Chaco Culture National Historical Park

A protected archaeological landscape in northwestern New Mexico preserving monumental buildings, roads, and other remains of Ancestral Puebloan culture.

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Pueblo Bonito: A large multistory great house in Chaco Canyon, built and expanded between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Its scale, room count, and central location make it the park’s best-known great house.
Great house: A large, often multistory Puebloan building containing numerous rooms and commonly associated with a plaza or great kiva. This architectural form helps explain the scale and repeated plans of Chacoan buildings.
Ancestral Puebloans: Indigenous ancestors of modern Pueblo peoples who built communities across the Four Corners region. Chaco’s buildings and roads were created within their broader cultural history.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park UNESCO World Heritage Site: The UNESCO World Heritage designation recognizing Chaco Culture National Historical Park for its cultural significance. International recognition reflects the site’s importance beyond the United States.
Chetro Ketl: A major great house in Chaco Canyon with a large plaza and an extensive great kiva. Its monumental plan shows another way Chacoan builders arranged communal space.
Chacoan architecture: The building traditions of Chaco Canyon, marked by planned masonry construction, multistory structures, and large communal spaces. Its masonry techniques and formal layouts distinguish the park’s major structures.
Chacoan culture: A regional society centered on Chaco Canyon that flourished in the San Juan Basin during the ninth through twelfth centuries. This is the archaeological culture most directly represented by the park’s monumental remains.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park protection: Federal and tribal efforts to preserve archaeological resources and cultural landscapes associated with Chaco. Preservation extends beyond park boundaries because roads and related sites cross the region.
Casa Rinconada: A large freestanding great kiva in Chaco Canyon, associated with nearby residential structures. Its exceptional size makes ceremonial architecture especially visible in the park.
Chacoan roads: Engineered routes radiating from Chaco Canyon, often marked by unusually straight alignments and constructed features. Their form raises questions about travel, communication, and the relationship between canyon and outlying sites.