Sacred Sites: Chaco Canyon - Pueblo civilization
Embedded on a canyon floor in New Mexico are the broken ruins of ancient structures, buildings constructed over 1,000 years ago by the Pueblo civilization of Chaco Canyon. For over 300 years, this community grew and prospered under the leadership of a shadowy elite. But something happened that led to claims of bloodshed, human sacrifice, and even cannibalism. What happened? Our team of experts visits the remarkable landscape that this ancient civilization once called home to see what caused its swift and violent demise. Pueblo civilization The Ancestral Puebloans were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. The Ancestral Puebloans are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara Tradition, who developed from the Picosa culture. They lived in a range of structures that included small family pit houses,