Photograph courtesy of SacredSites.com

Construction of Pueblo Bonito (Pretty Village or Beautiful Town) occurred in stages between 850 and 1130 A.D.  Pueblo Bonito is a Great House, and the largest structure in Chaco Canyon.  There are approximately 3 great kivas, 30 smaller kivas, and almost 700 rooms.  The pueblo is massive, once rising to 4 stories and with a perimeter of 1300 feet, approximately the size of the Roman Coliseum.  The walls are 2.75 feet thick at the base, tapering as they rise to reduce the load on the foundation.  The pueblo is in a “D” shape and situated so that the straight outer wall acts as a solar marker.

Pueblo Bonito may have been used primarily for special occasions such as religious and spiritual ceremonies, or during times of trade when a large influx of people might have visited Chaco Canyon.  Judging by the number of fire pits and the size of the trash midden nearby, the permanent population of Pueblo Bonito may have been as few as 50 people.

One outer room in Pueblo Bonito has an unusual east-facing opening in the corner.  This appears to be a solar marker.  There are many different man-made construction projects that appear to function as solar or lunar markers.  Although absolute proof is unobtainable, the number of structures and architectural features that serve as astronomical markers in Chaco Canyon strongly suggest that the people who lived here developed an impressive understanding of astronomy.

From Shadows of Chaco Canyon Chapter Ten:

     “When the stars were no longer visible, the senior astronomer greeted the coming sun with a prayer of welcome. He watched the first ray of sunshine pierce an opening on the east-facing wall as the beam of light was channeled directly onto the stone column on the opposite side. Tentatively at first, then with a sacred luminosity, the sun’s rays proceeded directly up the column while remaining perfectly centered. Only on the winter solstice would there be no light spilling over the edges of the column.”

There are two unique corner windows facing southeast in Pueblo Bonito.  On the winter solstice, light streaming in through one of these openings begins to appear as a thin beam seven weeks before the solstice.  The beam gradually widens as the solstice approaches, increasing in width of about an inch a day.  On the morning of the solstice, the beam forms a rectangle on the opposite corner, staying perfectly centered.  At no other time is this phenomenon visible.

The entire complex of Pueblo Bonito may have been designed, remodeled, and rebuilt in sections so that the entire structure would function as an astronomical marker.  The dividing wall is carefully aligned north-south, and the western half of the south wall is oriented almost precisely east-west.  The two long, straight walls of Pueblo Bonito are exactly north-south and east-west, so that the Sun's shadow disappears at high noon.  The east-west wall of the pueblo is exactly in line with the sun during the equinox days, thus the wall exactly divides the day from the night during the equinox since both are equal these two times a year.  The east-west wall marks the division of seasons, as the mid-wall divides the time of day between morning and afternoon.

Hungo Pavi, Tsin Kletsin, and Puelbo Alto are also aligned to the sun at noon on the equinox.

Photograph courtesy of SacredSites.com

MID POINTS OF THE SUN

The sun rises directly in line with the center of Pueblo Bonito, and if you follow this straight line from Bonito, it will lead you directly to the center of Chetro Ketl.  In addition, from the side walls of Pueblo Alto which are aligned to the noon sun, a straight line leads to another solar-aligned building: Tsin Kletsin.  The north-south noon equinox line linking Tsin Keltsin and Puelbo Alto, directly bisects the same noon equinox line linking Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl.  Coincidental?  Circumstantial?  Perhaps, but from any building in Chaco Canyon, if you run a straight line, it will intersect with another building, sometimes 10, 20, or 60 miles away.  A straight line drawn from the Great North Road will directly intersect the dividing wall of Pueblo Bonito.  Could one of the functions of the Great North Road have been to serve as an astronomical marker?

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