University of Virginia Library

INTRODUCTION

By Donald D. Brand

Scheme of the Report

This bulletin is made up of a Preface, which recounts the details of
camp operation; Introduction, with History of Research in the Chaco
Canyon; Report upon the actual excavation and results; and Appendices.
As a number of authors are represented, it seems advisable to
outline the various contributions.

Dr. Donald D. Brand (associate professor of anthropo-geography,
and head of the Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico)
wrote the Preface; Introduction; Report, Part I, The Natural
Landscape; summary on Subsistence; and compiled the Bibliography.

Dr. Florence M. Hawley (assistant professor of archaeology, University
of New Mexico) wrote summaries and conclusions on Succession
of Chaco Masonry Types; on Pottery; and on the Place of Tseh So in
the Chaco Culture Pattern. Miss Hawley also wrote the appendix dealing
with the Refuse Dump.

Mr. Frank C. Hibben (curator of the Museum of Anthropology,
University of New Mexico) wrote Report, Part II, The Site and the
Excavations; and summaries and conclusions on Vegetable Remains, on
Stone and Other Artifacts, and on Mammal and Bird Remains.

Mr. Donovan C. Senter (graduate fellow in anthropology, University
of New Mexico) wrote the appendices on Floor Deposition and
Erosion in Chaco Canyon; and Burials from Mound 50 and Mound 51.

Mr. Wesley Bliss (graduate fellow in anthropology, University of
New Mexico) did much of the surveying and mapping which contribute
to the illustration of the report.

Most of the maps, charts, graphs, and other illustrations were
composed by Robert Lister and James Spuhler, students in the department.

Identifications of materials were made or checked by experts in
various fields. Dr. H. J. Boekelman, of the Louisiana State Museum, examined
the shell material. Dr. E. F. Castetter, of the University of
New Mexico, identified plant rests. Dr. Stuart Northrop, of the University
of New Mexico, checked the mineral identifications. Dr. Alexander
Wetmore, of the U. S. National Museum, identified the animal
remains.

HISTORY OF RESEARCH IN THE CHACO CANYON

Spanish and Mexican Period

The builders of the structures now constituting the ruins of the
Chaco Canyon were long dead before documentary history entered
New Mexico with the coming of the Spanish explorers and conquerors.
Cabeza de Vaca barely touched southern New Mexico (if at all) in
1536; Fray Marcos de Niza probably never set foot in New Mexico
during his journey of 1539; and Coronado and his followers (1540-1542)
crossed the state at least fifty miles to the south of the Chaco
Canyon. Possibly, as Morgan[1] and others have conjectured, the farflung
tale of the seven cities of Cibola may have been grounded not
upon the Zuñi pueblos but upon a Zuñian report of the Chaco ruins, but
no Spaniard ever searched for these fabled cities in the Chaco area.
Exploratory and military expeditions of Spanish governors, from Oñate
on, traversed the province from north to south and from east to west,
but not one record indicates that even a single Chaco ruin was visited.

Despite the fact that the Chaco area was almost in the geographic
center of the Navajo country (Provincia de Navajoó) of the eighteenth
century, seemingly no Spanish punitive expedition ever dared pierce
this land of the scourge of the northwestern frontier.[2] Spanish garrisons
were located in the Laguna area; Spanish missionaries labored among
the Jemez, Zuñi, and Hopi; and, for a brief period in the eighteenth
century, Spanish ranchers colonized the San Mateo district; but
normally the Rio Puerco of the East (Rio Grande drainage) and the
lower San Jose marked the westernmost white settlements against the
Navajo territory. It is true, however, that the terms of grants made
in the 1760's[3] indicate a knowledge of the eastern Chaco area. One
grant made by Governor Mendinueta to Joaquin Mestas in 1768[4] mentions
the Mesa de Chaca as the western boundary of a tract of land.
This Mesa de Chaca is apparently what is now termed the Chacra
Mesa, immediately to the south of the upper Chaco Canyon.

Such a knowledge, however, was probably hearsay, based upon
reports from Navajos who came into the Spanish villages to trade,
from renegade mestizos who lived among the Navajos, and from the
Pueblo Indians who hunted, raided, and occasionally traveled into or
through the Provincia de Navajoó. It must be remembered that the
Jemez, Zia, Laguna, Acoma, and Zuñi Indians were, perforce, in close
contact (both friendly and hostile) with the Navajos at all times.

Furthermore, during the Pueblo Rebellion and Reconquest of the 1680's
and 1690's there was a considerable movement of Pueblo Indians into
and across the Navajo country.

The first map to present names and features at all in accord with
reality in the Navajo country was that constructed by Don Bernardo
Miera y Pacheco (captain of engineers, and one-time chief alcalde of
Pecos and Galisteo), who accompanied the Franciscan brothers, Dominguez
and Escalante, in 1776 on their trip in search of a feasible road
from Santa Fe to Los Angeles.[5] This clerical party proceeded from
Abiquiu, up the Chama, across what is now northern Rio Arriba County
to the San Juan River, and continued north of the San Juan into Utah.
Ruins were mentioned, but these were not of the Chaco area. One
Miera map, dated January 3, 1777 (the final date of the "diario" made
by Dominguez and Escalante), probably accompanied the report made
by the friars. That Miera y Pacheco ever saw the Chaco area is
contrary to the internal evidence provided by various copies (dated
1777 to 1779) available of this map.[6] Bandelier, without citing his
authority, has stated[7] that Mier y Pacheco (sic) explored the Canyon
de Chaca and measured the ruins. There is no known evidence for
such a statement.

Other Spanish expeditions had sporadically crossed the northern
Navajo country, especially between 1707 and 1743, when parties went
out in search of a rumored mountain of silver. All of these went out
from Jemez or Abiquiu, and none seemingly ventured anywhere near
the Chaco. After the Dominguez and Escalante trip there developed a
certain usage of the northern trail, and this became known as the Old
Spanish Trail, but no ramification entered the Chaco.

Nothing more is known of the Chaco area until Gregg,[8] in 1844,
published his Journal in which he mentioned "the ruins of Pueblo
Bonito, in the direction of Navajo, on the borders of the Cordilleras."
Gregg never claimed to have been to this Pueblo Bonito (which probably
was the present Pueblo Pintado), gave no dates, and never mentioned
the Chaco.[9] He probably had acquired a knowledge of this ruin
at second hand, as he gave no details concerning the one ruin, and made
no mention of other ruins in the area.

American Military Period

Active investigation of the western terrain in New Mexico commenced
with the American invasion in 1846. Colonel Doniphan was
empowered to deal with the Navajos, and he sent parties under Captain
Reid and Major Gilpin to treat with the Indians in the Tunicha
(Chuska) area. Major Gilpin, in the fall of 1846[10] must have crossed
the lower Chaco while going south from the San Juan to the Tunicha
Mountains, but no mention is made either of the Chaco or of ruins.

In August of 1849, Lieut. Col. John M. Washington (governor of
New Mexico) led troops in a military reconnaissance from Santa Fe,
across the Continental Divide, down the Chaco, and on through the
Navajo country. Lieut. James H. Simpson (later a general), who was
a topographic engineer, and artist Richard H. Kern (brother of E. W.
Kern, also an artist with the expedition), from the 26th to the 29th of
August took notes and made sketches of the various ruins encountered.
This material was incorporated in a publication[11] in 1852 which contained
the first use of the word "Chaco," and described and gave names
or numbers to all of the principal ruins in the immediate Chaco Canyon
area with the exception of Pueblo Alto, which seemingly was overlooked.
This journal also presented the first general archaeologic map
of the Chaco Canyon. All of Simpson's ruin names have been retained,
with an occasional modification in spelling.

The various parties of the 1850's which explored for feasible wagon
and railroad routes across New Mexico and Colorado never approached
the Chaco area.[12] Captain L. Sitgreaves, in 1851, followed the old
Laguna-Zuñi road to attain the headwaters of the Little Colorado.
Lieutenant Whipple's party, of 1853-1854, that explored a route near
the thirty-fifth parallel, got no closer than Campbell's Pass and Fort
Defiance. Captain J. N. Macomb and naturalist Newberry, in 1859,
followed the Old Spanish Trail northwestward from Abiquiu across the
Navajo and Blanco tributaries of the San Juan, and returned by Canyon
Largo and Jemez. Apparently, however, in 1858, several members
of Company E, RMR, left their record on the walls of Chaco Canyon.[13]
This was Company E of the Mounted Riflemen which campaigned
against the Navajos in October and November of 1858 (under Captain

Thomas Duncan), and later became Company F of the 3rd. United
States Cavalry.

At some time between 1850 and 1857 the Abbé Em. Domenech
traversed northwestern New Mexico. Since Domenech gives an account
of the Chaco ruins, Bloom believes that the Abbé probably traversed the
Chaco Canyon; however, as Bancroft points out, the Domenech account
is merely a badly garbled version of Simpson. Furthermore, no one
who had actually been in the Chaco would have made the geographic
blunders committed by the good Abbé.[14]

In the following decade the military energies of the United States
were directed mainly toward waging the Civil War. However, Colonel
Kit Carson (later brevet brigadier general) was commissioned to round
up the Navajos and transfer them to Bosque Redondo—which he did in
1863-64. There is no record of any operations in the Chaco Canyon
during this campaign.[15]

Period of Geologic and Geographic Surveys

During the 1870's several government parties were making geologic
and geographic surveys in New Mexican territory. These were
the United States Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth
Meridian, under Captain George M. Wheeler—especially expeditions
1873 to 1877;[16] the United States Geological and Geographical Survey
of the Territories Embracing Colorado and Parts of Adjacent Territories,
under Dr. F. V. Hayden;[17] and the United States Geological and
Geographical Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, under Major
J. W. Powell.[18]

Parties from the Wheeler survey entered the Chaco area only in
1874 and 1875. Lieutenant R. Birnie and party, in September 1874,
went from the Tuni-Cha villages (on eastern border of Chuska mountains)
across to the middle Chaco and up the arroyo for some distance,
but they headed north-northeastward for the upper Nacimiento (Puerco,
near Cuba) before reaching the main Chaco Canyon ruin area.[19]

Dr. Oscar Loew, also in September of 1874, entered the upper drainage
of the Chaco from the east, but he saw only Pueblo Pintado (which he
called Pueblo Bonito).[20] In 1874, Lieutenant Ruffner, of the United
States Engineers, led a reconnaissance party from Ft. Garland in
southern Colorado, across the Continental Divide to Ft. Wingate, but
his route barely touched (if at all) the upper waters of the Chaco.[21]
Lieutenant C. C. Morrison, in the summer of 1875, visited the Chaco
ruins in connection with the survey of Topographic Sheet 69C.[22]

The Hayden survey, which concentrated on Colorado, sent parties
into northwestern New Mexico in 1875 and 1877. Only the field party
of May, 1877, led by photographer W. H. Jackson, entered the Chaco
Canyon. Jackson devoted a number of days to exploring, mapping,
sketching, photographing, and taking notes, the results of which are
incorporated in his report of 1878.[23] This report (opp. p. 451) contains
a detailed map of the Chaco Canyon ruin area, in which is included
the Pueblo Alto ruin which was discovered and named by Jackson. Since
the initial visit of 1877, Mr. Jackson has revisited the canyon in 1925
and again in 1936. Studies, made by the Hayden parties, of prehistoric
ceramics in the Southwest were incorporated in a monograph by geological
artist W. H. Holmes.[24] .

The investigations of Major J. W. Powell (first head of the Bureau
of American Ethnology) and his parties were confined mainly to Arizona,
Utah, and Colorado. However, as one of the papers authorized
by the Rocky Mountain Survey there appeared, in 1881, Morgan's monograph
on American Indian house types, which contained a section on
the Chaco ruins. This section was a compilation from the reports of
Simpson and Jackson.[25]

Beginnings of Modern Research 1888-1920[26]

By the close of the 1880's, not only the Smithsonian Institution and
various other research and educational institutions in the United States
had begun to take an active interest in the Chaco ruins, but also the

general public—represented by casual travelers and newspaper men—
had begun to visit and publicize the ruins. Among the first of the latter
group were Charles Lummis, who visited Pueblo Bonito in 1888, and
F. T. Bickford, who spent some eight days exploring the Chaco Canyon
ruins in 1890.[27] Victor Mindeleff, in connection with his comparative
study of Pueblo architecture, had visited the Chaco briefly in 1888.[28]

The first excavation, other than the ignoble and unrecorded diggings
of pot-hunters, in the main Chaco ruin area was that by the Hyde
Expedition for Explorations in the Southwest. Mr. Richard Wetherill,
who homesteaded and built in the canyon near Pueblo Bonito in 1896,
brought an excavation project for Pueblo Bonito to the notice of
Messrs. B. Talbot B. Hyde and Frederick E. Hyde, Jr. These gentlemen
financed the project, which was placed under the direction of
Professor F. W. Putnam, who was at that time Curator of Anthropology
for the American Museum of Natural History. Professor Putnam
had previously been an archaeologist for the Wheeler Surveys, and had
written the volume on archaeology in the report series. As Professor
Putnam was able to be in the Chaco only a small portion of the time
contemplated for excavation, Mr. George H. Pepper was appointed
field director. Actual excavation was commenced in the spring of
1896 and was continued in the summer field seasons of 1897, 1898, and
1899. A road was improved to Pueblo Bonito from a siding on the
Santa Fe railroad (more than sixty miles distant) which became named
Thoreau. At Pueblo Bonito was established a great trading center for
the Navajos, and a post office named Putnam. Between Putnam and
Thoreau wended long wagon trains, taking out Navajo blankets and
wool, and artifacts from the excavations, and bringing in excavation
equipment, supplies, and trade goods.

A large crew of Navajo and Zuñi workmen, supervised by a few
white men, were able to accomplish the excavation of somewhat less
than half the pueblo rooms (198 rooms were excavated, mainly in the
northern central section). About a score of burials, more than fifty
thousand pieces of turquoise, and thousands of artifacts of clay, wood,
stone, bone, shell, and metal were uncovered. Most of this material now
reposes in the American Museum of Natural History. Besides excavation
in Pueblo Bonito, test trenches and pits, and exploratory excavations
were made in other portions of the canyon. Also, geologic, geographic,
somatologic, and ethnologic studies were carried on in the

canyon area. In addition to Director Putnam, and Field Director
Pepper, assisted by the five Wetherill brothers, such men as A. V.
Hrdlicka, W. K. Moorehead, and R. E. Dodge carried on studies at
Pueblo Bonito and throughout the Chaco Canyon during the period
1896 to 1900. Although a few articles by Pepper appeared in 1899,
1905, 1906, and 1909, no comprehensive report on the excavations was
published until Pepper's field notes appeared in 1920.[29]

With the turn of the century, came T. Mitchell Prudden, who for
several summers carried out a general reconnaissance of the upper San
Juan drainage basin, with special attention to small house ruins.[30] In
1902, Dr. E. L. Hewett visited and mapped the ruins of the Chaco
Canyon.[31] During the following eighteen years numerous visits were
made by private individuals and government officials, but no formal
excavations or other detailed studies were carried out.[32] In 1907, the
Chaco Canyon National Monument was organized, but no resident
custodian was employed for some twenty years. Dr. J. Walter Fewkes,
in 1916, explored a number of ruins on the southern periphery of the
Chaco basin in connection with a search for archaeologic mile posts of
a legendary migration of a Hopi clan from Jemez to the eastern Hopi
area.[33] In 1915, N. C. Nelson took rough notes on ruins in the Chaco
area, and in 1916, he, assisted by Earl Morris, excavated refuse mounds
at Pueblo Bonito, collected shards from various ruins, and studied the
Threatening Rock behind Pueblo Bonito.[34] Also, in 1916, Dr. E. L.
Hewett, of the School of American Research, conducted a reconnaissance
of the main Chaco ruin area with a view toward initiating excavation
in the following year. The entrance of the United States into
the World War delayed this project until 1920.

Modern Period 1920—

The School of American Research inaugurated what might be
called the Modern Period (with a lesser stress on the acquisition of
museum specimens, and a greater attention to architectural features
and excavation methods) in the Chaco Canyon, with its excavation at
Chetro Ketl, May to October of 1920. This excavation was continued

in the summer of 1921, but further work was discontinued (at the
recommendation of Wesley Bradfield) during the activity of the National
Geographic Society at Pueblo Bonito.[35]

In 1920, Neil M. Judd (now Curator of Anthropology, National
Museum) visited the Chaco Canyon for the Smithsonian Institution and
the National Geographic Society, and a burial mound one hundred
yards east of Casa Rinconada was trenched. In the following year the
First National Geographic Society Expedition to Pueblo Bonito commenced
excavation at Pueblo Bonito. These excavations were carried
on for seven years, 1921 to 1927, under the direction of Neil M. Judd.
Most of the pueblo was excavated, including the cleaning out of the
rooms which had been filled in after excavation by the Hyde Expedition.
A number of small sites near Pueblo Bonito were excavated also; several
test pits were sunk in the vicinity; a topographic survey of the
main ruin area was completed in 1922; a pit house one mile east of
Pueblo Bonito, on the north bank of the arroyo, was excavated in
1922; Pueblo del Arroyo was excavated under the direction of Karl
Ruppert, beginning in 1923; and trenches were run through dump
heaps at Pueblo Alto and Peñasco Blanco in 1926 by Frank H. H.
Roberts, Jr. During much of this time, Roberts had served as "potsherd
expert" for the expedition, and upon this work was based his
doctoral dissertation at Harvard University. Beginning in 1922, Dr.
A. E. Douglass visited the Chaco Canyon from time to time, in connection
with dendrochronologic studies, which culminated in dating and
correlating chronologically Pueblo Bonito, Aztec, and numerous other
ruins of the Pueblo area. For this chronologic work, Jeançon and
Ricketson visited the Chaco in 1923 (on the First Beam Expedition)
and obtained numerous wood specimens. Various brief progress reports,
and short papers on various phases of investigation in the Chaco
Canyon during the activity of the National Geographic Society expeditions
have appeared, but no summary or final report has been published
as yet.[36]

Growing out of his work in some pit houses and small house structures
for the National Geographic Society in 1926, Roberts excavated
a Basket Maker III site on the Chacra mesa in 1927 for the Smithsonian
Institution. The report on this excavation constitutes the only complete
report on a major excavation in the Chaco area to date.[37]

In the summer of 1929, the School of American Research (in cooperation
with the University of New Mexico) renewed excavations in
the Chaco Canyon under the general direction of Dr. E. L. Hewett. The

season of 1929 saw work resumed in the eastern sector of Chetro Ketl,
with a concentration on the East Tower, the Great Sanctuary, and the
eastern refuse mound. The Great Sanctuary was cleaned out 1929 to
1931. Stratigraphic work on the large dump progressed for several
years under Miss Anna Shepard (San Diego Museum; now at the
Laboratory of Anthropology) and Miss Florence Hawley (from the
University of Arizona; now on the University of New Mexico staff),
and provided material (in conjunction with tree-ring and masonry
studies) for Hawley's doctoral dissertation at the University of
Chicago. Aerial views of the Chaco Canyon were taken in 1929 by
Carlos Vierra, of Santa Fe. Also in 1929, Dr. John P. Harrington (of
the Smithsonian Institution) carried out linguistic studies in the area.
Working with Dr. Harrington was Miss Sara Goddard, whose studies
in the Zuñi language are represented in a master's dissertation of
1930 at the University of New Mexico. In 1930, a test trench was run
at Casa Rinconada, preparatory to excavation and restoration which
have continued from 1931 to the present time under the supervision of
Gordon Vivian. Also, in 1930, Richard Vann made paleontologic
studies in the canyon for his master's dissertation in geology at the
University of New Mexico.

During 1933, 1934, and 1935, one of the Talus units back of Chetro
Ketl was excavated by Paul Walter, Jr., and Margaret Woods (of
Bryn Mawr and Radcliffe colleges). In 1933, Hurst Julian (one time
custodian of the monument) and Mrs. Dorothy Keur (of Hunter College)
cleaned out a number of cliff cavities and cists in the north wall
of the canyon, between Yellow House and Casa Chiquita. Also, in 1933,
Dr. J. Keur (Long Island University) commenced a study of the
Threatening Rock back of Pueblo Bonito in order to determine the
amount of annual shift. Paul Reiter (now Curator of Archaeology of
the Museum of New Mexico) assisted with much of the Chetro Ketl
excavation from 1929 to 1933. In 1933, he presented a master's dissertation
to the University of New Mexico, which stressed architectural
elements in Chetro Ketl. In the same year, Mrs. Winifred
Reiter submitted a master's dissertation concerning personal adornment
of the ancient Pueblo Indians, which was based on a study of
material from Cheto Ketl and the general San Juan area.

Besides the usual work on Chetro Ketl (under Dr. E. L. Hewett,
Mr. William Postlethwaite, of Colorado College, Dr. Reginald Fisher,
J. M. Miller, and Miss Janet Woods, of Bryn Mawr College), in 1934,
work on Yellow House was commenced by Edwin Ferdon, small house
sites No. 8, No. 21, and No. 26 were partially excavated by Charles
Hutchinson, Marion Hollenbach, and Bertha Dutton, and an archaeologic
survey of the Chaco Canyon area was completed by Dr. Reginald
Fisher. This archaeologic survey, the maps of which will be published

in the near future, will constitute the Upper San Juan Sub-Quadrangle
A: Ancient Chaco Province, Vol. 1, No. 2, in the University of New
Mexico Survey Series. Excavation at Site No. 26 (a small house on
the south side of the arroyo, upstream from Casa Rinconada) was continued
into November of 1936 by Miss Bertha Dutton; and the preliminary
report on this site (termed Łeyit Kin) constituted her master's
dissertation submitted in 1937 to the University of New Mexico. In
1934, Miss Alice Leinau presented a master's dissertation to the University
upon the sanctuaries of Chetro Ketl. Based upon erosion control
experiments made to safeguard Yellow House in 1934, William Chauvenet
submitted a master's dissertation to the University of New Mexico
in 1935.

The field session of 1935, under the direction of Fisher and Brand,
did not excavate in Chetro Ketl, but work on the talus unit was continued
by Margaret Woods; a large isolated kiva (Kin Nasbas) near
Una Vida was excavated by Dorothy Luhrs; a survey of possible prehistoric
irrigation ditches was made by John Corbett (Princeton University);
a comparative study of Chaco Canyon kivas was carried out
by Stanley Milford; and a study of Navajo ethnobotany, based on Chaco
Canyon plants, was made by Francis Elmore, which served as a master's
dissertation in botany at the University of Southern California.
In June and July of 1936, various research projects were carried out in
the Chaco area under the direction of Fisher. These included the excavation
of several pit houses near Rinconada by J. Maloney (Stanford
University).

During the period of University of New Mexico co-operation with
the School of American Research (1929-1936) in the Chaco Canyon
Advanced Field Session, University credit was given to advanced and
graduate students from New Mexico and other institutions of higher
learning. To date, no complete report has been published on any School
of American Research excavation in the Chaco Canyon, although various
phases of excavation and research have been reported upon in a
number of dissertations, School of American Research Annual Reports,
articles in El Palacio, and Southwestern Monuments, and in two books
by Dr. Hewett.[38] Many students not mentioned above also turned in
term and report papers which are filed at Santa Fe along with the
bulk of recovered artifacts.

Chronologic Outline

                                                                             

1540-1542	Coronado's party passed well to the south of the Chaco, along the old Zuñi-Acoma trail.
(1735)	Pedro de Ainza possibly explored Chaco ruins.
1776	Miera y Pacheco, with Dominguez and Escalante party, passed from Abiquiu into Utah to the north of the Chaco.
1777-1779	Miera y Pacheco maps having names "Chaca" and "Chacat."
(1831-1840)	Bare possibility of visit by Gregg to the Chaco.
1844	Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies published, with mention of a Pueblo Bonito.
1846	Captain Reid, from the Rio San Jose, and Major Gilpin, from the Rio San Juan, across to the eastern base of the Tunicha (Chuska) mountains.
1849	Simpson and Kern explored ruins of the Chaco Canyon.
(1850-1857)	Unlikely possibility that Domenech visited the Chaco.
1851	Sitgreaves passed, to the south.
1852	Simpson's Journal published, with first mention of "Chaco" and detailed description of various ruins from Pueblo Pintado to Peñasco Blanco.
1853	Whipple's party outlined the present Santa Fe railroad route, to the south.
1858	Members of Company E, R.M.R., in the Chaco Canyon.
1859	Captain Macomb and party followed Old Spanish Trail, to the north.
1860	Domenech's garbled account of the Chaco published.
1863-1864	Kit Carson rounded up Navajos, but seemingly did not enter Chaco Canyon.
1874	Lieut. R. Birnie on the middle Chaco.
1874	Dr. Oscar Loew at Pueblo Pintado.
1874	Lieut. Ruffner along the Continental Divide, to the east of Chaco.
1875	Lieut. C. C. Morrison visited Chaco ruins.
1875	Publication of Report of Chief of Engineers with appendices by Wheeler, Loew, Cope, Birnie, et al.
1877	Jackson explored the Chaco ruins.
1888	V. Mindeleff examined Chaco architecture. Charles Lummis visited the Chaco for the first time.
1890	Bickford spent eight days in the Chaco.
1893	Scott N. Morris (father of Earl Morris) trenched refuse mounds at Pueblo Bonito.
1896	R. Wetherill homesteaded at Pueblo Bonito.
1896-1899	Hyde Expedition excavations at Pueblo Bonito under Putnam and Pepper. Moorehead, Hrdlicka, Dodge, et al., worked sporadically with the expedition.
1900-1903	Prudden's small house explorations in the upper San Juan basin. Visited the Chaco several times.
1901	W. C. Farabee examined ruins in the Chaco area for Peabody Museum.
1902	E. L. Hewett visited the Chaco Canyon for the New Mexico Normal University. Mapped ruins.
1907	Chaco Canyon National Monument organized.
1915-1916	N. C. Nelson investigated refuse mounds and collected shards for the American Museum of Natural History.
1916	Fewkes explored the Crownpoint area.
1916	Reconnaissance by Hewett and Bradfield.
1920-1921	School of American Research excavation at Chetro Ketl.
1920	Judd visited Chaco Canyon.
1921-1927	National Geographic Society excavated Pueblo Bonito, under Judd. Bryan, Morris, Roberts, Ruppert, et al., were associated with this work.
1926-1927	Robert excavated Shabik'eshchee and other nearby sites.
1929-1937	School of American Research and University of New Mexico excavated sites and carried out various studies in the Chaco Canyon.

Studies in Geology, Geography, and Biology

Mention has been made already of the various military and scientific
reconnaissances into the Chaco area up to 1902. Along non-archaeologic
lines the scientific studies were chiefly for details of terrain
and structural geology. No collections of botanical, zoologic, or
paleontologic materials were made in the Chaco Canyon area until
1902.[39] Professor R. E. Dodge, at the turn of the century, carried on
geologic and geographic investigations around Pueblo Bonito for the
Hyde Expedition during three field sessions. In 1902, George Pepper
sent to the American Museum some dinosaur bones from the vicinity
of Ojo Alamo, to the northwest of Pueblo Bonito. In 1904, Barnum
Brown, of the American Museum of Natural History, made the first
extensive paleontologic collections in the Ojo Alamo area and formation.
By 1907, F. C. Schrader, James H. Gardner, and M. K. Shaler
had made several paleontologic and economic reconnaissances of the
western Chaco drainage basin. A search for commercial deposits of
coal has been the mainspring of geologic investigations in this area ever
since the presence of coal was verified by the Wheeler, Hayden, and
other government expeditions of the nineteenth century. Some prospecting
has been carried out also for petroleum, which occurs in various
portions of the San Juan basin near Farmington, Shiprock, and
Seven Lakes (on the Chaco Plateau). Noteworthy among the later
paleontologic and geologic collecting and mapping parties were those
of: Gardner and Gidley, in 1908 and 1909; H. E. Gregory and J. E.

Pogue, in 1911; W. J. Sinclair and W. Granger, in 1912 and 1913; C.
M. Bauer, J. B. Reeside, Jr., and H. R. Bennett, in 1915; Reeside and
F. R. Clark, in 1916; Reeside and H. Bassler, in 1917; Reeside and C.
E. Dobbin, in 1920; C. H. Sternberg, in 1921; Reeside, in 1923; C. H.
Dane, J. D. Sears, and C. B. Hunt, 1928-1931; and C. W. Gilmore, in
1929.[40]

Physiographic and hydrographic studies in the Chaco Canyon area
began with Professor Dodge (associated with the Hyde Expedition)
who noted evidence of changes in erosion and sedimentation near Pueblo
del Arroyo and elsewhere in the canyon area.[41] James Gardner, in 1906
and 1907, observed the formation of mud and sand concretions in the
Chaco arroyo. Herbert Gregory studied the water supply of the southwestern
Chaco area in 1911. During the National Geographic Society
excavations in the canyon, 1921-1927, trenches were dug which revealed
former channels and denudational surfaces. At this same period, Dr.
Kirk Bryan, of Harvard University, studied the history of denudation,
sedimentation, and erosion in the canyon. In 1927, New Mexico State
Engineer Herbert W. Yeo commenced investigations in the San Juan
Basin, including the Chaco drainage. Beginning in 1928, Dr. Reginald
Fisher has devoted much time to meteorologic and hydrologic studies in
the Chaco area. In 1934, William Chauvenet experimented in erosion
control for the protection of several archaeologic sites.[42] Dr. Ernst Antevs,
Dr. Malcolm Bissell, and Dr. Donald Brand studied recent sedimentation
and erosion in the canyon in connection with the University of
New Mexico Field Sessions of 1936. Possible movement of the Threatening
Rock, back of Pueblo Bonito, is being observed (since 1933) by Dr.
J. Keur, of Long Island University.[43]

Practically no investigations have been made of the weather and
climate, soils, vegetation, and fauna of the Chaco Canyon area. Only
broken meteorologic records are available up to June of 1932. Since
then, reports on maxima and minima temperatures, precipitation and
wind direction, have been sent in monthly to the Weather Bureau Office
at Albuquerque by the Monument custodian. Flow in the Chaco arroyo
has been gaged at the Pueblo Bonito bridge for the last few years also.

No soil study has ever been made by a trained pedologist. Botanists,
in general, have eschewed the area, although Newberry collected along
Cañon Largo in 1857; Matthews around Ft. Definance in 1882; and collections
were made on the margins of the Chaco area by the botanists
of the Wheeler and Hayden surveys. Miss Sara Goddard, in 1929, obtained
a short list of Zuñi names of plants in the Chaco Canyon; and,
in 1935 and 1936, Francis Elmore compiled a Najavo ethnobotanical
check list for the area. The only zoologist known to have been in the
Chaco Canyon is Vernon Bailey, who visited Pueblo Bonito in October
of 1908; although J. S. Ligon followed along the Continental Divide to
the east in 1913. During the last two years some attempt has been
made at bird banding in the Chaco Canyon by the Monument Custodians.
In 1936, a National Park Service specialist in rodent control,
Mr. A E. Borell, worked in the canyon for a brief period. No studies of
any description have been made of reptilian, arthropod, and lower
forms of life in the canyon. [A certain amount of biological study has
been carried on during the last two years in the western Chaco area by
the Navajo Biological Survey, of the Department of Agriculture's Soil
Conservation Service.]

Surveys, Maps, and Place Names

The earliest known map of the area is that by Miera y Pacheco of
1777, mentioned previously. The first map authentically made from
first hand knowledge was that by Simpson in 1849.[44] This was also the
first map to show the archaeologic sites. Guillemin Tarayre, in 1867,
compiled a geologic map of the former northern Mexican possessions
which indicates ruins (not named) in the proper location for the
Chaco group.[45] In 1876, Oscar Loew published a map of the prehistoric
sites in New Mexico which placed all of the Chaco sites in [the Province
of] Aztlan.[46] Two maps were issued by W. H. Jackson in 1878, on
the basis of his reconnaissance of 1877.[47] One map is an archaeologic
detail of the Chaco Canyon, which shows Pueblo Alto for the first time.
The second map covers the prehistoric sites of the Southwest, and uses
the term Mesa de los Lobos for what are now called the Dutton and
Chaco plateaus.

The various surveys made by the members of the Wheeler and Hayden
parties, supplemented by topographic surveys, 1882-1887, by A. P.
Davis, Wilson, and W. W. Davis, of the United States Geologic Survey,
provided the material for the U. S. G. S. topographic reconnaissance
maps issued 1892-1897 to cover the Chaco area.[48] The Kirtland

Map II—Section of Miera y Pacheco Map

quadrangle, surveyed in 1927-1928, was issued in 1932. This map shows
a sector within the old Chaco sheet on a scale 1:125,000, contour interval
of fifty feet.

Surveyors, working for individuals, the old Atlantic and Pacific
Railroad (now a part of the Santa Fe system), petroleum and coal
companies, the Bureau of Mines, the General Land Office, the United
States Geological Survey, the Indian Office, the American Museum of
Natural History, and the School of American Research, have run numerous
lines and set up a few corner posts and bench marks during the
last fifty years. However, little of their work has been incorporated in
usable maps of the Chaco area. This is especially true for a four
hundred square mile area centering at Pueblo Bonito. Despite the
archaeologic-topographic surveys made by the Hyde Expedition in the
1890's, Dr. E. L. Hewett in 1902, the National Geographic Society in
1922, and Dr. R. G. Fisher during the last few years, no decent archaeologic
or topographic map has yet been published for the ruin area.

The archaeologist, wishing a field map, is confronted by the following:

• General topography: N. H. Darton's Topographic Map of New Mexico
  (1:500,000; 100-meter contour) published in 1925; supplemented
  by the very poor Chaco, Largo, Ft. Wingate, and Mount
  Taylor sheets, and the fairly accurate Kirtland quadrangle. The
  Kroeger and Ritter (Durango, Colo.) Map of San Juan County,
  New Mexico, 1923, might be used also.

• Geology: N. H. Darton's Geologic Map of New Mexico (1:500,000; 100-meter
  contour) published in 1928; with Reeside's map for the
  Western Part of the San Juan Basin (U. S. G. S. Prof. Paper 134)
  east to Pueblo Bonito and Alamo Arroyo, and Dane's Geologic Map
  of the La Ventana-Chacra Mesa Coal Field (U. S. G. S. Bulletin
  860-C) west to Gallo Arroyo and Alamo Arroyo.

• Archaeology: Jackson's map mentioned above, or Hewett's map in the
  Chaco Canyon and its Monuments. Better maps have been compiled
  but they are in manuscript form.

• Various: The Indian Office, National Park Service, and Soil Conservation
  Service have an aerial photograph mosaic map of the Navajo
  Indian Reservation which is quite valuable to anyone who is familiar
  with aerial photographic maps. The Chaco Canyon National
  Monument is outside of any national forest. The Navajo Indian
  Reservation takes in only the western portion of the Chaco drainage
  basin.

Many changes have occurred in the place names of the Chaco area,
even during just the last sixty years. In order to aid in the understanding
of various earlier reports and maps, the following list has been

compiled. It is merely a check list of the more important localities in
and near the Chaco, or those that have changed most in name, and does
not pretend to any degree of completeness.

Alamo Arroyo (Choukai Wash), enters Escavada Wash from the
southeast.

Bennett Peak (Peaks of the Ojos Calientes), igneous plug south of the
Shiprock.

Bisti Trading Company (Hunter's Store), on Bisti Wash (Hunter's
Wash) just east of Navajo Indian Reservation east line.

Bluewater (Ojo Agua Azul), station on Santa Fe northwest of Grants.

Campbell's Pass (Navajo Pass), across Continental Divide west
of Thoreau.

Casa Chiquita (Ruin No. 9 of Simpson).

Casa Morena, east of Crown Point and Heart Butte.

Casa Rinconada, large kiva south of Chaco River nearly opposite Pueblo
Bonito.

Chaco Canyon (Cañon de Chaco, Cañon de Chusca).

Chaco River (Chaco Arroyo, Chaco Wash, Tsegilini).

Chacra Mesa (Mesa de Chaca as late as 1899, Chaco Mesa), mesa south
and east of upper Chaco river.

Chetro Ketl (Rain Pueblo, Chettro Kettle, Chetho Kette, Ketro Kete,
Shining Pueblo), just east of Pueblo Bonito.

Chuska Mountains (Sierra de Chusca or Choiskai, plus Sierra de
Tunicha or Tunitcha or Tumecha, plus Lukachukai mountains),
main mountain chain along Arizona-New Mexico border west of
the Chaco.

Chuska Valley, along eastern foot of the Chuska Mountains.

Coal Creek, about 15 miles below Meyers Creek, tributary of the Chaco.

Continental Divide (Cordilleras, Sierra de los Mimbres, Sierra Madre,
Cejita Blanca), runs through Thoreau northeastward past Star
Lake.

Cottonwood Arroyo (not to be confused with arroyo of same name
entering lower Chaco), enters Chaco River from the north about
two miles below Pueblo Pintado.

Crownpoint (formerly location of Pueblo Bonito Indian School, and
headquarters for Pueblo Bonito Reservation.) Navajo agency, hospital,
and school.

Delnazini (Tiznatzin), spring and ruins on Coal Creek about four
miles above its mouth.

Escavada Wash, first main wash entering the Chaco from the north
below Pueblo Bonito.

(New) Fort Wingate (old Fort Fauntleroy, Ft. Lyon, Ojo Hasso, Ojo
del Oso, Bear Springs, Tshushbitgo).

Gallo Arroyo, north side of the Chaco, between Wijiji and Una Vida.
This name is also applied to the arroyo coming in from the north
about two miles above Shabik'eshchee.

Hosta Butte, south of Crown Point—a landmark for miles.

Hungo Pavi (Hungopavie, Crooked Nose), ruin east of Chetro Ketl.

Kimbetoh (Kinnebeto, Kinnebito), on Kimbetoh Arroyo, which enters
Escavada Wash from the north.

Kin Biniola (Kin Binioli, Kin Bineola, Kinbiniyol, Kimenola, House of
the Winds), large ruin some sixteen miles by road southwest of
Pueblo Bonito.

Kin Kletso (Yellow House, Kinkletsoi, Kinklitso, Site No. 8 of Simpson),
small ruin about one-half mile west of Pueblo Bonito.

Kin Klizhin (Black Wood, or Charcoal Place, Kinklizin), ruin southwest
of Pueblo Bonito on road to Kin Biniola.

Kin Nasbas (Kin Nahasbaz, Kin Nahasbas), large isolated kiva northwest
from Una Vida.

Kintyel (Kintail of Bickford, Broad Ruin), identified as Chetro Ketl by
W. Matthews. More probably Pueblo Bonito.

Kin Ya-ah (Kin ya-a, Kinya-a, Kin Yai, High Pueblo House, probably
Lummis' Pueblo Alto), ruin east of Crownpoint.

Mesa de los Lobos (Dutton and Chaco plateaus have replaced this term,
excepting on a 1933 map of the Navajo country which places it
north of the Navajo Church).

Mesa Fajada (Mesa Fachada, Mesa Fahada, Saydegil), landmark mesa
near western point of the Chacra Mesa.

Meyers Creek, about eight miles below Pueblo Bonito.

Mockingbird Gap (Hungo Pavi Canyon), north side of the Chaco just
east of Hungo Pavi. This name is also applied to the Gallo Arroyo.

Mockingbird Pass, from south toward Pueblo Pintado.

Mount Taylor (San Mateo, Tsadil, Dzotzil, Yodotlizhitzil), volcanic
massif and landmark north of Acomita. Named Taylor by Simpson
in 1849.

Ojo Alamo, near head of Ojo Alamo Arroyo which enters Coal Creek
from the north.

Old Fort Wingate (Ojo del Gallo), near San Rafael south of Grants.

Otis Trading Post, where road to Pueblo Bonito leaves FarmingtonCuba
highway.

Peñasco Blanco, large ruin south of Chaco River about three miles
below Pueblo Bonito.

Pueblo Alto, ruin on mesa north of Pueblo Bonito. Not to be confused
with Pueblo Alto (Trading Company) northeast of Pueblo Pintado.

Pueblo Bonito (abandoned postoffice of Putnam), main ruin in the
Chaco Canyon. Location of monument headquarters. Perhaps
Pueblo Grande of Loew's map. In Navajo, Sabaohnnai (place
where rock is braced up).

Pueblo del Arroyo (Taba Kin), about one-fourth mile west of Pueblo
Bonito. Location of Chaco Canyon Trading Post.

Pueblo Pintado (Pueblo Bonito of Gregg and Loew, Pueblo Colorado,
Pueblo de Montezuma, Pueblo de Ratones, Pueblo Grande), most
eastern Chaco River ruin. About 22 miles by road from Pueblo
Bonito.

Raton Spring, nine miles east of Pueblo Pintado.

Rio Puerco—Rio Puerco of the East flows into the Rio Grande; Rio
Puerco of the West flows into the Little Colorado.

San Jose River (Rio de la Laguna, Rio Gallo), main tributary of the
Rio Puerco of the East.

Satan Pass (Devil's Pass, Cañon Infierno), from Dutton Plateau down
into Chaco drainage.

Saydatoh (Pueblo Alto, Socorro, Ojo del Alto), four miles northeast of
Pueblo Pintado.

Seven Lakes (Siete Lagunas, Faris Ranch), ephemeral lakes where
Star Lake and Pueblo Bonito roads diverge.

Shabik'eshchee, Basket Maker site on Chacra mesa about two miles
above Wijiji.

Shiprock (Winson Peak, the Needles, Tsebidai), igneous plug and
landmark southwest of Chaco-San Juan juncture.

South Gap, entrance to the Chaco Canyon, from the south, opposite
Pueblo del Arroyo.

Star Lake, just east of Continental Divide, and five miles east of Raton
Spring.

Stinking Spring, two miles east of Chavez near Santa Fe Railroad.

Stony Butte, south of Chaco River about 16 miles west of Pueblo Bonito.
White Rock Store is nearby.

Torreones Arroyo (Torrejon), east of Continental Divide from the
Chaco River. Flows into Chico Arroyo which flows into the Rio
Puerco of the East.

Tzin Kletzin (Tsin Kletsin, Tsinklitsin), ruin on mesa south of Casa
Rinconada.

Tsaya, formerly post office; now a Navajo community north of the
Chaco River some six miles northeast of Stony Butte.

Una Vida, ruin north of the Chaco River, nearly opposite Mesa Fajada.

Vicente Wash (Vacinte Wash, Fachada Chaco, Fahada Arroyo, Chacra
Wash), south fork of the Chaco River which joins the main river
just west of the Mesa Fajada. Not to be confused with two other
washes or arroyos by this name in the same general area.

White Horse Trading Post (Buck's Store), on upper waters of south
fork of the Chaco.

Wijiji (Turquoise House, Blue House, Kin Dotliz, Greasewood House,
Wejegi, Weje-gi, Vetche-Tchi), ruin east of Una Vida.

The Chaco Canyon is within the San Juan Basin (a structural
basin in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado, enclosed
by outcrops of Cretaceous coal bearing formations, and with strata
dipping toward a common center), and also extends into a portion of
the Durango-Gallup Coal Field. The Chaco Plateau, together with
the northern part of the Dutton Plateau, the Chuska Valley, and the
eastern slope of the Chuska Mountains, comprise the Chaco drainage
basin. These physiographic divisions constitute the eastern part of
the Navajo section of the Colorado Plateaus province. Much of this
area was once referred to as the Cretaceous Plateau.

Upper Cretaceous and lower Tertiary sedimentaries dominate the
Chaco area. Terms in vogue are (from oldest to youngest):

Within the Mesaverde group (named by Holmes in 1877 from the Mesa
Verde in Colorado):

Hosta sandstone (Sears 1934, from Hosta Butte), replaces Point
Lookout sandstone (Collier 1919, in Mesa Verde area). It is
not revealed in the Chaco area proper.

Allison member (Sears 1925, near Gallup), replaces Menafee formation
(Collier 1919, in Mesa Verde area).

Chacra sandstone member (Dane 1936; earlier by Keyes; from
Chacra Mesa), replaces Cliff House sandstone (Collier 1919,
in the Mesa Verde).

Lewis shale (Cross 1899, near Ft. Lewis, Colorado).

Pictured Cliffs sandstone (Holmes 1877, one mile west of Fruitland).

Equivalent to the Laramie of Holmes:

Fruitland formation (Bauer 1916, Fruitland, N. M.).

Kirtland shale (Bauer 1916, Kirtland, N. M.)

Ojo Alamo sandstone (Brown 1910, Ojo Alamo Arroyo).

The Ojo Alamo sandstone may be Paleocene, along with the following
Nacimiento group:

Puerco formation (Cope 1875, Rio Puerco of the East).

Torrejon formation (Wortman 1897, Torrejon [Torreones]
Arroyo).

The Chaco drainage area is within the New Mexican counties of
San Juan (formerly part of Rio Arriba), McKinley (formerly part of
Valencia), Rio Arriba, and Sandoval (once part of Bernalillo). This
area was, in Spanish times, termed the Provincia de Nabajoó. The
Pueblo Bonito, Pueblo Alto (Pueblo Pintado), Kinnebeto, Lake Valley,
and Stony Butte Navajo Chapters operate within the Chaco Canyon
portion of the Eastern Navajo Jurisdiction.[49]