AURA and CORONADO

Oh.

CORONADO

You. Go ahead Aura.

AURA

Well, it’s sort of about real estate, I know. It’s not Hispanic, but . . .

CORONADO

It’s okay, Aura. I’m glad you showed it to me. I am impressed. I really am. But, go ahead. I know what it means to you.

AURA

Alright. - So, I’m reading this from

Scott A. Elias, The Ice-Age History of Southwestern National Parks (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997), pp. 154, 156, 158-159:

"Pueblo Bonito still astonishes… The scale and quality of building, the attention to detail in the masonry, the road system - all these evoke a civilization on a par with that of ancient Rome....

"Satellite imagery has recently revealed the true extent of their road system: it covered over 250,000 square km (100,000 square miles), in a series of extremely straight lines radiating out from Chaco. Chaco outliers (communities closely tied to the Chaco culture) number more than 150 settlements of various sizes. According to Jill Neitzel, an archaeologist at the University of Delaware, these outliers extend well beyond the San Juan basin: …northeast to Chimney Rock, Colorado, southeast to the present town of Guadalupe, New Mexico, west … into western Arizona…. (Much of the land to the northeast of Chaco is unsuitable for agriculture, so settlements there would not have fit into the Chaco “system”).…

"The rise of Anasazi culture at Chaco Canyon was rapid and dramatic. By A.D.1100, archaeologists estimate that as many as 5000 people either lived at Chaco or passed through there each year, residing in the many pueblos built along the edges of the canyon. (See drawing below.) Much of the food necessary to feed these people may have been imported, because the Chaco Canyon region has only enough arable land to feed about 2000 people….

"The period from 1020 to 1120 is termed the Classic Bonito period. During this time, the major town sites were completed, including Peñasco Blanco, Casa Chiquita, Pueblo Alto, Kin Kletso, Pueblo del Arroyo, Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl, Hungo Pavi, Una Vida, and several others. (See drawing.) These were magnificent, multistoried structures, made of coursed masonry covered by a layer of adobe. Today the adobe has weathered away, leaving the masonry exposed. The fact that many of the walls remain intact is testimony to the care given to dry-stone masonry construction at Chaco Canyon.

"In addition to their elaborate, beautifully made dwellings, the Anasazi at Chaco Canyon also enjoyed an unusually rich material culture. These people had sufficient wealth to afford the best masonry, the best regional pottery…. (One hallmark of wealthy cultures is the quantity of goods thrown away…. At one Chaco townsite, Pueblo Alto, archaeologists found 150,000 broken pots.) These people acquired many exotic items through trade with other regions, including shells from California, parrot feathers and copper bells from Mexico, and turquoise from several regions….

The Anasazi came to look upon turquoise as something sacred, a bringer of good fortune, a source of spiritual strength. Those who amassed large quantities of the stone were held in great esteem.… Jewelry stores from Santa Fe and Albuquerque to Flagstaff and Phoenix [show] …that this cult has not yet died out completely. Anasazi families gathered at Chaco Canyon for annual pilgrimage fairs, perhaps to trade for turquoise. This custom brought even greater prosperity to the residents and insulated them somewhat from the ups and downs of annual crop yields.

So . . . And then there are some links.

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