Home | On the Road | Friends | The Parks | Cirque du Soleil
Fajada Butte stands separtate and alone in the Chaco landscape. Near the top a carefully arranged series of stone slabs was recently discovered. Together with petroglyphs carved into the cliff face, they form a sophisticated celestial marking device. The solar equinoxes and solstices are marked with daggers of light on a large and small spiral. Even more impressively, the seemingly erratic movements of the moon's cycles are also accurately tracked ~ the only such site to do so known in the ancient world. In the language of the local tribes, the name of the moon translates roughly as The Crazy Man Who's Lost His Home.  |
 |
 |
(above) One of the many pueblos that have been unearthed and partially restored. Interestingly, preservation is one of the ongoing concerns of Native Americans who consider Chaco as their ancestral lands. Many hold the view that the complex should be allowed to naturally decay and disappear, in accordance with nature. Meanwhile the National Park Service does their best to preserve the sites against the elements and the thousands of annual visitors who brave the rough dirt roads into the remote canyon.
|
 |
Home
| On the Road | Friends
| The Parks | Cirque
du Soleil