00:00.999 --> 00:01.840
(wind howling)

00:01.840 --> 00:02.680
(spare music)

00:11.520 --> 00:13.880
- [Narrator] In the American Southwest,

00:13.880 --> 00:17.240
with Mexico and Central
America to the South,

00:17.240 --> 00:20.760
a vast desert reaches as
far as the mind can imagine.

00:22.080 --> 00:24.880
Its beauty alluring and magnetic,

00:26.440 --> 00:28.600
and yet foreboding in its sparseness.

00:31.520 --> 00:34.600
At its heart lies Chaco Canyon.

00:34.600 --> 00:37.040
1000 years ago, a people,

00:37.040 --> 00:40.000
undaunted by the canyon\'s
barren landscape,

00:40.000 --> 00:42.160
constructed monumental buildings

00:42.160 --> 00:45.600
for rituals attending to
the sun and to the moon.

00:47.760 --> 00:51.240
A ceremonial center of
magnificent architecture

00:51.240 --> 00:54.600
not seen before or after in
the history of North America,

00:55.840 --> 00:57.920
created by a civilization

00:57.920 --> 01:02.160
that constructed more than
150 related structures

01:02.160 --> 01:05.120
set in rugged and challenging landscapes.

01:06.440 --> 01:10.520
Built across an expanse
of 70,000 square miles,

01:10.520 --> 01:12.240
without beasts of burden,

01:12.240 --> 01:15.880
using tools made only of wood and stone.

01:15.880 --> 01:20.880
(gentle music)
In this land of little water,

01:21.160 --> 01:23.800
a dagger of light crosses
an ancient spiral.

01:25.480 --> 01:27.720
A puzzling engraving marks the rock wall

01:27.720 --> 01:31.640
in a canyon worn by weather
and a long-vanished ocean.

01:33.640 --> 01:37.360
Nearly invisible roads,
up to 35 miles in length,

01:37.360 --> 01:39.360
spread across the landscape.

01:40.840 --> 01:43.800
Stone buildings align
with the sun and the moon,

01:45.080 --> 01:47.120
but the people who
created these structures

01:47.120 --> 01:48.640
remain a mystery.

01:49.760 --> 01:52.160
Their history shrouded behind a veil

01:52.160 --> 01:54.000
that left no written language

01:54.000 --> 01:56.360
and few representations of themselves.

01:58.480 --> 02:01.560
- [Phillip] In Chaco, we
don\'t know much about \'em,

02:01.560 --> 02:03.200
in some ways. We don\'t know
what language they spoke.

02:03.200 --> 02:05.920
We don\'t know what their religion was,

02:05.920 --> 02:08.440
and we have no idea how
their thinking went,

02:08.440 --> 02:12.080
unless you look at the astronomy.

02:12.080 --> 02:14.280
- [Narrator] For more than 300 years,

02:14.280 --> 02:18.200
generation upon generation,
the astronomers of Chaco

02:18.200 --> 02:20.360
tracked and understood the movements

02:20.360 --> 02:23.960
of the sun and the moon.
(gentle music)

02:26.120 --> 02:31.080
The legacy of Chaco offers a
unique window into the past,

02:31.240 --> 02:33.720
a place where time and space merge,

02:34.720 --> 02:37.360
the world of the Chaco civilization.

02:38.240 --> 02:41.760
(gentle music continues)

02:46.200 --> 02:49.920
(airplane rumbling)
For more than 40 years,

02:49.920 --> 02:52.640
since her rediscovery of the Sun Dagger,

02:52.640 --> 02:54.720
Anna Sofaer, seen here

02:54.720 --> 02:56.760
with Pilot Adriel Heisey,
(Anna speaking faintly)

02:56.760 --> 03:00.320
has conducted independent
research into the Chaco world,

03:01.560 --> 03:04.720
a lifelong endeavor that includes a series

03:04.720 --> 03:08.840
of published research papers
and public presentations.

03:11.680 --> 03:15.240
Why a people chose to establish
their monumental center

03:15.240 --> 03:17.920
in a land with so little rainfall

03:17.920 --> 03:22.240
and so few natural resources
remains another mystery.

03:23.400 --> 03:24.800
- [Anna] Adriel\'s helped me to see

03:24.800 --> 03:26.960
a huge expanse of Chaco.

03:28.520 --> 03:30.200
He\'ll fly out from the center

03:30.200 --> 03:33.280
120 miles south or west or north,

03:34.360 --> 03:37.120
and he\'ll find sites that look like parts

03:37.120 --> 03:38.600
of the central buildings.

03:40.760 --> 03:42.200
And it\'s endless.

03:44.360 --> 03:47.760
- [Adriel] One thing I like to
think about is the Ice Ages.

03:47.760 --> 03:50.240
If you imagine how much more moisture

03:50.240 --> 03:52.480
there would\'ve been in the atmosphere,

03:52.480 --> 03:54.800
especially when it began to warm up,

03:54.800 --> 03:56.520
there would\'ve been torrents of water

03:56.520 --> 03:58.160
that we can\'t even imagine.
- [Anna] So that really

03:58.160 --> 03:59.920
shaped the land.
- [Adriel] I think so

04:01.999 --> 04:06.400
- [Narrator] More than 1000
years ago, when Chaco began,

04:06.400 --> 04:08.360
where did the Chaco people come from?

04:09.760 --> 04:13.680
And 300 years later, when
they left the canyon,

04:13.680 --> 04:15.760
where did they go and why?

04:16.920 --> 04:19.080
- Perhaps the most enduring
question about Chaco

04:19.080 --> 04:23.720
is what was it specifically
that drew people

04:23.720 --> 04:26.120
from this vast region into some sort

04:26.120 --> 04:31.120
of coherent cultural expression,
expression of architecture,

04:31.280 --> 04:35.920
expression of ceramic designs,
a sort of ritual complex.

04:37.400 --> 04:40.240
How do so many people get
integrated into one system?

04:42.280 --> 04:46.160
- [Alonso] What is unique about
people throughout the world

04:46.160 --> 04:48.640
is their relationship to the place

04:48.640 --> 04:50.040
that they chose to inhabit.

04:51.760 --> 04:53.520
And this is what I find so beautiful

04:53.520 --> 04:55.560
about a place like Chaco Canyon.

04:56.480 --> 04:58.560
(wind howling)

04:58.560 --> 05:02.760
There\'s a need to align oneself
with the forces of nature,

05:02.760 --> 05:05.960
with the environment,
(strong wind)

05:05.960 --> 05:10.240
in order to manifest that cyclical beauty

05:10.240 --> 05:11.520
that exists in the sky

05:12.720 --> 05:15.480
and its relationship to human activity.

05:16.920 --> 05:21.920
There\'s more to it than
creating a political structure

05:22.120 --> 05:24.840
or a governing body over people.

05:25.720 --> 05:30.480
This is an effort to master nature.

05:30.480 --> 05:31.680
(gentle music)

05:31.680 --> 05:33.160
- [Narrator] An effort that would extend

05:33.160 --> 05:36.280
across a region known as the Four Corners,

05:36.280 --> 05:38.800
where the four American states of Utah,

05:38.800 --> 05:43.120
Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet,

05:43.120 --> 05:46.960
and with more than 150
outlying structures,

05:46.960 --> 05:50.360
create one of the largest
ancient civilizations

05:50.360 --> 05:51.600
in North America.

05:54.080 --> 05:56.800
Our first steps into the
world of the Chaco people

05:56.800 --> 05:59.760
with Anna Sofaer, begins here,

05:59.760 --> 06:02.480
the largest building in Chaco Canyon,

06:02.480 --> 06:04.200
in archeaological terms,

06:04.200 --> 06:07.640
a Great House called Pueblo Bonito.

06:08.880 --> 06:11.600
With fellow researcher, Richard Friedman,

06:11.600 --> 06:13.840
Anna is about to enter a world

06:13.840 --> 06:14.680
where change was a constant companion.

06:17.560 --> 06:19.520
This would be the original entrance

06:19.520 --> 06:21.080
- To this massive building.

06:21.080 --> 06:22.320
An opening that\'s what?

06:22.320 --> 06:24.320
About two and a half feet wide?

06:24.320 --> 06:25.280
- Right.
- Or two feet wide?

06:25.280 --> 06:28.320
- And you can see where on the edges here

06:28.320 --> 06:31.999
where we\'ve got this, this
masonry isn\'t locked in.

06:31.999 --> 06:33.560
- Yeah.
- That shows that

06:33.560 --> 06:36.200
at some time this entrance is wider,

06:36.200 --> 06:39.160
then it got narrower as they built

06:39.160 --> 06:40.640
this secondary wall.
- Oh yeah.

06:40.640 --> 06:43.480
This would\'ve been so
important right here,

06:43.480 --> 06:45.960
even though it looks empty now, Rich.

06:45.960 --> 06:46.800
(footsteps crunching)
(gentle music)

06:46.800 --> 06:48.440
- [Narrator] Bare earth today.

06:48.440 --> 06:52.920
1,000 years ago, the site
of a sacred structure

06:52.920 --> 06:54.960
known as a kiva.

06:54.960 --> 06:58.840
- There used to be, at
one time, a Great Kiva,

06:58.840 --> 07:01.320
the largest Great Kiva in Pueblo Bonito.

07:02.680 --> 07:06.680
50 feet across, 20 foot
from floor to ceiling,

07:08.480 --> 07:11.120
several hundred timbers,
if not over 1,000 timbers

07:11.120 --> 07:12.600
to construct that roof.

07:13.840 --> 07:16.160
- [Narrator] For reasons still unknown,

07:16.160 --> 07:20.920
the kiva that once existed here
was carefully deconstructed

07:20.920 --> 07:23.920
and dismantled by the Chaco people,

07:23.920 --> 07:26.120
the site covered and concealed

07:26.120 --> 07:28.960
by a thick layer of packed earth.

07:28.960 --> 07:32.040
- This is how wide it would
be going to the center.

07:32.040 --> 07:34.360
And then if I walk another 25 feet,

07:34.360 --> 07:36.920
I\'m at the other edge, right?
- Correct.

07:38.240 --> 07:39.920
- [Narrator] Kivas exist today

07:39.920 --> 07:43.200
throughout tribal
communities in the Southwest,

07:43.200 --> 07:45.960
and in this reconstruction of a kiva

07:45.960 --> 07:48.520
65 miles from Chaco Canyon.

07:49.520 --> 07:53.400
- [Petuuche] Kivas retain
this spiritual essence

07:53.400 --> 07:57.920
of our way of life. And
the kiva was really meant

07:57.920 --> 08:02.480
as a physical depiction of this entrance

08:02.480 --> 08:06.520
into the place of birth of our people,

08:06.520 --> 08:09.320
ascended from the Mother Earth,

08:09.320 --> 08:14.280
so that even all the
so-called Chacoan areas

08:15.200 --> 08:18.360
of hundreds and maybe
thousands of these places,

08:18.360 --> 08:21.320
those kivas are still important,

08:21.320 --> 08:25.960
still sacred to my people.

08:25.960 --> 08:28.280
- [Narrator] A few steps
away from the now bare earth

08:28.280 --> 08:32.000
of the West Plaza, sites
within Pueblo Bonito

08:32.000 --> 08:35.120
and pottery from across the Chaco world

08:35.120 --> 08:37.120
offer clues about Chaco culture

08:37.999 --> 08:42.320
and perhaps the very shape and
form of Pueblo Bonito itself.

08:44.000 --> 08:48.600
A labyrinthian structure built
over the course of 300 years,

08:49.440 --> 08:52.960
an immense building, 800 rooms

08:52.960 --> 08:56.360
rising four stories above the plaza.

08:56.360 --> 09:00.160
One of the largest ancient
constructions in the Americas

09:00.160 --> 09:02.160
that may have permanently housed

09:02.160 --> 09:05.440
no more than a few dozen
full-time residents.

09:08.520 --> 09:11.000
- Doesn\'t this quite closely take us

09:11.000 --> 09:13.720
to those smaller rooms
where the burials were

09:13.720 --> 09:15.920
from the very beginning of the building?

09:15.920 --> 09:16.760
- Yes.

09:16.760 --> 09:20.240
This north-south axis
takes us to the center

09:20.240 --> 09:24.760
of that original wedge that
Pueblo Bonito was created from.

09:26.040 --> 09:28.320
Everything is pretty much in here.

09:29.720 --> 09:31.840
- [Narrator] Near the burial chambers,

09:31.840 --> 09:35.640
valued objects pointed to
the presence of an elite,

09:35.640 --> 09:38.360
perhaps the only full-time
residents of Bonito.

09:39.800 --> 09:42.240
A full picture has been concealed

09:42.240 --> 09:45.080
by the removal of artifacts from Chaco

09:45.080 --> 09:47.680
and their scattering to institutions,

09:47.680 --> 09:49.840
and even into private hands.

09:51.240 --> 09:53.440
Through the accessible artifacts,

09:53.440 --> 09:57.080
we are able to catch important
glimpses of the Chaco world.

09:58.280 --> 10:01.080
(uplifting music)

10:04.640 --> 10:09.200
- [Anna] The burials in Bonito
all come from one woman.

10:09.200 --> 10:12.640
It\'s called a matrilinear lineage,

10:12.640 --> 10:15.560
and that\'s because everybody there,

10:15.560 --> 10:18.040
who\'s buried in the
building that we know of,

10:18.040 --> 10:21.520
came from that one woman
from very early in the 800s.

10:23.080 --> 10:25.880
You had to be of royal
blood (gentle guitar)

10:27.880 --> 10:30.240
- [Narrator] At a related
Chaco burial site,

10:30.240 --> 10:33.040
Richard and Anna learned more details

10:33.040 --> 10:36.320
about the possibility of
a distinct separate elite.

10:38.480 --> 10:42.120
- [Richard] One of them was
covered from throat to ankle

10:42.120 --> 10:46.160
with beads, approximately 40,000 beads.

10:46.160 --> 10:48.040
Some of the beads were so small

10:48.040 --> 10:50.960
they had to use a
magnifying glass to decide

10:50.960 --> 10:53.200
which was bead and which was dirt.

10:53.200 --> 10:55.360
- [Anna] What extraordinary work.

10:55.360 --> 10:57.800
- [Richard] Really high-status burial.

10:57.800 --> 11:00.999
- [Anna] So like the work
that they did in Chaco Canyon,

11:00.999 --> 11:04.760
thousands and thousands
of tiny turquoise beads

11:04.760 --> 11:07.640
strung in necklaces for
very special people.

11:09.200 --> 11:10.840
- [Narrator] Along with the beauty,

11:10.840 --> 11:14.080
a word of caution
regarding interpretation.

11:14.080 --> 11:17.960
- [Anna] So Rich, the
burials in Bonito show

11:17.960 --> 11:22.360
some sign of violence. It\'s
a lot to try to understand.

11:23.680 --> 11:24.720
What was happening?

11:24.720 --> 11:26.080
Why were people,

11:27.160 --> 11:29.560
why did their bones show signs of abuse

11:29.560 --> 11:32.680
and violence and
disturbance to the bodies?

11:33.880 --> 11:37.760
- It\'s hard to say exactly why.

11:37.760 --> 11:39.360
In some cases,
(gentle music)

11:39.360 --> 11:42.320
people are disarticulated.
(quiet music)

11:42.320 --> 11:44.040
And that story continues here.

11:44.040 --> 11:47.200
You see a lot of incomplete skeletons,

11:47.200 --> 11:49.840
some disarticulated skeletons.

11:51.360 --> 11:53.000
I find it interesting to look at,

11:53.000 --> 11:55.880
but I try not to assign any values to it,

11:55.880 --> 11:57.320
other than you know it\'s happening,

11:57.320 --> 12:00.040
and it\'s something that a lot of people

12:00.040 --> 12:02.600
don\'t want to talk
about, but it\'s going on.

12:04.000 --> 12:06.760
And again, depending
on the cultural views,

12:06.760 --> 12:08.440
it may have been a very positive thing

12:08.440 --> 12:10.920
that these things were happening.

12:10.920 --> 12:14.999
Objects associated with
burials are there to help

12:14.999 --> 12:17.280
that person on their journey

12:17.280 --> 12:19.840
to wherever they\'re going after this life.

12:19.840 --> 12:23.040
That may be what we\'re
seeing with Chaco as well.

12:24.560 --> 12:27.360
This is the oldest area of Bonito.

12:27.360 --> 12:28.760
This is the portion of the building

12:28.760 --> 12:31.440
that was used for hundreds of years.

12:31.440 --> 12:33.640
There was a real reason for this building,

12:33.640 --> 12:35.720
- [Anna] Which meant that
generations of people

12:35.720 --> 12:38.040
were being buried there.

12:38.040 --> 12:39.200
- [Richard] The same descendants

12:39.200 --> 12:41.440
from that same mother, grandmother,

12:41.440 --> 12:43.560
great-grandmother,
great-great-grandmother.

12:44.560 --> 12:47.920
- [Narrator] More astonishing
evidence confirms the identity

12:47.920 --> 12:50.560
of the permanent residents of Bonito,

12:50.560 --> 12:53.360
A distinct, perhaps dominant elite.

12:54.560 --> 12:57.320
This is one of the few
three-dimensional depictions

12:57.320 --> 13:01.320
of a human figure from
among the Chaco artifacts.

13:01.320 --> 13:04.960
And yet, take a closer look at the hands.

13:07.000 --> 13:09.999
- [Anna] Characteristic
of a dynasty or royalty.

13:09.999 --> 13:12.120
A large proportion of their group

13:12.120 --> 13:15.560
had six fingers and six toes.

13:16.440 --> 13:19.400
They married each other
when they were related.

13:19.400 --> 13:21.800
Brothers, sisters, cousins,

13:21.800 --> 13:25.320
and maybe royalty wanted that.

13:25.320 --> 13:27.280
People think, in Egypt, they did that.

13:27.280 --> 13:30.760
And so that was honored
because it meant your blood

13:30.760 --> 13:33.400
was getting more purely royal.

13:35.560 --> 13:39.400
And then on the back wall behind Bonito,

13:39.400 --> 13:40.960
if you go to the cliff,

13:40.960 --> 13:45.240
it\'s got six-toed feet going up the cliff.

13:48.040 --> 13:50.840
- [Richard] And then we\'ve
got shell, a lot of shell,

13:50.840 --> 13:54.680
a conch shell and a mouthpiece
for that conch shell

13:54.680 --> 13:57.640
to make it a trumpet.
(horn blows)

14:00.000 --> 14:03.960
And most of the shell would\'ve
come from the West Coast,

14:03.960 --> 14:08.120
the Sea of Cortez, some possibly
from the Gulf of Mexico.

14:08.960 --> 14:11.320
And in the case of the burial here,

14:11.320 --> 14:15.640
we\'ve got macaws here, which
macaws of course don\'t,

14:15.640 --> 14:17.000
they can\'t breed and grow in Chaco.

14:17.000 --> 14:20.560
So they were traded or
brought in, both Scarlet

14:20.560 --> 14:22.840
and Military macaws, as well as parrots.

14:22.840 --> 14:25.480
So we have not only the macaws,

14:25.480 --> 14:27.920
but we\'ve got the smaller
parrots here as well.

14:29.240 --> 14:30.800
- [Anna] I don\'t think
we\'ll ever know exactly

14:30.800 --> 14:32.200
who was here from the south,

14:32.200 --> 14:35.720
but we do know they brought
a number of Scarlet macaws.

14:37.200 --> 14:39.040
(bird calling)
Cacao,

14:39.040 --> 14:40.520
those things could only come

14:40.520 --> 14:42.760
from deep in the tropics.

14:42.760 --> 14:45.880
Probably 2000 miles, could be more.

14:45.880 --> 14:47.280
- [Richard] Quite a journey.

14:48.760 --> 14:49.999
- [Narrator] The artifacts reveal

14:49.999 --> 14:52.800
a remarkable kinship between the cultures

14:52.800 --> 14:56.640
of north and south, in their
cacao drinking vessels,

14:57.560 --> 15:01.320
separated by a distance of 2000 miles.

15:01.320 --> 15:03.880
(gentle music)

15:04.880 --> 15:08.160
- [Petuuche] In our own oral stories

15:08.160 --> 15:10.720
about this hemispheric connection,

15:11.720 --> 15:15.080
pre-Columbian people
coming from the south,

15:15.080 --> 15:19.040
from the ancient cultures
of Central American to here.

15:20.240 --> 15:23.760
We actually have biologic connection

15:23.760 --> 15:26.200
to some of the people in Central America.

15:27.640 --> 15:32.320
How far it went beyond
there, south, is unknown,

15:32.320 --> 15:35.160
but yet if you look at the philosophy

15:35.160 --> 15:38.120
of the Indigenous peoples
in this spiritual communion,

15:39.280 --> 15:44.120
it\'s very similar between north and south,

15:45.000 --> 15:47.680
in this reverence for nature.

15:47.680 --> 15:50.600
(gentle flute music)

15:50.600 --> 15:55.400
- [Phillip] 800 AD, 850
AD was a time of upheaval

15:55.400 --> 15:57.280
in Mesoamerica.

15:57.280 --> 15:59.640
(ominous music)

15:59.640 --> 16:03.120
An elite part of the society,

16:03.120 --> 16:05.680
astronomers, philosophers, people

16:05.680 --> 16:10.200
who had high-status roles
in that Mayan culture

16:10.200 --> 16:12.480
probably moved north.

16:14.240 --> 16:16.920
- To me, the most important aspects

16:16.920 --> 16:20.000
of what could have been most
compelling to people here

16:20.000 --> 16:22.360
are the exotic artifacts,

16:22.360 --> 16:25.480
the imports from Mesoamerica.
(birds calling)

16:25.480 --> 16:28.080
Being a farmer living in a pueblo,

16:29.200 --> 16:32.840
maybe you have some
concepts of distant lands,

16:32.840 --> 16:34.680
but you don\'t know them.
(birds squawking)

16:34.680 --> 16:36.960
You know them only
through myths and stories.

16:37.880 --> 16:40.760
Cacao found in cylinder vases.

16:40.760 --> 16:42.640
Cacao grows far away in the tropics.

16:42.640 --> 16:44.520
You never would\'ve tasted
anything like that.

16:44.520 --> 16:49.160
A very strange taste. This
new frothy chocolate beverage.

16:49.160 --> 16:52.160
(small bell tinkling)
Bells made of copper,

16:52.160 --> 16:54.560
full of sounds, tinkling of bells,

16:54.560 --> 16:56.360
sounds you\'ve never heard before.

16:57.200 --> 17:01.000
Metal was not known in the
ancient Puebloan culture.

17:01.000 --> 17:02.560
Yet copper bells are coming in,

17:02.560 --> 17:04.520
this strange, shiny substance.

17:05.800 --> 17:07.880
The element of surprise is part

17:07.880 --> 17:10.880
of what gave Chaco\'s leaders power,

17:10.880 --> 17:12.760
guiding the construction
of these buildings

17:12.760 --> 17:14.480
in certain orientations,

17:15.280 --> 17:18.120
understanding the movement
of the sun and the moon,

17:18.120 --> 17:19.680
physically demonstrating to you

17:19.680 --> 17:22.720
their connections with a paradise.

17:22.720 --> 17:25.760
Connecting your life with
the movement of the cosmos

17:26.960 --> 17:28.160
(wind howling)
In that way,

17:28.160 --> 17:29.640
it is something like a dream.

17:31.280 --> 17:35.999
(gentle music continues)
(footsteps crunching)

17:35.999 --> 17:38.520
- [Narrator] In a landscape
carved by the wind,

17:38.520 --> 17:40.520
and the tides of an ocean that vanished

17:40.520 --> 17:42.240
millions of years before Chaco,

17:43.440 --> 17:44.360
(Anna speaking faintly)
Anna and Richard locate

17:44.360 --> 17:47.240
more aspects of the dream.

17:47.240 --> 17:48.640
Oh, here.
- Oh yeah.

17:48.640 --> 17:50.280
[Richard] There we see shrimp burrows.

17:52.240 --> 17:54.520
These that kind of look like a corn cob

17:54.520 --> 17:56.880
imprinted in the rock,
that\'s a shrimp burrow.

17:58.080 --> 18:00.240
And those are fossilized, so they\'re rock.

18:01.600 --> 18:04.760
A few million years ago,
this was beach deposits

18:04.760 --> 18:06.520
on the edge of sea.

18:06.520 --> 18:08.440
- Look at this. This is incredible.

18:08.440 --> 18:11.680
These scallop shells.

18:11.680 --> 18:14.800
We are in a landscape
that was once underwater

18:14.800 --> 18:17.760
with sea creatures and shells.

18:17.760 --> 18:19.480
(gentle music)
- [Richard] At one time,

18:19.480 --> 18:22.040
we were thousands of feet
under the surface here.

18:23.320 --> 18:25.760
They no doubt knew what
was represented here,

18:25.760 --> 18:30.280
that this was at some point
associated with the ocean

18:30.280 --> 18:32.640
or with water.
(waves crashing)

18:35.400 --> 18:39.200
- [Paul] Before the world
that we know was created,

18:39.200 --> 18:40.200
it was all water.

18:41.880 --> 18:43.680
(waves crashing)
Everything was water.

18:44.840 --> 18:49.160
The water had to recede in
order for land to show itself.

18:51.440 --> 18:54.440
When the water receded, there were beings

18:54.440 --> 18:58.000
that created the land
that maybe that we know

18:59.760 --> 19:02.920
Chaco, in some ways, maybe
represents that beginning.

19:06.160 --> 19:09.560
Everything in this life follows a cycle.

19:09.560 --> 19:12.480
That was the way that things were created

19:12.480 --> 19:13.960
and things were meant to be.

19:13.960 --> 19:15.280
Everything was a cycle.

19:16.200 --> 19:17.880
You\'re born, and you live your life,

19:17.880 --> 19:21.560
and then it terminates,
but it\'s not an ending.

19:21.560 --> 19:23.880
It continues to move forward,

19:23.880 --> 19:27.720
and that forward progression never stops.

19:28.840 --> 19:30.800
Like that conch shell,

19:30.800 --> 19:35.160
Chaco continues to build and never stops,

19:35.160 --> 19:36.520
(horn blows)

19:36.520 --> 19:39.760
continues to move forward, never ending.

19:41.360 --> 19:44.000
You start in the center
and you begin to move out.

19:48.280 --> 19:49.440
- [Elena] In the Pueblo world,

19:49.440 --> 19:52.400
everything starts with the center place.

19:52.400 --> 19:55.520
(wind howling)
The center place is

19:55.520 --> 19:56.960
the village or the community,

19:57.800 --> 20:02.000
the plazas, the dance
space, the ceremonial space,

20:02.000 --> 20:04.960
and then you move out in a spiral,

20:04.960 --> 20:08.840
not concentric circles, but
you move out in a spiral,

20:08.840 --> 20:11.520
a symbol that exists in the natural world

20:11.520 --> 20:14.240
from seashells to hurricanes.

20:15.999 --> 20:18.440
(gentle music)
You move out to the mesas,

20:18.440 --> 20:21.200
you move out to the mountains,

20:21.200 --> 20:24.560
and it encompasses all
of the Chacoan world.

20:24.560 --> 20:27.999
(gentle music continues)

20:30.600 --> 20:34.560
- [Phillip] Someone gave us
this, it\'s a conch shell.

20:34.560 --> 20:36.999
They came here to the
house and they blew it.

20:36.999 --> 20:37.960
It\'s a beautiful sound.

20:37.960 --> 20:42.960
But anyway, if you would
slice this across-wise,

20:43.400 --> 20:45.320
you would see this replica of the spiral,

20:45.320 --> 20:48.320
which is also a logarithmic function.

20:49.320 --> 20:54.080
If you take that kiva that
was buried in the West Plaza

20:54.080 --> 20:56.680
and you use that as an anchor point,

20:56.680 --> 20:59.280
and then you expand around that,

20:59.280 --> 21:01.760
that makes a spiral,

21:01.760 --> 21:06.680
which is very close to what
a spiral is in a nautilus,

21:06.680 --> 21:08.600
and it matches up very well

21:08.600 --> 21:12.720
with the architectural
construct at Bonito.

21:12.720 --> 21:17.440
That\'s a graphic illustration
that is very, very strong.

21:17.440 --> 21:20.160
But it kind of comes down to,

21:20.160 --> 21:23.840
did they do that knowing it
was going to create a spiral?

21:23.840 --> 21:26.480
Or did they do it for some other reason?

21:27.800 --> 21:30.840
- The curve is hard to
see from any one spot

21:30.840 --> 21:33.360
because it\'s such a broad and deep curve.

21:33.360 --> 21:37.160
- Yeah, but I feel myself
walking in a curve here.

21:38.080 --> 21:40.160
- [Phillip] Well, I don\'t know what

21:40.160 --> 21:41.280
the other reason would\'ve been,

21:41.280 --> 21:45.160
but I do know if you take
something from nature

21:45.160 --> 21:48.720
that the creator made and you replicate it

21:48.720 --> 21:51.999
in your building,I think
you\'ve got something there.

21:51.999 --> 21:53.440
(gentle music)
- [Anna] The question is,

21:53.440 --> 21:56.680
did they intentionally with the placement

21:56.680 --> 21:59.680
of that Great Kiva, but
also with the placement

21:59.680 --> 22:03.920
of the curve itself create a spiral?

22:03.920 --> 22:05.840
And what would the spiral mean?

22:06.880 --> 22:11.240
- [Alonso] The idea of a
spiral as a portal is evocative

22:11.240 --> 22:16.240
of many images in ancient
art, particularly the Maya,

22:16.920 --> 22:21.040
where we see Gods emerging out of shells,

22:21.040 --> 22:22.800
out of conch shells.

22:25.360 --> 22:27.480
At the beginning is the underworld,

22:27.480 --> 22:29.560
establishment of the underworld,

22:29.560 --> 22:32.920
then the emergence into the sky,

22:32.920 --> 22:36.040
and then this cycling through the sky,

22:36.040 --> 22:39.200
and that basically
establishes the conduit,

22:39.200 --> 22:42.600
the portal between the
underworld and the sky.

22:44.880 --> 22:48.600
A relationship between
the northern traditions

22:48.600 --> 22:51.240
and the southern Mesoamerican traditions,

22:52.800 --> 22:57.000
this idea that emergence
is the critical one.

22:58.640 --> 23:02.080
Movement establishes space.

23:03.160 --> 23:06.320
Once you establish space,
you find your center.

23:09.040 --> 23:10.720
- [Richard] If you look at the spiral

23:10.720 --> 23:12.999
as it emerges in the Great Kiva,

23:13.880 --> 23:16.080
out of either the underworld

23:16.080 --> 23:20.200
or a lower realm going up through Bonito,

23:20.200 --> 23:22.400
so it\'s moving through the current realm,

23:23.800 --> 23:25.560
then it goes into the sky,

23:25.560 --> 23:28.520
which would be the upper
realm or into the cosmos.

23:30.080 --> 23:33.960
By doing that, you are
locking those realms together

23:33.960 --> 23:34.880
in that building.

23:36.280 --> 23:38.440
You\'ve got the underworld, the current,

23:38.440 --> 23:42.640
and the upper world all linked
together by that building

23:42.640 --> 23:44.400
and by its architectural form,

23:46.520 --> 23:48.080
- [Anna] I think they were constructing

23:48.080 --> 23:50.720
almost a portal in Chaco

23:50.720 --> 23:54.640
that conveyed to people
that if you come here,

23:54.640 --> 23:59.040
you go into a kiva and
you, you are transformed,

24:00.280 --> 24:03.040
transcendent beyond death.

24:03.040 --> 24:06.560
(gentle music continues)

24:16.680 --> 24:21.240
(birds calling)
(gentle music)

24:21.240 --> 24:24.320
- [Narrator] Anna Sofaer\'s
journey into the Chaco world

24:24.320 --> 24:27.999
began in the high heat
of a Chaco Canyon Summer.

24:27.999 --> 24:28.840
(footsteps crunching)
(birds calling)

24:28.840 --> 24:32.600
Anna volunteered to survey
rock art, petroglyphs,

24:32.600 --> 24:35.560
and was assigned to climb to Fajada Butte.

24:35.560 --> 24:39.600
She had been an artist and
photographer in New York City

24:39.600 --> 24:43.520
and had no idea that her
life was about to change.

24:44.840 --> 24:46.600
- [Anna] We got there near noon,

24:46.600 --> 24:48.360
close to the summer solstice,

24:49.360 --> 24:54.360
and there was the moment of
this beautiful dagger of light

24:54.440 --> 24:55.760
through the center of the spiral.

24:57.120 --> 24:59.480
The dagger, as we later learned,

24:59.480 --> 25:02.680
would last no more than 18 minutes,

25:02.680 --> 25:04.440
and only at that time of year.

25:06.680 --> 25:09.520
In order to create the Sun Dagger site,

25:09.520 --> 25:13.880
you had to have that full
identification with these cycles.

25:13.880 --> 25:16.880
Cliff edge just carved
out in the right way,

25:18.160 --> 25:21.560
create the slabs in
just the right position

25:21.560 --> 25:24.200
so that you had the
markings combined there

25:24.200 --> 25:26.480
for the sun and the moon.

25:26.480 --> 25:29.720
- [Narrator] Over time,
Anna\'s observations revealed

25:29.720 --> 25:32.720
more intricate alignments with the spiral.

25:32.720 --> 25:37.160
At winter solstice, the shortest
daylight hours of the year,

25:37.160 --> 25:40.999
two sun daggers mark the
outer edges of the spiral.

25:40.999 --> 25:43.040
- [Anna] And that research set the course

25:43.040 --> 25:44.680
of all my work in Chaco.

25:45.960 --> 25:48.480
We began with a survey of Pueblo Bonito.

25:49.720 --> 25:50.760
- [Robert Redford] The survey reveals

25:50.760 --> 25:53.480
that the two long
straight walls are exactly

25:53.480 --> 25:55.360
north-south and east-west,

25:56.280 --> 25:59.760
directions that have a special
connection with the sun.

25:59.760 --> 26:01.200
(wind howling)

26:01.200 --> 26:04.240
As the morning sun arcs over the building,

26:04.240 --> 26:06.480
the shadow of the mid-wall recedes,

26:08.120 --> 26:11.080
until just at noon when it disappears.

26:14.640 --> 26:17.000
(birds calling)
(gentle music)

26:17.000 --> 26:18.999
The long east-west wall of Bonito

26:18.999 --> 26:21.920
also has a relationship to the sun,

26:21.920 --> 26:23.680
to its journey through the seasons.

26:25.160 --> 26:28.000
(gentle music continues)

26:28.000 --> 26:31.840
The rising sun position shifts
constantly through the year,

26:31.840 --> 26:34.960
but the sun rises exactly
in line with this wall

26:34.960 --> 26:37.840
only on the two equinox days,

26:37.840 --> 26:41.480
mid-points between the extreme
summer and winter at Chaco.

26:42.840 --> 26:46.280
(gentle music continues)

26:48.080 --> 26:51.720
And only on these days, the
sun sets along this wall.

26:54.200 --> 26:56.760
(gentle music)

26:58.160 --> 27:00.160
- [Narrator] Another revelation.

27:00.160 --> 27:02.360
Steps away from the Sun Dagger,

27:02.360 --> 27:05.280
Anna located another
engraving in the rock.

27:06.280 --> 27:10.240
- [Anna] I had a Hopi elder
man speak to me many years ago

27:10.240 --> 27:14.160
and said that Petroglyph on Fajada Butte,

27:14.160 --> 27:17.800
that\'s shaped like a bow and
arrow and shows Bonito\'s shape,

27:17.800 --> 27:21.680
even with a drill hole at
that particular kiva, that

27:21.680 --> 27:25.360
that petroglyph\'s more important
than the building itself.

27:26.560 --> 27:30.600
Which was like a message
for me 40 years ago to say,

27:30.600 --> 27:33.400
boy, it\'s time to
consider these buildings,

27:33.400 --> 27:35.960
not residential, not utilitarian,

27:35.960 --> 27:39.880
but very important symbolic structures.

27:41.160 --> 27:46.160
- [Phillip] The Bonito glyph,
so much metaphor and symbolism

27:47.320 --> 27:52.320
that I still struggle
to see in its entirety.

27:53.760 --> 27:57.360
What you have is an arrow,

27:57.360 --> 27:59.840
like a bow and arrow type thing,

27:59.840 --> 28:03.600
and it\'s bisecting a shape,

28:03.600 --> 28:05.480
which looks like Bonito.

28:07.360 --> 28:09.999
And then if you want to go further,

28:09.999 --> 28:12.320
it\'s pointing towards, what I believe,

28:12.320 --> 28:14.400
represents the path of the sun.

28:15.440 --> 28:18.920
But right next to the
arrow within the enclosures

28:18.920 --> 28:22.560
of what I think of Bonito is that hole,

28:22.560 --> 28:26.280
obviously, representing the underground.

28:26.280 --> 28:30.480
And then you have the arrow pointing south

28:30.480 --> 28:32.920
in relationship to Bonito.

28:34.160 --> 28:36.280
(mysterious music)

28:36.280 --> 28:41.080
South has its connotation,
at least in Hopi,

28:41.080 --> 28:44.440
the flower world.
(water babbling)

28:44.440 --> 28:48.320
The idea of life after death.

28:50.080 --> 28:54.160
You have dragonflies and
butterflies and water.

28:54.160 --> 28:56.520
It\'s a rich, beautiful area.

28:56.520 --> 28:59.240
It\'s an ideal kind of
world, that flower world,

29:00.080 --> 29:03.040
and that\'s where that arrow is pointing.

29:03.040 --> 29:05.720
(water babbling)

29:05.720 --> 29:07.520
- [Narrator] A world
filled with the promise

29:07.520 --> 29:12.080
of abundant water, a vision of paradise

29:12.080 --> 29:14.560
to those living in the arid land of Chaco.

29:16.999 --> 29:20.080
- [Phillip] One of the
underlying things that is true

29:20.080 --> 29:23.720
from Neolithic times to present times

29:23.720 --> 29:28.320
is the desire to bring order out of chaos.

29:29.680 --> 29:31.760
Sometimes it rains too much.

29:31.760 --> 29:34.320
Sometimes the wind blows too hard,

29:34.320 --> 29:36.800
sometimes it doesn\'t rain.

29:36.800 --> 29:40.200
There\'s social unrest.
There\'s a lot of chaos here.

29:42.160 --> 29:45.800
If you have the same
kiva architecture here

29:45.800 --> 29:48.200
and 30 miles away, 90 miles away,

29:48.200 --> 29:50.520
you have the same kind of architecture.

29:50.520 --> 29:55.520
What you have in the cosmos,
you\'ve brought order to chaos.

29:56.160 --> 29:58.680
(gentle music)

29:58.680 --> 30:01.040
- [Alonso] Sacred geometries were created

30:01.040 --> 30:03.560
when the structures were built.

30:03.560 --> 30:06.760
If you were able to build
the way the Gods build,

30:06.760 --> 30:09.080
you would gain all of that energy,

30:09.080 --> 30:11.480
that power that the Gods put forth.

30:13.160 --> 30:15.400
When the sun and the moon responded

30:15.400 --> 30:17.360
and acted on those structures,

30:17.360 --> 30:20.400
that divinity was made apparent.

30:20.400 --> 30:22.999
(gentle music)

30:24.160 --> 30:26.640
- [Phillip] All of this
is set up in balance,

30:27.920 --> 30:30.760
and you can begin to see how these things

30:30.760 --> 30:32.360
complement each other.

30:33.280 --> 30:36.280
For example, you\'ve got Bonito,

30:36.280 --> 30:39.600
which is oriented with the sun,

30:39.600 --> 30:42.680
but you go across the
canyon there a little ways

30:42.680 --> 30:44.760
to Chetro Ketl, which is lunar.

30:47.320 --> 30:50.200
The spiritual, the religious,

30:50.200 --> 30:53.440
the material world, the ordinary.

30:53.440 --> 30:57.560
They\'re all in one comprehensive mix,

30:57.560 --> 30:59.640
and it\'s never separate.

31:02.440 --> 31:03.280
- [Anna] So Pat,

31:03.280 --> 31:06.960
we\'re at this incredibly
beautiful Great Kiva,

31:06.960 --> 31:11.000
and I think it represented
the moon for the Chaco people.

31:12.720 --> 31:17.320
It has 29 niches, and that
seems like the lunar month,

31:19.640 --> 31:21.800
- The mathematicians, the engineers,

31:21.800 --> 31:23.320
they held the sacred knowledge,

31:23.320 --> 31:25.360
and it became sacred geometry.

31:26.560 --> 31:28.600
Everything about Chaco is connected.

31:29.720 --> 31:31.640
You\'re gonna observe the sun.

31:31.640 --> 31:34.640
Obviously you\'re gonna
observe the moon as well.

31:36.200 --> 31:37.680
- [Narrator] Chetro Ketl encompasses

31:37.680 --> 31:40.200
the kiva dedicated to the moon

31:40.200 --> 31:44.880
and reaches toward the mesa
with a long straight back wall,

31:44.880 --> 31:47.320
500 feet in length.

31:47.320 --> 31:50.920
So unlike the curved spiral
back wall of Pueblo Bonito.

31:51.880 --> 31:54.960
- What was this alignment?
- This is to the moon.

31:56.520 --> 32:00.600
[Anna] It\'s right along here
that the midwinter full moon

32:00.600 --> 32:05.280
will rise only once in
its 18- to 19-year cycle.

32:06.560 --> 32:08.120
(mysterious music)
At the time the moon rises,

32:08.120 --> 32:10.080
there would be just a few people,

32:10.080 --> 32:13.960
very special people
seeing the sight on Fajada

32:13.960 --> 32:17.240
when the shadow cuts right
through the center of the spiral.

32:18.240 --> 32:21.680
At the same time, there would
be hundreds of people here

32:21.680 --> 32:24.840
in the moment of the
moon on that alignment,

32:24.840 --> 32:27.800
and they were marking that
with this immense wall.

32:29.000 --> 32:32.999
- So Chetro Ketl is the moon
and Pueblo Bonito is the sun.

32:32.999 --> 32:34.040
- Exactly.
- Uh-huh.

32:35.120 --> 32:38.040
(gentle music)

32:38.040 --> 32:41.120
- [Pat] The amazing extent of observation

32:41.120 --> 32:46.120
an alignment to the moon
and how complex the moon is,

32:46.120 --> 32:48.960
how can you not put your hand on the wall?

32:51.000 --> 32:54.400
(gentle music continues)

32:58.640 --> 33:01.040
- [Robert Redford] Today,
very few people are aware

33:01.040 --> 33:03.160
of the moon\'s long, complex cycle.

33:03.160 --> 33:06.640
There are the monthly phase
changes, and like the sun,

33:06.640 --> 33:09.400
the rising and setting
positions of the moon

33:09.400 --> 33:11.600
are constantly shifting on the horizon

33:11.600 --> 33:12.680
from north to south.

33:13.960 --> 33:16.040
Only observers carefully tracking the moon

33:16.040 --> 33:19.040
over many years would
experience its complete cycle.

33:21.160 --> 33:24.280
The full moon occurring at
midwinter rises and sets

33:24.280 --> 33:26.120
farthest north in the year,

33:26.999 --> 33:29.160
but if you track the
same midwinter full moon

33:29.160 --> 33:31.080
over nine and a quarter years,

33:31.080 --> 33:34.440
it would rise and set
farther and farther north.

33:37.040 --> 33:40.720
And then it would travel south
over nine and a quarter years

33:40.720 --> 33:43.040
to complete an 18 and a half year cycle.

33:45.720 --> 33:47.200
It would take generations of people

33:47.200 --> 33:49.760
to track and mark this long cycle.

33:49.760 --> 33:50.640
(gentle music)

33:51.560 --> 33:53.920
- [Narrator] To confirm
the coordinated designs

33:53.920 --> 33:57.800
that tracked the moon\'s
alignment across the Chaco world.

33:57.800 --> 34:00.360
Anna approached pilot, Adriel Heisey.

34:01.600 --> 34:04.800
(airplane soaring)

34:04.800 --> 34:08.640
- [Adriel] Anna wanted to
capture that singular event

34:08.640 --> 34:10.320
of the full moon rising

34:10.320 --> 34:13.920
between the pinnacles at Chimney Rock

34:13.920 --> 34:16.600
when viewed from the Chacoan pueblo

34:16.600 --> 34:18.040
at the foot of the pinnacles,

34:19.040 --> 34:21.200
a moon rise that only happens once

34:21.200 --> 34:22.999
every 18 and a half years.

34:23.840 --> 34:28.840
There was a sense of the
ancientness of that process.

34:29.760 --> 34:32.440
This kind of celestial waltz going on

34:32.440 --> 34:34.720
that I made myself part of.

34:35.880 --> 34:37.840
- [Narrator] The Great
House at Chimney Rock

34:37.840 --> 34:40.880
had been constructed on
this extreme precipice

34:40.880 --> 34:45.720
in the 11th century over
the course of 75 years,

34:45.720 --> 34:48.080
built in three stages,

34:48.080 --> 34:51.360
each stage corresponding to
the appearance of the moon

34:51.360 --> 34:53.440
between the two pinnacles,

34:53.440 --> 34:55.520
a conjunction that occurs only once

34:55.520 --> 34:59.880
every 18 and a half years.
(bright music)

34:59.880 --> 35:02.960
The time span dated by
analyzing tree rings

35:02.960 --> 35:04.440
in the Great House timbers,

35:05.400 --> 35:08.920
the Great House itself
becoming a shrine to the moon.

35:10.840 --> 35:14.320
- [Adriel] I had my
airplane, I had my camera,

35:14.320 --> 35:18.440
I knew what I was doing, and I was there

35:18.440 --> 35:22.240
on December 15th when it happened.

35:25.999 --> 35:28.400
Just enough light from the twilight sky,

35:29.960 --> 35:32.240
and there, there it was.

35:38.880 --> 35:41.280
- [Anna] When I think of Fajada Butte

35:41.280 --> 35:44.800
getting the shadow of light
on the spiral on the left edge

35:44.800 --> 35:46.760
just as way up at Chimney Rock,

35:46.760 --> 35:49.680
the moon rises between
the two pillars of rock.

35:50.560 --> 35:53.040
That\'s a bonding between those two sites.

35:54.080 --> 35:56.960
But we\'re really talking
about is a bonding

35:56.960 --> 36:01.960
amongst 150 or more outlying
Chacoan communities,

36:02.600 --> 36:07.560
A powerful mind or minds bonded together.

36:07.560 --> 36:10.080
The bonding through the
Great House structure,

36:10.080 --> 36:14.880
and then the kiva, and
then ceremony that\'s using

36:14.880 --> 36:17.920
the same kinds of cycles
of the sun and the moon.

36:18.920 --> 36:21.320
It\'s writing on the landscape.

36:21.320 --> 36:23.520
(wind howling)

36:23.520 --> 36:25.360
- [Narrator] In Chaco Canyon,

36:25.360 --> 36:28.760
Anna rediscovered yet another spiral,

36:28.760 --> 36:31.960
a shadow dagger that appears twice a year

36:31.960 --> 36:35.360
on the equinox in the spring and fall,

36:35.360 --> 36:38.080
when the hours of daylight and nighttime,

36:38.080 --> 36:40.920
light and shadow, become equal.

36:42.080 --> 36:44.200
- [Anna] Within sight of Fajada Butte,

36:44.200 --> 36:47.120
when the sun rises at equinox,

36:47.120 --> 36:51.120
you have a beautiful shadow
bisecting another spiral.

36:52.320 --> 36:53.600
(gentle music)
That spiral\'s

36:53.600 --> 36:56.680
on the earth level, so
of course it\'s a shadow.

36:58.160 --> 37:02.760
Whereas we look up at the Butte,
500 feet off of the earth,

37:02.760 --> 37:04.720
we have a beautiful light dagger

37:04.720 --> 37:08.320
through a similar spiral
on the summer solstice,

37:08.320 --> 37:09.960
the longest day of the year.

37:11.440 --> 37:14.000
Another bonding, or another unity

37:14.000 --> 37:18.080
between the worlds of
below, Earth\'s surface,

37:18.080 --> 37:19.800
and above.

37:19.800 --> 37:23.240
(gentle music continues)

37:26.480 --> 37:28.520
- [Narrator] Another sign of this bonding,

37:28.520 --> 37:33.520
a distinct form of linear
lines unique in North America,

37:33.520 --> 37:37.840
A vast system of what appear
to be ancient Chaco roads.

37:38.880 --> 37:41.280
- [Anna] How many miles of roads are here,

37:41.280 --> 37:44.160
and then how many are
within the larger region

37:44.160 --> 37:45.600
of the Chaco world?

37:45.600 --> 37:47.920
It\'d be hard to calculate.

37:47.920 --> 37:49.080
- [Richard] Really hard to calculate,

37:49.080 --> 37:52.360
because we just know a fraction of them.

37:52.360 --> 37:55.600
And some of \'em you can
trace \'em for a ways,

37:55.600 --> 37:57.760
and then they get hard to see.

37:57.760 --> 38:00.640
So we don\'t know if the road
continues, if it stops there.

38:01.920 --> 38:06.680
But easily 20 to 30 miles
in the canyon for sure,

38:06.680 --> 38:09.640
and then outside of the
canyon, it\'s probably hundreds.

38:12.440 --> 38:14.720
(footsteps crunching)
Roads aren\'t easy to see.

38:14.720 --> 38:17.920
Sagebrush growing on \'em,
grass growing on \'em.

38:17.920 --> 38:20.920
Roads either get covered
or they get eroded out.

38:20.920 --> 38:23.480
Sometimes we can\'t even
see the road on the ground,

38:24.640 --> 38:27.160
- [Narrator] But the roads are there,

38:27.160 --> 38:30.640
from the air highlighted
by the early morning sun,

38:30.640 --> 38:33.360
obscure traces of roadways are revealed.

38:34.800 --> 38:37.680
The invisible becomes visible.

38:38.680 --> 38:43.680
Hundreds of roads, 30 feet
across, three to four feet deep.

38:44.920 --> 38:47.120
- [Richard] And then come out
and do some survey on them

38:47.120 --> 38:49.240
to find things that were left on the road,

38:49.240 --> 38:51.280
such as small pieces of pottery.

38:53.320 --> 38:54.480
- [Narrator] Signs that a pot

38:54.480 --> 38:57.320
that required hours of labor to produce

38:57.320 --> 39:00.320
might be broken and individual pieces left

39:00.320 --> 39:03.760
at certain spots along
the road as an offering

39:03.760 --> 39:05.360
or a form of commemoration.

39:07.120 --> 39:09.400
- [Richard] It\'s difficult
for us to interpret

39:09.400 --> 39:11.560
what might have been important and isn\'t,

39:11.560 --> 39:14.720
but the roads help us figure that out,

39:14.720 --> 39:17.280
and how everything is
kind of linked together.

39:18.920 --> 39:22.520
In this case, it could be
alignments to these distant peaks.

39:22.520 --> 39:25.240
And where they all converge is that spot,

39:25.240 --> 39:27.960
where the Great House has
got the best visibility

39:27.960 --> 39:31.080
and then the Great Kiva over
here for some other reason,

39:32.240 --> 39:35.200
- [Narrator] Even with close
observation on the ground,

39:35.200 --> 39:38.920
and late afternoon flights
using low angle sunlight,

39:38.920 --> 39:41.240
amid the contemporary roads,

39:41.240 --> 39:45.560
Chaco roads often remain
hidden, until now.

39:46.640 --> 39:50.960
Richard Friedman uses LIDAR to
reveal an underlying reality.

39:52.200 --> 39:55.040
Concealed beneath a forest canopy,

39:55.040 --> 39:58.640
Chaco roads stretch for
miles across the landscape,

39:59.520 --> 40:02.720
whose full extent remains
a tantalizing question.

40:06.360 --> 40:07.680
- [Richard] If these roads weren\'t around,

40:07.680 --> 40:11.600
we wouldn\'t have near the
understanding that we do now,

40:11.600 --> 40:15.560
because they\'ve brought it, or forced us,

40:15.560 --> 40:17.120
to look at the bigger picture.

40:18.120 --> 40:20.880
In the minds of the people who were here,

40:20.880 --> 40:21.960
it was all one thing.

40:23.240 --> 40:24.400
And we divide it up.

40:25.280 --> 40:26.480
Now with technology,

40:26.480 --> 40:29.760
we can put it back together
and begin to think of it

40:29.760 --> 40:31.080
as they thought of it,

40:31.080 --> 40:33.560
and then it begins to make
a whole lot more sense.

40:36.440 --> 40:38.120
All the features on the landscape

40:38.120 --> 40:40.120
that were important to the people

40:40.120 --> 40:43.040
are integrated into the architecture.

40:43.920 --> 40:47.320
(gentle music continues)

40:48.160 --> 40:50.880
- [Phillip] They\'re really
not roads in the sense

40:50.880 --> 40:55.840
that we have a road. I don\'t
have the right term for \'em,

40:56.880 --> 41:00.960
but I call \'em spiritual pathways.

41:00.960 --> 41:01.800
(gentle music)

41:01.800 --> 41:03.640
I\'m going to use the word roads.

41:03.640 --> 41:06.280
That\'s what everyone\'s familiar with.

41:06.280 --> 41:10.240
You may have a road that
leads off to some place

41:10.240 --> 41:13.120
that has spiritual meaning.

41:13.120 --> 41:15.000
You have a Great House and you might have

41:15.000 --> 41:18.800
two, three, four roads leading out,

41:18.800 --> 41:22.360
or depending on how you look
at it, into the Great House.

41:22.360 --> 41:25.880
And you may choose to
leave the Great House

41:25.880 --> 41:29.200
to get a mineral, to
leave a prayer offering,

41:29.200 --> 41:32.480
making a pilgrimage out
to that sacred site.

41:32.480 --> 41:35.560
Then you come around and you come back.

41:35.560 --> 41:37.200
That\'s transformative.

41:38.560 --> 41:41.160
Then you\'re going to
spiritually incorporate

41:41.160 --> 41:42.720
that into your life.

41:43.720 --> 41:44.800
- [Narrator] Of the many roads

41:44.800 --> 41:47.400
that weave the tapestry of Chaco

41:47.400 --> 41:50.240
and the vast expanse of the Chaco world.

41:50.240 --> 41:53.240
One road embodies the power and mystery

41:53.240 --> 41:55.040
of all the Chaco roads.

41:55.960 --> 41:58.880
From each of the Great
Houses in Chaco Canyon

41:58.880 --> 42:03.520
along the mesa, vertical
roads rise from the canyon,

42:03.520 --> 42:08.520
join together and merge to
become the Great North Road.

42:08.960 --> 42:11.720
- And then we\'ve got this unusual stairway

42:11.720 --> 42:13.680
between these two rooms,

42:13.680 --> 42:17.120
as well as up above here
you can see toe holds

42:17.120 --> 42:20.720
going up the cliff and just below

42:20.720 --> 42:22.800
where you can see the toe holds there,

42:22.800 --> 42:27.400
there\'s a notch cutting the
cliff on the right side,

42:27.400 --> 42:28.880
another notch on the left side

42:28.880 --> 42:31.040
where you could have had like a landing.

42:31.040 --> 42:32.560
- Yeah.
- A ladder to get up

42:32.560 --> 42:35.280
to that point, then you
could use the toe holds

42:35.280 --> 42:38.240
from that point on.
(gentle music)

42:38.240 --> 42:40.240
[Richard] You\'ve got huge roads

42:40.240 --> 42:42.080
that don\'t look like they were used

42:42.080 --> 42:44.880
for transporting goods
or people or things.

42:46.600 --> 42:48.440
That\'s a tremendous
amount of work for people

42:48.440 --> 42:50.960
who are using stone tools and wood tools.

42:53.200 --> 42:55.920
The effort in creating the
roads almost dwarfs the effort

42:55.920 --> 42:57.920
in creating the Great Houses themselves.

43:01.040 --> 43:02.800
- [Anna] They went to this enormous effort

43:02.800 --> 43:05.880
of building the Great
North Road, 35 miles,

43:06.760 --> 43:09.080
30 foot wide, sometimes more.

43:10.040 --> 43:15.040
Inexplicable, unless you say
the power is in the land.

43:16.640 --> 43:19.880
You don\'t see it until
you\'re about 10 feet away.

43:19.880 --> 43:22.520
You drop suddenly into Kutz Canyon.

43:23.520 --> 43:25.560
You just have to get within a few feet

43:25.560 --> 43:28.280
before you understand that you just drop

43:28.280 --> 43:30.520
into this abyss.
(footsteps crunching)

43:33.440 --> 43:37.120
- [Petuuche] The Great Road
North is a specific route

43:38.680 --> 43:41.200
from Pueblo Alto, what, to Kutz Canyon.

43:43.440 --> 43:46.440
But it is also a way of life,

43:48.160 --> 43:51.960
both physical and non-physical way,

43:53.640 --> 43:57.640
that you\'re going back
to your first place,

43:58.600 --> 44:01.680
how you came into being as humans

44:01.680 --> 44:04.680
as you emerged from the
underworld to the surface.

44:08.960 --> 44:13.200
- [Paul] The Great North Road
may have not served a purpose

44:13.200 --> 44:15.880
as a road the way we know it today,

44:15.880 --> 44:18.480
but it was a road, nonetheless.

44:19.320 --> 44:21.520
We all travel that North Road,

44:21.520 --> 44:24.640
we all travel back that
same- to that same place,

44:24.640 --> 44:25.880
the place of beginning.

44:26.960 --> 44:30.480
(uplifitng music continues)

44:34.000 --> 44:37.160
- [Anna] And then the South
Road does the opposite,

44:38.120 --> 44:40.320
takes you south of Chaco,
(gentle music)

44:40.320 --> 44:44.600
and you see this huge butte,
Hosta Butte, south of Chaco.

44:46.040 --> 44:47.680
That\'s the end of the South Road.

44:47.680 --> 44:50.120
So they\'re drawing in the deep north

44:50.120 --> 44:51.800
with the towering south.

44:52.880 --> 44:56.840
We see this tremendous
coordination of the Chaco world.

44:56.840 --> 45:01.800
The same architecture,
the same pattern of roads,

45:01.800 --> 45:03.920
hundreds and hundreds of roads,

45:05.320 --> 45:08.360
and the massive effort to build all that.

45:08.360 --> 45:11.960
And then the control to make it happen.

45:11.960 --> 45:13.480
- A lot of work in putting

45:13.480 --> 45:15.360
this outside of the wall together,

45:15.360 --> 45:20.080
but in the inside you have
rocks in there as well, stones,

45:20.080 --> 45:22.280
and then a nice facing on the other side,

45:22.280 --> 45:24.360
so you\'ve got the core veneer masonry.

45:24.360 --> 45:25.400
And to build this,

45:25.400 --> 45:27.880
they would\'ve had to
carry all the rocks here,

45:27.880 --> 45:29.080
both these and these,

45:29.080 --> 45:31.960
cut all these rocks to make \'em fit right,

45:31.960 --> 45:35.240
as well as bring all the
mortar in and all the water,

45:35.240 --> 45:38.080
and the nearest quarry is one mile,

45:38.080 --> 45:40.840
the farthest quarry is five miles away.

45:40.840 --> 45:42.360
Just incredible amount of work.

45:42.360 --> 45:46.040
And then on top of that, to
build the roofs in the building,

45:46.040 --> 45:50.080
put the roofs on the kivas,
you had to bring in wood.

45:50.080 --> 45:52.640
And the nearest source
of wood is 40 miles away.

45:52.640 --> 45:54.880
The farthest is about 65,

45:54.880 --> 45:57.280
so you\'re carrying all
the timbers to build what?

45:57.280 --> 46:02.040
About 240,000 timbers to build
these structures in Chaco.

46:03.920 --> 46:06.200
And this is just one building.

46:06.200 --> 46:08.760
(mysterious music)

46:18.360 --> 46:20.080
- [Petuuche] We are
going to be very careful

46:20.080 --> 46:21.640
coming back down later,

46:21.640 --> 46:23.040
\'cause it\'ll be much darker.

46:27.800 --> 46:30.560
(trees rustle in the wind)

46:31.840 --> 46:35.400
- [Robert] They were harvesting
trees from these slopes,

46:35.400 --> 46:37.720
carrying them all the way to Chaco.

46:41.320 --> 46:42.480
[Robert[ Straight, tall timbers,

46:42.480 --> 46:45.360
and, of course, I think it makes sense

46:45.360 --> 46:47.800
they\'d bring timbers from
the different mountains,

46:47.800 --> 46:51.480
that each had a different
association, you know?

46:51.480 --> 46:53.960
Bringing in these different places.

46:53.960 --> 46:55.440
- [Petuuche] Yeah, it could be, yeah,

46:55.440 --> 46:57.320
the special places, yeah.

46:58.160 --> 47:00.800
Like this place here,
it\'s a sacred mountain.

47:01.720 --> 47:05.480
So you will want natural
resources from this mountain.

47:06.560 --> 47:08.040
- So quiet up here.

47:10.840 --> 47:13.120
[Petuuche] All of this, the
place where we\'re standing

47:13.120 --> 47:17.520
on a higher prominent location
benefits humans being there,

47:18.840 --> 47:20.560
in that the Great Spirit allowing you

47:20.560 --> 47:22.920
that place for survival,

47:25.480 --> 47:27.400
whether you\'re on top of Mount Taylor

47:27.400 --> 47:29.360
or some other high position,

47:29.360 --> 47:32.960
you\'re offering that kind of
gratitude from a higher point.

47:32.960 --> 47:35.360
(gentle music)
From horizon to horizon,

47:35.360 --> 47:36.800
you\'re offering your prayers.

47:39.280 --> 47:40.560
Let\'s go folks.

47:40.560 --> 47:42.520
(dramatic music)

47:48.800 --> 47:51.480
(thunder rolls)

47:56.200 --> 47:58.840
(birds calling)

48:00.000 --> 48:02.680
- [Narrator] All the
elements of the Chaco world

48:02.680 --> 48:06.560
seem to gather force to
motivate the people of Chaco,

48:06.560 --> 48:10.360
to build the roads and to
construct the Great Houses

48:10.360 --> 48:12.840
and kivas with their own hands.

48:14.720 --> 48:17.360
- [Elena] My experience
of Chaco when I was a kid

48:17.360 --> 48:22.360
was that it was just this
sort of amazing place

48:22.680 --> 48:27.280
that my ancestors built
and then abandoned.

48:28.320 --> 48:31.520
And as I got older, and
the more I went back there,

48:31.520 --> 48:33.040
I started sensing

48:33.040 --> 48:36.920
a more dark feeling about it.

48:36.920 --> 48:40.480
That brought up a lot more questions

48:40.480 --> 48:43.320
than just admiration.

48:44.920 --> 48:47.400
- [Phillip] In our modern society,

48:47.400 --> 48:51.920
we see the sun and moon
as inanimate objects.

48:51.920 --> 48:55.720
They saw the sun and
moon as living beings,

48:55.720 --> 49:00.160
living things, and as deities.

49:01.480 --> 49:05.160
And you have to then see that, that being

49:06.280 --> 49:08.680
is making a difference in your life,

49:09.560 --> 49:11.840
and you have to attune yourself to it.

49:12.680 --> 49:14.680
And when someone tells you

49:14.680 --> 49:17.280
that certain astronomic phenomena

49:17.280 --> 49:20.360
is gonna happen on this
day, and it does happen,

49:20.360 --> 49:23.920
well there\'s a power in that of itself.

49:25.640 --> 49:28.160
- [Elena] Learning about the cosmos,

49:28.160 --> 49:30.200
learning about the stars,

49:30.200 --> 49:33.480
that, in itself, is not dangerous.

49:33.480 --> 49:36.680
When you achieve this level of knowledge

49:36.680 --> 49:39.400
and then you want to hoard
it or you want to control it,

49:39.400 --> 49:41.960
or you want to use it
to control other people,

49:41.960 --> 49:45.280
then it becomes arrogant,

49:45.280 --> 49:48.480
and then it becomes dangerous.

49:48.480 --> 49:51.040
(mysterious music)

49:51.040 --> 49:53.120
- [Petuuche] And of course
there are other stories

49:53.120 --> 49:55.160
that are almost unbelievable.

49:56.160 --> 49:58.040
The ability to move mountains,

50:01.480 --> 50:03.920
or the ability to create water sources,

50:05.520 --> 50:08.120
or the ability to control lightning,

50:09.280 --> 50:13.680
that somehow people in Chaco
had that kind of power.

50:14.720 --> 50:17.280
(gentle music)

50:20.760 --> 50:24.800
- [Narrator] After 300 years,
the Chaco era came to an end.

50:26.840 --> 50:31.040
The kivas carefully
dismantled, some burned,

50:31.040 --> 50:32.400
roads grown over,

50:34.040 --> 50:36.880
the Great Houses closed and sealed,

50:38.200 --> 50:41.120
portals no longer to be entered.

50:41.120 --> 50:43.160
(ominous music)

50:43.160 --> 50:44.920
- [Petuuche] Humans have always

50:44.920 --> 50:46.960
had the good and the bad side,

50:48.120 --> 50:50.800
and so it\'s always a matter of choice

50:50.800 --> 50:53.000
which direction we\'re going to go.

50:55.320 --> 50:57.840
You do hear stories, our own stories

50:57.840 --> 51:01.960
about conflicts at Chaco Canyon,

51:01.960 --> 51:06.120
and mainly over this powerful ability

51:06.120 --> 51:07.920
to control natural forces

51:08.920 --> 51:13.360
that the people there were
beginning to abuse this power,

51:13.360 --> 51:15.040
that they were harming each other.

51:15.920 --> 51:19.120
As a result of that battle
between good and evil,

51:19.120 --> 51:20.120
the people\'s choice

51:20.120 --> 51:23.560
was to leave that evil
behind and actually move.

51:26.760 --> 51:30.880
Who are we to say that we are
wiser today through science,

51:30.880 --> 51:34.160
that we know better?
(understated music)

51:35.920 --> 51:39.040
Who are we to say that we\'re
much better than our ancestors

51:39.040 --> 51:42.120
who had decided that this
kind of power is awesome

51:42.120 --> 51:44.160
and we will not teach it?

51:46.960 --> 51:50.440
In the migration story of Pueblo people,

51:50.440 --> 51:54.360
two sisters came from the underworld

51:54.360 --> 51:56.840
to this land that we\'re
now living on today.

51:57.680 --> 51:59.400
And generally they are described

51:59.400 --> 52:03.160
as the one being the Indigenous sister,

52:03.160 --> 52:08.160
and the one that we define
today as the white sister.

52:09.440 --> 52:12.640
The white sister knew

52:12.640 --> 52:16.880
that she was gonna carry
on the human behavior today

52:16.880 --> 52:20.520
through the mathematics or
through the scientifical mode,

52:20.520 --> 52:21.800
through the use of metal.

52:23.000 --> 52:27.400
And the Indigenous woman
felt that her responsibility

52:27.400 --> 52:31.320
that she took on was the
health and the welfare

52:31.320 --> 52:35.200
and caretaker of land
and people, Mother Earth.

52:37.080 --> 52:39.400
(thunder rolls)

52:39.400 --> 52:42.999
And this is where again,
the prophecy being told

52:43.840 --> 52:46.120
that as the two sisters parted,

52:46.960 --> 52:49.280
the white woman going to the east

52:49.280 --> 52:53.400
and the Indigenous
woman going to the west.

52:53.400 --> 52:55.440
(thunder rolls)
Upon their parting,

52:55.440 --> 52:57.680
the Indigenous woman predicted

52:57.680 --> 53:02.640
that they will come together
as a child and mother,

53:03.480 --> 53:04.800
or as a family.

53:05.920 --> 53:08.160
So that\'s what has occurred.

53:08.160 --> 53:09.999
You sit here, I sit here.

53:11.080 --> 53:12.760
You see all of us here,

53:12.760 --> 53:15.999
all the people around
us today at this moment,

53:15.999 --> 53:17.360
we have come back together.

53:18.400 --> 53:22.960
And we then, as a
family, having to decide,

53:22.960 --> 53:26.360
is it going to continue to be
this dominance over each other

53:27.400 --> 53:32.360
or is it going to be more
a caretaking relationship

53:32.360 --> 53:34.200
on this earth, on this planet?

53:36.440 --> 53:41.440
I think that\'s where we\'re at today.

53:41.520 --> 53:45.680
(gentle music continues)

53:45.680 --> 53:46.800
- There is this change

53:46.800 --> 53:49.280
and there\'s this continuity
of moving forward.

53:50.760 --> 53:53.320
Always moving forward, never back.

53:54.360 --> 53:56.320
But you can learn from the past.

53:58.040 --> 54:01.000
If you don\'t learn from your
past and from your history,

54:01.000 --> 54:04.480
you may be doomed to
repeat that same mistake.

54:04.480 --> 54:07.560
(mysterious music)

54:07.560 --> 54:10.600
- [Adriel] There is a kind of
encroachment that\'s happening

54:10.600 --> 54:15.600
to these resources that are irreplaceable,

54:15.640 --> 54:17.240
that are non-renewable.

54:18.200 --> 54:21.640
And that is the presence of
the people on the landscape,

54:21.640 --> 54:23.240
what they have left behind.

54:25.280 --> 54:30.280
They\'re being encroached upon,
and they\'re being destroyed.

54:33.160 --> 54:34.960
Some things are being lost forever,

54:36.760 --> 54:40.999
(fire hissing)
(wistful music)

54:40.999 --> 54:44.280
- [Anna] But we still
don\'t know the whole story,

54:44.280 --> 54:47.280
because of the immense
complexity of Chaco,

54:48.240 --> 54:49.960
and because it challenges us,

54:49.960 --> 54:52.960
on so many levels of our own thinking,

54:52.960 --> 54:55.560
our cultural biases, perhaps still,

54:56.480 --> 54:57.480
and even more so,

54:57.480 --> 55:00.600
it challenges us to
think in many dimensions.

55:05.680 --> 55:07.000
And there\'s the other feeling,

55:07.000 --> 55:10.999
that at the very end they
were completing something,

55:10.999 --> 55:15.840
and they were not abandoning,
they were carefully sealing,

55:15.840 --> 55:18.760
a very intentional
closing of the buildings.

55:20.880 --> 55:24.400
- [Richard] It\'s very possible
there was a grand plan

55:24.400 --> 55:27.200
and maybe when they\'re done with a site,

55:27.200 --> 55:30.800
it\'s no longer enhanced
and then at some point

55:30.800 --> 55:34.960
it\'s closed because it\'s done
now, it\'s served its purpose.

55:34.960 --> 55:38.480
After a certain period of time
we no longer use that site.

55:42.360 --> 55:44.240
- [Petuuche] But you still maintain

55:44.240 --> 55:47.680
that spiritual connection
to your ancestral places.

55:47.680 --> 55:52.480
Even to this day we
still go back to Aztec,

55:52.480 --> 55:54.680
or go back to Chaco.

55:54.680 --> 55:59.080
They are the connection to our past.

55:59.080 --> 56:02.680
These places are still
sacred to our people.

56:05.560 --> 56:08.999
(music builds to conclusion)

56:14.840 --> 56:18.240
(concluding music continues)

56:23.960 --> 56:27.360
(concluding music continues)

56:32.999 --> 56:36.400
(concluding music ends)