic comment.
Our group visited there from Aotearoa New Zealand. We were invited to New Mexico by the Acoma and Jemez Pueblo communities.
We went out to Chaco Canyon with our Pueblo hosts and enjoyed a “Real” narrative from the descendants of the Chacoan peoples.
Later we got the non-indigenous archaeology worldview of a limited science narrative …
It’s a fascinating thing for indigenous visitors being privileged by indigenous hosts speaking on their history vs a modern western view.
There’s a sharing that is shared between place, space, indigeneity and ceremony which we shared in the telling of the narrative of Chaco Canyon vs the non-ceremonial presentation of “facts” gathered from data interpreted by guesstimation masquerading as methodology.
Thank you for you comment - it validates our experience beautifully.
Ask the Hopi natives they are the descendants of Anazasi
@@1Ma9iN8tive ok, will you tell us what the tradition says. Thx from the heart of the Cherokee.
@@nancyscottartprojects7848
Thank you for the request.
I believe it’s more appropriate for the descendants of Chaco Canyon to tell their stories. I don’t mean to deny your request nor disrespect your inner attraction to the history and herstory of Chaco and it’s traditions. I mean only to support “our” traditions as indigenous peoples to contribute and support other brothers and sisters globally in their aspirations for protecting their indigenous rights to their customs, their stories and to the telling and sharing of those in “their” way.
Acoma and Jemez Pueblo’ s are two separate Pueblo’s with deep and strong connections to their respective traditions. Those traditions exist inside the historical context of New Mexico’s multiple Pueblo’s and also to Native American nations north, west, south and east.
What I can encourage is for you to go on that journey as Cherokee and meet the descendants of Chaco and nurture a relationship that brings you into the orbit of their origin stories first hand.
Blessings on your path.
The Navajo were not there! They are comparatively recent additions to the SW coming down from Canada around 400 years ago, basically squatters.
This as a Native person is what we are waiting for, non native archeologists with the common sense and brilliance to look at the physical evidence but also the undeniable information of simple native family knowledge from old stories. What a great talk Steve Lekson gives.
This makes way more sense than anything else I've read or heard on Chaco. Though this is an old video, TFS! (i just got a 2002 copy of "the chaco handbook" and it does repeatedly speak of the unknowable mystery of Chaco, etc, so much so that i found myself thinking, well then wth did i even buy this book for if Chaco culture is supposedly so completely unknowable. It's amazing how we as humans can get so locked into seeing thru such narcissistic eyes.
I'm a Hopi and my grndfather told me😮 that we were one people at one time and we all talked the same language and when we all went our different ways, we started talking different languages. This was when I was a young boy. And I thought he was talking about all the natives of Amarca, but he was talking about us Hopis the New Maxico Peablo people. Our language at that time was complax at that time, but now our language is more simple. He use to tell me that we talk like babies now. He also told me that the Navajos came down from alaska somewhere that why their hogonsl are shaped like igloos. Hogons are made out of mud cause there's no snow down in this area. He told me that when he was a litte boy, he use to travel around with his grandfather to trade his crop after harvest time with other tribes in his grandfather's wagon and they would travel so far, and camp the night and go on the next day to their destination and he told me that they wouldn't see any Navajos anyway. This is his true story. Older men told my family that he was way older then he says je was. So I beleave his stories about the Navajos. He use to tell about how we Hopis use to live. Use to love to listen to him. I guess I was luck to have a grandfater like him. Learned a lot from him.
He is spot on. A Hopi elder said that they moved from Tenochtitlan because of corruption.
Been there many, many times over 55 years, awesome place but remote.
Year's ago I watched a documentary film that showed satellite images showing a vast road network with C.C. being the center with roads heading out in every direction.
Richard C it’s my favorite place to camp too, for 20 years now.
“All roads lead to Chaco”
Chaco was the first Native American Casino and Resort
Like many here, I've followed Steve Lekson for years and have watched his linear progression of cracking the so called "Chaco Phenomenon enigma." Once you grasp the simple concept of his nobles/commoners hypothesis associated with Chaco and its outliers (corn production/collection via the roads and noble ceremonial and warehousing at the great houses), coupled by learning the altepetl polity system of mesoamerica, especially the Maya, everything makes sense... what a brilliant, elegant effort on his part. Chaco enigma/mystery? ...Nope, Lekson fixed that. Thanks to Dr. Lekson and to ArchaeologySouthwest for another great presentation.
The Mystery of Chaco Canyon is now up on RUclips. It's the Robert Redford narrated one that deals with the astrological alignments etc..
Anna Sofaer and her team are important players in this research and there it is a whole other perspective on the mystery. This guy makes a lot of sense in anthropological study but the questions still remain 🤔
Your hypothesis fits the aztec mexica origin story.
The azteca said they were the last of 7 tribes to leave theyre origin "cave" (possibly a pueblo?) guided by there war god Huitzilopotchli (possibly katchina idol?) they "carried on their backs" south to lake Texcoco which was already occupied by other civs. They said Aztlan was a place of abundance but their god commanded them to leave. Then they got lost and "forgot" how to get back too Aztlan. This was all pre- Tenochtitlan. Hope your right cuz it sounds cool!
Also Nahuatl, a Uto-Aztecan language related to Hopi and Shoshone was spoken by multiple mesoamerican civilizations.
And another thing to add is Corn. Earliest archeological micro botanical evidence found in Mexico Rio Balsas region, domesticated maize starch was found in a cave with charcoal at the same layer, dating back to 8700. Clearly showing trade of plant goods and agriculture northwards. Along with macaw feathers.
Maize also features into both mesoamerican and native American art.
Super interesting 👍
I personally don't really see it for a few reasons. The nahuan language distribution compared to, say, the Athabaskan language distribution dont really add up, it shows a movement from a different direction, maybe mesoamerica came here but i doubt that the mesoamerican cultures we know and love today came from ours. obviously they must have come from the north at some point, but that was way before the time period were looking at. and besides language groups theres also huge economic and cultural differences that are much harder to shake. Most importantly, i dont think it aligns up with what the native people know about their history.
Another thing that might be controversial, but these are religious stories with cultural significance that people like us cant even begin to fathom without spending time in the community, without being raised that way, its like trying to understand buddhism from the perspective of an oklahoma born christian, its possible but its more complicated than a google search can explain, dharma, dukkha, all of that. i mean these langauges alone are so specialized for this specific way of life that theyre difficult enough on their own. Dine alone is almost a family based language.
we know they traded and we know they knew eachother, probably sent wives up and down the pipeline, but i dont really think that mesoamerica can be explained by aridoamerica. i think youre onto something but not this.
Steve is a Southwestern legend in his own right.
Great lecture with sound insights and reasoning.
I agree with a lot of what Steve has to say; however - and this is big and important - he needs to integrate a better understanding of Anna Sofaer and Solstice Project research around Chaco Astronomy. It is a big missing link for him, and given some time to let that research simmer with his own thoughts, I think he could be on to what Chaco really was.
Great point - I was also surprised that he didn't say anything about the astronomical aspect of Chaco
Yea the Saturn cosmology polar conjunction written in petroglyphs
Well said! There is so much evidence that Calendars abound in Chaco. The orientation of buildings, The Sun Dagger at Fajada Butte. The fact is, her research disputed many of the papers that were being written at the time and since. She was somewhat discredited because she was "only a female artist" and got a LOT of resistance from other researchers. Proof is everywhere. She is THE PRIMARY PERSON who discovered that these people of Chaco knew and paid great attention to the movement of sun, moon, stars and planets. Of course they would need to have this information in order to plant and harvest food, pay attention to animal migrations etc.
because "HE gets PAID to figure this out." So of course he's not going to mention something he didn't figure out himself or that contradicts his theory, expands on it, or even disproves it. Its a palace, there's no mystery. Nothing to see here. move along. haha!
@@svenlundergard1 He drew a link to the way the Aztecs built pyramids though. I wonder if maybe he just didn't feel like mentioning that? I'm not sure if what you say actually changes anything he says.
Thanks for posting this!
A wonderful talk. Steve is a very thoughtful and informed speaker.
There are thousands of earthworks structures that were build to capture and control water. I suspect the population was much higher and that they were much more skilled at agriculture than we modern folks give credit.
Just recently visited Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde...I see people living in Chaco and the surrounding areas and then retreating to the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde for safety. No one would willing choose to live like swallows unless they had to. I see invaders driving people into the cliffs.
What convinces me of this is that those very capable builders living in their cliffs, never bothered to build stairs or useable trails leading up to their roost-homes. Most are only accessible by footholds cut into the cliff walls.
Even their young children were always at risk of falling off the edge to a certain death. Who would willing live like that? Somebody was hunting people.
They were run aways from the corruption of Meso America.
Somebody or something?
I saw a documentary documentary that showed cannibalism was practiced there and evidence of invaders from central Mexico.
That goes alone why people built homes in the cliff's
Fear is a big motivator -
This is exactly how I felt visiting walnut canyon.
A thousand feet up to the rim to grow crops, and another thousand feet down to get water.
Whoever built like that was clearly terrified of *something*
He skipped over the cannibalism question!
they did eat people. so yea every cavillation has a history with cannibalism.
Yes Howard I saw the documentary about cannibalism in the area my self
Sitecah, cannibal giants from Ute oral traditions with potential real evidence to support their existence.
Man Corn
Via Chaco, modern species of edible vegetables & fruits were cultivated & stored & traded between North & South lands to be later spread out across North America.
name one
@@headlessspaceman5681. Corn. This is the End of Anglo-Euro narrative manipulation of North American history. Death & Hell are coming upon the enemies of Quetzalcoatl who taught civilization to the Uto-Aztecan peoples aside from all others in various incarnations throughout time.
Quetzalcoatl (Michael the Archangel) is Jesus Christ here in tHis second coming.
It was actually an ancient shopping mall.
True
👍
Thanks for this. Makes great sense.
The Massacre Of The Ani'-kuta'nï is a very old Cherokee legend about the driving out of a hereditary priestly caste that once enslaved the Cherokee.
What’s the connection with the Chaco nation?
@@jcreajr Mexico
Someday I will camp and spend the night under the stars at Chaco !!!!!Someday!
This a fantastic lecture! Thank You!
I've been to C. C. many times starting 55 years ago as a small boy, but not until I was 38 years old did I actually stay the night.
My girlfriend and I slept in the bed of my pickup truck and watched the night sky and the rising of the moon.
It was a memory I shall never forget.
It's remote with no services so go prepared.
FloridasCracker I hope you’ve had that awesome experience since you made this comment years ago.
FloridasCracker it’s a must
I'm an Englishman that's done just that in 1994, what an experience. I also subscribe to Anna Sofaer and her Solstice Project with her credible research 're Astronomy. If it could be done at Stonehenge,. I think some "experts" should not discount her credible research.
My wife daughter and I drove straight from NYC earlier this year and camped at Chaco. So cool. I can't wait to get back.
this guys vibe is so odd but glad I watched
I just fuckin love this dude, I could listen to this guy talk for 50 years straight.
The good scholar forgot to mention the witch the two brothers ran into in legend was carrying a large iron stone around her neck...this makes the meteorite find in that location 300 years later much more interesting.
Uh, he said the witch was sitting on an iron stone. Check it out.
@@robertbrewer2190 sorry, I missed that part
He goes pretty fast! I have re-watched and gotten more out of his presentation. I had to look up the meteorite...shows what I know! Interesting for all of us. Best@@watcherofthewest8597
He goes pretty fast! I re watched the presentation and got much more out of it. I had to look up the Paquime meteorite! We are all learners! Best! @@watcherofthewest8597
the Photographer Laura Giilpin did a photo shoot of Chaco Canyon and that book is about to come out.
I love that concept of upstreaming. It's a fallacy that everyone uses because it's so easy. Simply taking what we know about the present and applying to a mystery doesn't solve the mystery.
Recent paper on Chaco as a bison-hide trading/processing center is super interesting.
I wonder... Linguistic barriers between peoples are not always because the people don't interact. In China the emperors didn't speak the same language as the peasants by choice. This is because the ruling class saw themselves as a different cultural entity than the commoners.
The Zuni may have in some way seen their language as an important aspect of their cultural identity and CHOSE to not use the languages of their neighbors.
oh yes thats how they keep their history and culture
IMAO, it was part of a fairly elaborate community that ranged to the Grand Canyon area. I am particularly interested in the dozens of pueblos that were researched by the University of Southern Utah before Glenn Canyon was built.
An astounding number of gaming pieces have been found at Chaco - far more than one might expect at a strictly residential or ceremonial complex. My bet is that - seriously - it was a casino - a gambling mecca. We all know that gambling was ubiquitous among Native Americans - one could win a slave, or become a slave, lose your wife, or win another one, along with simple gain or loss of wealth and/or goods. Compulsive gambling was common, according to oral histories. When gambling and spiritual/ritual/astrological considerations blur, one can easily imagine that a pilgrimage to the Uber Casino could carry great spiritual significance - similar to an oracle like Delphi. Questions of marriages, alliances, trade arrangements, warfare, etc could be placed in the hands of the spirits via gaming and the placing of wagers. The center itself (where there was no major agriculture nearby) could be sustained by the imposition of a vig, or "juice" on all wagers placed to cover the overhead of the complex. It all holds together for me, and I've never heard a reasoned discussion of this possibility...
Extremely compelling
👍
A beautifully ignorant and racist hypothesis. How unoriginal.
@@1Ma9iN8tive - Please explain how it's the very slightest bit "ignorant" or "racist"...
Ok. I apologize. I enjoyed this presentation. Thank you!
Excellent talk.
His endless side comments and tangents really interfere with points he’s trying to make.
Interesting stuff but I don’t find his delivery as compelling as many of the comments here.
I tried, but I can't listen to it.
@@calvinlotz7595 he had TWO Americano espressos before his talk, and he's all over the place. too much energy coming too fast. at least I can understand him, unlike the Brits that constantly dominate these Arch. vids.
This is a fantastic talk. Absolutely right regarding borders influencing scope of vision, plus lack of ability to be open minded about others' theories. It's like some sort of slash and burn turf wars deep fries cognition and theoretical open mindedness. Anyway, thank you for a very refreshing and intelligent talk
Occam's Razor !!
The old world loved thier chocolate! The people of Chaco canyon must have had a trade route with meso Americans
The Las Vegas of the 11th Century , Red Haired Giants , Native Navajo , Mongols from the Land Bridge , Taller People Good People and the Real Medicine Men Worked There :) QC
I think pleats died around 30yrs.ago. (How's that for archaeology?)
The New age community seems to find a solstice link to almost everything in which they don’t understand, especially ancient civilizations.
While I acknowledge and appreciate his work and study of Chaco Canyon, I find his dismissal of the center as being just a place for the elite with little regard for the astronomical evidence in the architecture, unfounded and unsettling. This incredible place was built using an advanced scientific understanding of the cosmos, cycles of the sun and moon, astrological events and positions, and knowledge of how the planets and stars impact our cycles on the Earth. Even the construction of the buildings align with the cardinal directions, movements of the sun and moon at the equinoxes, and the long and short 9 1/2 year cycles of the moon. Downplaying the cultural and scientific significance of this incredible place only contributes to the misunderstanding of the great culture of people the America’s once were inhabited by.
Chaco people were Pueblo that traded with Mexico tribes.
The common people were ruled by Mexican Indians. Parrots and Macaws were luxury items as was shell and turquoise. Skulls with filed and inlaid teeth were found there. That modification of the teeth was something done by the Mexican Indians.
Very interesting.
Chaco was a slave camp of horrors. Cannibalism, human sacrifice ECT...
I've heard of keeping a stiff upper lip...but that's ridiculous... 😮
A poor presentation of a historical veiw-too much vague conceptializingwith very little direction. I prefer a presentation that actually presents parallels and theory even if speculated. This guy should stick to tour guiding.
Get a hold of me. Ill tell yo what chaco was.
Bring some bone dna from there and black river and ill bring my dna and you will believe my Grandmother passed down knowledge that archeology wouldnt believe in thee 70s ;;;;
My grandmother told me thee stories past;;;;
She told me the cover ups of real knowledge when she was a child.
They took her family's heirlooms history and tried deportation of them.
Seriously holler at me and we can chat and go from there.
Its not pueblos and only partial Navajo & ill leave it at that
🚪🧷🧬🔬🗿📡
do nerds ever come up to you in public and freak out like you're a celebrity? I just wanna know bc if I ever see you walkin around Arizona I might flip lmao!
I know of 3 pilgrimage sites being used at this time by North American Indians.
Preconceived ideas result in predetermined conclusions!
if the Native Culture that was here for thousands of years had not been systematically destroyed by invaders we might know what was going on at these sites
not destroyed just moved and are now other tribes in different areas. I am a descendant; we are still here.
had enough of the guy in red shirt walking past camera every five mins...rude.
close your eyes
Steve, why don’t you talk to the Pueblo and Navajo. They know. Oh yeah there word doesn’t matter, because they’re savages.
The amount of artifacts found that have no explanation that are buried in the basements of museums might open a whole new way of thinking. What everyone believes to be true are merely judgments based on opinions ,influenced by prejudice thinking. Look at Hebrew writing on artifacts found in those Mississippi River sites. Or the Egyptian words and symbols used by the Hopi. This talk explains some of the reasons everything is such a mystery. Get out of the box and learn something new.
You might benefit from checking out what's in the box before you dismiss it.
Is it just me, or is this presenter overly self centered in his assesments. It feels more arrogant than scholarly presentations usually are.
Maybe at the end, people wanted in..m so they pretended to initiate people but ritually murdered and ate them instead. Then they tell the people outside to keep building because now they need more rooms! 😅🤦♂️✌ Not really.
Very condescending and egocentric.
Navajos at Chaco? No. Where did this idea come from? Seriously misinformed.
He was talking about recently. Navajo now live in the Chaco area where they grow corn.
@@huntergiron2388 Yes , Navajo now live in the Chaco area where they grow corn. it was a Mix of Tribes before that , a Normal City like Today :) QC
There was no Navajo's living during the time of the Chacoan, but Navajos (Dine People) do live close to the site. But I was confused when he said there was Navajos living in Chaco. Dine People stay away from Chaco Canyon, it is forbidden, and if one does, you will get an illness, and need to have extensive ceremonies to heal.
Im navajo and yes its forbidden for us to go to chaco its a spritual place we do get sick and other illnesesIf we go to chaco but yes We live near and we are protectors of chaco my familyis from the chaco area
There’s a Navajo name for every building in Chaco. Guess again, which European told you that?
they could not be barbarians as they can not grow facial hair ! barbarian means bearded !
I'd ben taught it came from 'bar bar nar'- how the people to the norths language sounded to the Greeks.
Anglos discussing chaco is like trump discussing democracy