Rimrock view of Pueblo Bonito.

For over 2,000 years, the Pueblo people occupied a region of the United States in the south western section sometimes referred to as Oasisamerica. These ancient peoples built settlements, called Pueblos, with huge many roomed buildings and grand ceremonial plazas. Elaborate road- like networks connected the Pueblos, which extend east onto the Great American Plains. During this time Pueblo Bonito, Spanish for beautiful town, was built and used over a period of approximately 300 years, between 850 A.D and 1200 A.D. The site seems to have been evacuated around the end of 1300 A.D.

At the center of Chacoan society, Pueblo Bonito became an important ancestral site and one of the largest Great House sites in the Chaco Canyon region. This site is known as the main center of the Pueblos living in the region of Chaco Canyon. This archaeological site was actually found by a United States army lieutenant during a military expedition. Covering more 3 acres, this was quite an intricate setup.

Pueblo Bonito has a semicircular shape, with clusters of rectangular shaped sections that were used as rooms for living ad storage. There are more than 800 of these rooms that are enclosing a central plaza. In this central section of the site, kivas were built. Kivas a chambers that are partially placed in the ground, for the purpose of ceremonies, such as contacting their ancestors or spirits. Near the center of the pueblo was a hidden chamber, six feet long by six feet wide, which was only accessible through a small hatch in the roof.

Archaeological findings show a surprising lack of domestic activities in many rooms. There were 32 kivas built, and 3 great kivas, and with in those, there were evidence of communal ritual activities, such as feasting. This leads historical archaeologist to believe that the Pueblo Bonita held an important role in religious, political and economic functions within the Chacoan society.

The Great Kiva in the West Plaza is in the foreground,
the larger Great Kiva adjoins the North-South wall to the south. 

I mentioned before that there were small hidden chambers found. In one of these chambers skeletal remains were found. Excavation and DNA research tells us that over a dozen people were buried in here, and that they were most likely members of a powerful Native American dynasty, related through their mothers.

 We learned about this site and some of the other pueblo sites found in the south western section of America. I was very interested and wanted to find out a little more research about these sites, Pueblo Bonito in particular. Archeaology can tell amazing stories about the past that is not often told or written. This is very important because it can teach us important information, such as, how they kept unity, how and when religious practices started being used, diets that they ate. Basically how they survived and then we can learn off of the findings.

More information on Chaco Culture

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/3

References and further Reading

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/02/chaco-canyon-pueblo-bonito-room-33/

https://www.thoughtco.com/pueblo-bonito-chaco-canyon-great-house-172140

http://www.chacoarchive.org/cra/chaco-sites/pueblo-bonito/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Bonito#Discovery

Picture References

http://www.jqjacobs.net/southwest/pueblo_bonito.html