Moominmama Communes with the Ancients

 

Wherein Moominmama visits sites of the Ancient Puebloans and learns more about archeoastronomy and the Chaco Culture...

Chimney and Companion rocks in Colorado, near New Mexico, represent the northernmost site for what's believed to have been an ancient Chaco culture observatory. Every 18 and a half years, the moon rises directly between these two pillars during the Major Lunar Standstill, the point at which the moon rises at its northernmost position on the horizon.

We are currently at the end of a Major Lunar Standstill, which lasts between two and three years, and the Griffith Observatory created this video in October of 2024 if you want to learn more. But here's a still from that video just to get a sense of what the moonrise looks like at this location.

The moonrise appears to be the reason that the Chacoans chose this high ridge to build the meticulous structure of kiva and rooms you see remnants of in the photo at the top. 

Most of the construction of the Chacoan Great House dates back to two periods of lunar standstill, but the whole area was home to many villages with archeological evidence of life dating back even earlier than the Chacoans. 

The Chaco structures reflect a different building style, one where walls are aligned with the movements of the sun or moon. These are similar in some ways to the traditional pit houses of the Ancient Puebloans all over New Mexico and the Four Corners area, including Mesa Verde with its cliff dwellings. The circular kivas can be found in all of them along with rectangular rooms, often used to store food. But Chaco construction is different and very specific.

Chaco culture peaked between 950 and 1150 and is marked by its orientation to the skies and by a meticulous and layered construction system. How it arose and spread, what beliefs lay behind the focus on the skies, and why it declined are all mysteries still to be solved. But the stone foundations left behind in precise configurations, along with some of the wood beams, pottery and other artifacts, have allowed archeologists to make some educated guesses about the lives of the people.

Among other things, they've found evidence of signal fires that allowed a place like Chimney Rock to send messages to a site on Huerfano Mountain (a hazy bump in the distance here), which could, in turn, signal Chaco Canyon 90 miles away from Chimney Rock. Mesa Verde was also part of this signaling system, and we know there was extensive trading going on throughout the Chaco region and beyond.

This is not the only evidence of Puebloan culture Moominmama got to view.  A hike to Posi-ouinge, a 13th century former Tewa pueblo in New Mexico, did not include the carefully rebuilt foundations like at Chimney Rock, but the area was awash in ancient pottery. 

Less marketed as a historic site and tucked away down a trail from the hot springs at Ojo Caliente, it's been left mostly undisturbed.

I've never seen so many pottery shards outside of a museum, ever. In most other sites, early explorers made off with the biggest pieces, and tourists take what's left, one piece at a time, until there are none left. And as much as I condemn this, seeing these potsherds all over, I admit to feeling the temptation.

But all the broken pottery also leaves a person to wonder what happened here? Did the families that lived here have to rush away, were they attacked or did they choose to leave their possessions behind?

It's the unanswered questions that make these sites so fascinating. One can't help but speculate, to imagine how ancient humans saw the world. How did the Chacoans learn that the moon would rise every 18 and a half years between Chimney and Companion rocks 90 miles away? And why was that important to them?

Moominmama grew up in a time when "Indians" were a relic of history, something you saw in old westerns not in the community around you. Abandoned villages were spoken about as if inhabitants had been lifted out of them by UFOs. 

The reality is that humans are migratory animals, and we migrate all the time, for jobs, for family, for a fresh start. The abandoned sites are considered the homes of the ancestors for at least a dozen modern-day tribes. That was one reason that the chance to see Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO site that remains in the hands of the Tiwa, or Red Willow People, was so valuable. 

Some of these structures date back to the year 1000, and they are maintained by the descendants of the originals builders to this day. This is just one section of the Pueblo, with Red Willow Creek running in front of it. The creek is still the pueblo's major water source, with clean drinking and irrigation water flowing from the mountains behind the pueblo. There are no animals running wild within the pueblo, and visitors are required to stay clear of the creek to maintain its purity.

This walled compound housed thousands of people since at least the year 1000 if not before, and a few of the structures are still occupied. Changes have been made, like adding front doors so that the homes don't have to be entered by ladder through a hole in the roof. Now those holes are turned into skylights. But some old traditions remain. Small adobe mounds stand outside most of the homes - ovens that are still used by some to bake bread.

Most Tiwa now live in the town of Taos in homes with regular amenities. But they return here for festivals, and they open the pueblo for tours when there's not a conflict with tribal events. 

Moominmama's tour guide was a 17-year-old Tiwa who had a compelling case for tips because he was saving money for college!

Other Tiwa run little shops within the pueblo, selling jewelry or other handmade items. Moominmama bought a tasty fry bread sprinkled with cinnamon sugar from one shop to restore herself after her tour. These last few weeks of travel have been rich in history, and serve to remind me that human beings are ingenious and creative creatures even without modern technology.