Part 1: Explore the Pueblo Bonito Site

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A view of Pueblo Bonito. Source: Google Earth/G. Donald Bain

Before beginning your research into the age and paleoclimate of the Pueblo Bonito site, it is important to understand the setting and context of the region you are studying. How would you describe the site? What type of trees and vegetation grow there? Are there samples of ancient wood left to analyze within the ruins? Scientists would also do background research to better understand the culture and history of the people who inhabited the site. Climate extremes such as drought can have a large impact on society and can drive human migration. Understanding the connection between climate and people through time can be very exciting research.

In this activity, you will explore Pueblo Bonito and the surrounding countryside using Google Maps.

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The ancestral pueblo people used pine timbers to shore up their buildings. Courtesy LTRR

Instructions

1. Explore Pueblo Bonito

Right click on the Google Maps site and open it in a new window. Type "Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon" into the Search Box. When the map comes up, click on satellite view.

2. Let's get started by getting a better sense of the scale of this place. Zoom into the site so the entire semi-circular ruin is clearly shown. Control click (Mac) or right click (PC) to bring up a menu of options. Select "measure distance." Drag the little white measuring dot to one corner of the base of the pueblo. Click on the other end of the longest side to measure the length of the pueblo in feet. Record your answer. Control or right click to bring up the menu and "clear measurement." Now measure the approximate width of the site. Save your results.

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Wood was used extensively in the construction of a pit house at Pueblo Bonito. Credit: Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images

3. The round structures you see in the pueblo are kivas. They were built underground and were covered by a roof with a hole in it to let smoke escape. The smaller kivas were probably used by individual households for ritual purposes as well as for a variety of routine daily activities such as food preparation, cooking, eating and sleeping. They differ in their function from the much larger or 'great' kivas, which were public buildings believed to have served as religious, economic, and/or government centers for the entire community. The rectangular shapes are individual family dwellings, called pit houses. Families of four to six individuals inhabited each one. Measure the length and width of an average- size pueblo dwelling.

4. Take a closer look at Pueblo Bonito.

You can explore Pueblo Bonito and have a ground level view by dropping the little man icon on the bottom right edge of the screen into different parts of the ruin. Drop into the the edges of the ruin and look at the surrounding countryside. Then drop in and out of different sections of the ruin and look at how the buildings were constructed. To determine the age of the ruin and the site's paleoclimatea climate prevalent at a particular time in the geological past, scientists would locate wood samples for analysis. The builders used wooden posts and beams to support roofs and windows in these structures. Search for a sample of wood you think could be used for research purposes. If you are having trouble finding wood samples, look for what looks like circles in the walls. Take a screenshot of a wood sample and place it on your answer sheet.

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Drop the "Pegman" into the map at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon

Provenance: nicole davi, William Paterson University of New Jersey
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

5. Besides the presence of a few trees along the wash south of ruin, you probably noticed the barren landscape surrounding the pueblo. The same was probably true more than 1000 years ago when the builders of the pueblo began construction. Scientists estimate that 240,000 trees were used in building the multi-story structures in the Pueblo. Where did this enormous number of trees used to build the pit houses come from? Groups of workers likely had to travel great distances to find suitable trees and bring them back to Pueblo Bonito. Zoom out from the pueblo until you can see large green patches that mark forests that would be good sources of trees (be sure you are looking at the satellite view in Google Maps). Choose a likely area and click on it to reveal the name of the location.

6. Click on the directions tab. Your present location should be in the top search box. Click the hiker icon and type "Pueblo Bonito, New Mexico" in the second search box. How long would it take for you and a few friends to hike to this site, chop down a large tree, and then return to Pueblo Bonito with the log?

7. Many archeologists believe that Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon was a special gathering place where many peoples converged to share their ceremonies, traditions, and knowledge. They might have traded goods or shared ideas on building and construction of their pueblos. Architecture and similar modes of construction can be seen at other pueblo sites such as Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico and Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.

To get a sense of just how remote Pueblo Bonito is, get directions from "Pueblo Bonito Chaco Canyon" to "Aztec Ruins National Monument." Change your travel options from driving to walking. Now do the same for Mesa Verde. Think about what it must have been like to travel these great distances before modern technology such as cars and modern roads. How do you think they found these places without navigation tools and smart phones?