WEBVTT

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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When we began our migrations,
we came up into this world

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from the world below.

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The Creator telling the people
that there are certain they

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you are to live and giving them
signs of recognition to

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where these sites
are to be found.

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The migrations began over

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probably a period of centuries.

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Always looking for that place
that was to be the

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center of our world.

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In this land of extremes,
the relentless sun soars

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temperatures to 110 degrees,
parching the earth and

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quieting all life.

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Six months later, frigid winds
drop temperatures well below

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zero in a canyon offering
little shelter.

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And yet here, ancient people
chose to construct the center

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of their world.

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Buildings of over 700 rooms,
originally reaching four

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stories high.

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And on top of this tower of
stone, they marked with a

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dagger of light their knowledge
of the sky.

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A knowledge they would use to
guide their construction of a

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center of cosmology, taking
250 years to complete.

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The place is a remote canyon
in the American Southwest

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called Chaco.

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1,000 years ago, the heart of
an ancient Pueblo Indian

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civilization.

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These grand buildings have posed
a profound mystery for

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over 100 years of archaeological
studies.

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Why would they build here in
this unforgiving place?

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What was the purpose of their
dark, enclosed rooms, and of

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an arrow-straight road
to the north?

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And why, after building these
majestic structures, did

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people deliberately seal
them and leave?

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Recent discoveries reveal
an intricate

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astronomical system here.

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Clues to Chaco have been held
over the centuries in these

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walls and then the oral
histories carried by the

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descendant people, the Pueblo
Indians of today.

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In our history, they talk of
things that occurred a long

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time ago, of people who had
enormous amount of power.

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Spiritual power and
power over people.

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I think those types of people
lived here in Chaco.

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It's a mystery what attracted
people to this spare land.

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In 850 AD, the arid soil in
Chaco Canyon supported only

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small clusters of subsistence
farmers.

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Traces of their modest earth
shelter dwellings have all but

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disappeared, leaving no hint
of what was to come.

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Over the next 2 and 1/2
centuries, 10 massive

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buildings were constructed
here, built four and five

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stories high and containing
3,000 rooms.

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At the center, the structure
known as Pueblo Bonito grew to

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cover three acres, a space that
suggests the grandeur of

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one of the great public
buildings of the world.

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At its completion, Pueblo Bonito
was the size of the

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Roman Colosseum.

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12 generations of people devoted
themselves to building

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these elaborate structures
under nearly impossible

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conditions.

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Food would not grow easily
in the canyon

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and water was scarce.

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Building materials had
to be transported

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from distant sites.

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To craft their exquisite walls,
the Chacoan masons cut

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and hauled thousands of tons
of sandstone from the mesa

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tops above.

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To raise their buildings to four
stories, they obtained

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massive timbers from
distant mountains.

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They transported 220,000 timbers
by foot across 50 to

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70 miles into the canyon.

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And all this in a place so
barren it's thought that much

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of the food to support the
thousands of builders had to

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be imported.

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The Chacoans crafted elegant
pottery and ceremonial objects

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of inlaid turquoise.

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The raw materials for these
efforts were also brought from

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distant sites.

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In these challenging conditions,
the Chacoan

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culture flourished across
a vast region.

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They built communities and roads
throughout 95,000 square

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miles of the American
Southwest.

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They traded with cultures 2,00
to 3,000 miles to the south.

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Objects of Mesoamerican origin,
including parrots and

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plumed serpents, were found
in the buildings of Chaco.

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To most archaeologists, the
impractical choice of building

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here has been explained by the
theory that it was a trade

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center, collecting and
redistributing goods from a

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35,000 square mile area.

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Over 200 miles of ancient
well-engineered roads

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connected with the
Chaco buildings.

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A theoretical picture was drawn
of Chaco, of roads busy

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with traders and a thriving
populace of workers and

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families filling the 3,000 rooms
of the large buildings

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with as many as 10,000 people.

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But recently, doubts have been
cast on this view of Chaco.

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Archaeologist John Stein.

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I had grown up in a traditional

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archaeological situation.

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We were told that these
were the homes of

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ancestral Pueblo people.

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Even at that time, there was a
hint that something was amiss

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in terms of what we thought
was going on here.

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There was a foreboding
character about it.

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So it's built at a bigger
than human scale.

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It's designed to
overwhelm you.

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And I think even as ruins,
I think they do that.

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My opinion is that what
it really is, is

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a theatrical exercise.

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The visual impact of the
original buildings has also

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intrigued archaeologist
Mike Marshall.

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Buildings were often placed in
positions to magnify them.

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They would be put up on the
side of the hill and they

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would overlook an area.

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They often even incorporated
faults for an architecture.

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A cliff would come along and
instead of having space in

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back of it, they put a wall in
front of the cliff and it was

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a fake wall, it was
just a cliff.

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And they'd use this thing
to magnify the building.

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Rigid formality is also one of
the principal characteristics

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of Chacoan buildings.

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This replication over
and over again of

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these similar patterns.

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The whole complex gave this
massive terrorist appearance

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that really was built more to
present an exterior form and

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dominance than it
was to enclose.

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This reminds us a good deal
of say pyramids in Mexico.

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Many researchers have wondered
if the astounding development

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of Chaco was triggered by the
influence of Mesoamerican

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culture, perhaps in stories
brought by traders or directly

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through the influx of powerful
people from the south.

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But the evidence is
inconclusive.

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Nothing quite like Chaco existed
before or since.

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A computer model of the building
called Chetro Ketl

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shows the vast interior space
that was sectioned

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into over 600 rooms.

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Rooms that were, for the most
part, closed off from the

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plaza, and from the outside,
and each other.

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What we see as rooms in Chaco
buildings may be, in fact,

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just blocks of enclosed space.

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Building blocks designed to
support monumental exteriors.

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Their rooms are way down
inside these things.

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The access to them would
be terrible.

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There's no ventilation
to speak of.

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You build a fire in there,
it'd kill you.

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In fact, people have tried it.

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It doesn't work.

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Deep insulated space, dark,
dark interiors with little

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evidence of human occupation.

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Excavations have revealed very
few hearths in the buildings.

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And only a few hundred burials
were ever found

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in the whole canyon.

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And the large mounds near the
buildings, once assumed to

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hold household refuse, are now
yielding another surprise.

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Probably, people were not
living in the building.

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Geologist Rich Friedman has
studied these mounds using

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infrared aerial photography.

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In infrared images, areas that
have a high concentration of

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organic material appear dark.

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In the mound, you can see
it's actually lighter.

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The soil, or the dirt, there
is a different composition.

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And what I derived from that is
that it just does not have

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the same charcoal content and
organic content, which means

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that it's not household
refuse.

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Obviously, there was not as much
cooking activity going on

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in this larger building.

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And in order to survive, the
inhabitants would have had to

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have cooked.

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If those buildings were lived
in continuously, you would

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expect a trash mound out
in front that would be

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approximately twice the size
of the building itself.

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Immense buildings not intended
for residential use.

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What could have been
their purpose here,

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in this barren canyon?

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The Chacoans had no
written language.

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And therefore, no written
record was

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left to offer clues.

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While we don't have codices,
we don't have tablets and

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books, there is a language
in the architecture.

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There is a language
in the roads and

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in the light markings.

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And it's an opening for us to
understand the minds of the

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people here.

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Anna Sofaer has studied Chaco
Canyon since 1977.

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It was in that year that she
made a discovery revealing a

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profound knowledge
at work here.

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Her career as an artist had
led her to an interest in

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ancient rock art.

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She came here with a group of
volunteers to record rock

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carvings on the canyon walls.

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During a climb to the top of
Fajada Butte, she found,

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behind three great slabs
of sandstone, a

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large spiral carving.

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She came to it just
as a dagger of

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sunlight pierced its center.

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If I had come three minutes
later, it wouldn't have had

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that strength of image.

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And it was so vivid.

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And it was just a week from
solstice and very close to

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noon, so I figured it had to be
marking the highest point

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of the sun, both in the
year and the day.

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The light marking is created by
rays of the sun channeled

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through the openings
between the rocks.

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Returning to the site many
times, Anna recorded the play

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of light between the slabs
and the spiral.

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She found that the rocks in the
art brilliantly captured

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the sun cycle.

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This could be no accident.

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The equinox days, midpoints in
the sun's year, are also

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marked by incorporating
a smaller spiral.

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At these times, once in spring
and once in fall, a second

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dagger appears to pierce
the smaller spiral.

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And in the dead of winter, on
the shortest day of the year,

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two daggers descend to perfectly
bracket the spiral.

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This calendar is unique.

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No other ancient astronomers are
known to have devised such

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a complex timepiece of
shadow and light.

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After her discovery, Anna would
be drawn over the next

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20 years into a study
of Chaco sites.

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She formed an interdisciplinary
group called

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the Solstice Project
to do this work.

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They would find that the marking
of specific moments in

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the sun cycle was obsessively
repeated on the butte.

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Equinox at noon is like
fireworks on Fajada Butte.

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High up on the east side,
a snake cast a

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shadow along the body.

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And on the west side is a
beautiful double spiral and a

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spear of light bisects
the right lobe

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of the double spiral.

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So the moment of noon equinox
is multiply marked.

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So we kind of have to ask,
what is this time?

00:15:45.580 --> 00:15:48.180
Well, it's the middle of the
sun's passage through the

00:15:48.180 --> 00:15:51.370
year; because noon, of course,
is the middle of the day, and

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equinox is the middle of the
year between the solstices.

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So it's the middle of time.

00:15:57.260 --> 00:16:00.200
And then you have to ask, well,
is that also expressed

00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:01.746
in Chaco in other ways?

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I've wondered if this
fascination by the Chacoans

00:16:17.020 --> 00:16:21.520
with the sun was also expressed
in their buildings,

00:16:21.520 --> 00:16:27.110
and I found one clue in a
petroglyph on Fajada Butte.

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It was so small it nearly
escaped my notice.

00:16:29.870 --> 00:16:33.230
But very near the sun dagger
site, this petroglyph showed

00:16:33.230 --> 00:16:34.890
the half circle of
Pueblo Bonito.

00:16:38.410 --> 00:16:41.590
And with an arrow along the
mid wall of the building

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pointing to the south and to the
above, to the sun just at

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noon where we had seen
it marked on Fajada.

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A Hopi man told me that, that
small petroglyph was more

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important than the
building itself.

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And I began to wonder if Bonita
was built as a symbol

00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:03.940
in relationship to the sun.

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I decided that we should survey
these walls and the

00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:09.104
prominent walls of all
the Chaco buildings.

00:17:12.549 --> 00:17:16.510
Phillip Tuwaletstiwa
is a Hopi Indian.

00:17:16.510 --> 00:17:19.880
As deputy director of the
National Geodetic Survey, he

00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:23.089
joined the Solstice Project Team
after hearing Anna speak

00:17:23.089 --> 00:17:25.940
about the possibility of an
astronomical significance in

00:17:25.940 --> 00:17:27.190
the Chacoan building.

00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:33.080
My business was making
precise surveys.

00:17:33.080 --> 00:17:38.010
I wanted to help prove or
disprove, if possible, some of

00:17:38.010 --> 00:17:41.250
the findings that
they had found.

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If what she was proposing was
true, then I thought this was

00:17:46.290 --> 00:17:51.580
incredibly important and that
goes back to the value it has

00:17:51.580 --> 00:17:58.700
to Indian people, that their
ancestors were scientists.

00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:02.830
They were close observers of
nature and this happened

00:18:02.830 --> 00:18:06.940
1,000, or almost 1,000
years ago.

00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:10.180
With the expert help of the
National Geodetic Survey, the

00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:12.050
team is able to determine exact

00:18:12.050 --> 00:18:13.400
orientation of the buildings.

00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:20.950
The 14 largest Chacoan buildings
will be surveyed.

00:18:20.950 --> 00:18:27.180
Four outside the canyon, up to
65 miles distant; five located

00:18:27.180 --> 00:18:33.590
in or near the 8-mile long
canyon, and five others in the

00:18:33.590 --> 00:18:36.220
central complex near
Pueblo Bonito.

00:18:40.940 --> 00:18:44.620
At Pueblo Bonito, the survey
reveals that the two long

00:18:44.620 --> 00:18:49.270
straight walls are exactly
north-south, and east-west,

00:18:49.270 --> 00:18:51.630
directions that have a special
connection with the sun.

00:18:54.170 --> 00:18:57.860
As the morning sun arcs over
the building, the shadow of

00:18:57.860 --> 00:19:03.130
the mid wall recedes until
just at noon, when it

00:19:03.130 --> 00:19:04.380
disappears.

00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:18.330
It's no accident that the shadow
disappears into the

00:19:18.330 --> 00:19:21.460
wall just at noon, because
this wall is exactly

00:19:21.460 --> 00:19:24.230
north-south, dividing
Pueblo Bonito.

00:19:24.230 --> 00:19:28.040
And when we see the petroglyph
on Fajada Butte, where it's

00:19:28.040 --> 00:19:32.730
representing the building and
this wall as the shaft of the

00:19:32.730 --> 00:19:36.100
arrow, we see that, that arrow
is pointing to the sun just in

00:19:36.100 --> 00:19:37.870
the middle of its journey
each day.

00:19:41.290 --> 00:19:44.610
The long east-west wall of
Bonito also has a relationship

00:19:44.610 --> 00:19:47.600
to the sun, to its journey
through the seasons.

00:19:52.310 --> 00:19:56.230
The rising sun position shifts
constantly through the year.

00:19:56.230 --> 00:19:59.750
But the sun rises exactly in
line with this wall only on

00:19:59.750 --> 00:20:03.570
the two equinox days, midpoints
between the extreme

00:20:03.570 --> 00:20:05.490
summer and winter at Chaco.

00:20:12.280 --> 00:20:15.846
And only on these days the
sun sets along this wall.

00:20:26.080 --> 00:20:30.120
The wall also exactly divides
the nighttime from the daytime

00:20:30.120 --> 00:20:32.780
because at equinox, the sun
disappears through the night

00:20:32.780 --> 00:20:34.710
for exactly the same length
of time that it

00:20:34.710 --> 00:20:35.960
shines through the day.

00:20:39.320 --> 00:20:43.970
Day and night are equal only at
these times of year, when

00:20:43.970 --> 00:20:46.790
Pueblo Bonito is aligned with
the sun's rise and set.

00:20:52.780 --> 00:20:55.660
Through the spring and summer
months, the sun rises and sets

00:20:55.660 --> 00:20:57.940
north of this wall,
the furthest

00:20:57.940 --> 00:20:59.795
north at summer solstice.

00:20:59.795 --> 00:21:02.620
And through the fall and winter
months, it rises south

00:21:02.620 --> 00:21:05.600
of this wall, further south
at winter solstice.

00:21:05.600 --> 00:21:09.320
Pueblo Bonito's east-west wall
exactly divides the seasons of

00:21:09.320 --> 00:21:11.560
the year and the day
from the night.

00:21:15.270 --> 00:21:17.840
Just the way it's mid wall
divides the day's time,

00:21:17.840 --> 00:21:19.100
morning from afternoon.

00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:25.120
The fact that these mammoth
buildings were also

00:21:25.120 --> 00:21:28.400
engineered, it would appear,
and designed to incorporate

00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:30.900
those cycles was so striking.

00:21:30.900 --> 00:21:33.950
Like the small markings on
Fajada, Pueblo Bonito was

00:21:33.950 --> 00:21:38.660
marking on a large scale the
middle of time at the center

00:21:38.660 --> 00:21:43.150
of Chaco Canyon, the middle
place of their culture.

00:21:43.150 --> 00:21:45.840
And we were soon to find that
the Chacoan architects had

00:21:45.840 --> 00:21:48.370
used these same midpoints of
the sun to guide their

00:21:48.370 --> 00:21:50.080
planning for the whole
central complex.

00:21:52.970 --> 00:21:56.280
In addition to Pueblo Bonito,
three other buildings

00:21:56.280 --> 00:22:00.090
displayed a similar relationship
to the sun, Hungo

00:22:00.090 --> 00:22:05.560
Pavi, Tsin Kletzin,
and Pueblo Alto.

00:22:08.230 --> 00:22:10.870
And the team went on to find
that four buildings are also

00:22:10.870 --> 00:22:14.610
positioned in a larger pattern
on lines to the sun.

00:22:14.610 --> 00:22:18.980
All are aligned to the sun
at noon in equinox.

00:22:18.980 --> 00:22:22.095
Standing here in the center of
Pueblo Bonito on the first day

00:22:22.095 --> 00:22:25.030
of fall or the first day of
spring, the sun would the

00:22:25.030 --> 00:22:27.960
rising directly in line with
the center of Chetro Ketl.

00:22:31.220 --> 00:22:33.950
We find that if you follow the
line of one building to the

00:22:33.950 --> 00:22:38.170
sun, you've come to
another building.

00:22:38.170 --> 00:22:41.950
The same thing we discovered
at Pueblo Alto.

00:22:41.950 --> 00:22:45.090
Here at the highest of the Chaco
buildings, like the mid

00:22:45.090 --> 00:22:47.580
wall of Pueblo Bonito,
the side walls are

00:22:47.580 --> 00:22:48.830
aligned to the noon sun.

00:22:51.670 --> 00:22:54.730
Sighting along these walls,
you come to another

00:22:54.730 --> 00:22:57.595
solar-aligned building, Tsin
Kletzin across the canyon.

00:23:09.650 --> 00:23:12.570
And when we look back from Tsin
Kletzin, directly north

00:23:12.570 --> 00:23:15.220
along its perpendicular,
we see Pueblo Alto.

00:23:22.510 --> 00:23:25.390
The noon sun alignment that
connects Tsin Kletzin and

00:23:25.390 --> 00:23:30.220
Pueblo Alto precisely bisects
the space between Chetro Ketl

00:23:30.220 --> 00:23:31.470
and Pueblo Bonito.

00:23:37.450 --> 00:23:40.410
Why did the Chacoans go to such
lengths to mirror the sun

00:23:40.410 --> 00:23:42.350
in perfect symmetric
patterning of

00:23:42.350 --> 00:23:43.600
their central complex?

00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:54.180
As these people would view the
heavens, there was an order of

00:23:54.180 --> 00:23:55.430
things up there.

00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:03.500
What you had here, of course,
contrasted to that.

00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:10.570
Some years it was too dry, too
hot, too windy, too cold.

00:24:16.900 --> 00:24:23.400
If there was a way to transfer
the orderly nature of the

00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:32.370
cosmos down onto what seems to
be chaos that exists here,

00:24:32.370 --> 00:24:38.380
then you begin to then integrate
at this place both

00:24:38.380 --> 00:24:41.430
Heaven and Earth.

00:24:41.430 --> 00:24:44.850
And this would be, of course,
viewed at least typically in

00:24:44.850 --> 00:24:47.835
pueblo culture as
a center place.

00:24:52.120 --> 00:24:57.260
We look upon Chaco Canyon, and
especially Pueblo Bonito, as a

00:24:57.260 --> 00:25:04.770
place where people of great
power lived at one time.

00:25:04.770 --> 00:25:06.970
[SPEAKING NATIVE AMERICAN]

00:25:06.970 --> 00:25:10.450
meaning the people who live in
a circular house, or the

00:25:10.450 --> 00:25:13.510
people that had magical
powers.

00:25:13.510 --> 00:25:16.690
Power over animals and
birds and so forth.

00:25:33.650 --> 00:25:36.730
The knowledge held at Chaco had
a profound influence over

00:25:36.730 --> 00:25:38.460
the region.

00:25:38.460 --> 00:25:41.810
Though relatively few people
lived here, there is evidence

00:25:41.810 --> 00:25:45.350
that huge numbers came to the
canyon to erect the buildings

00:25:45.350 --> 00:25:49.180
and to participate
in ceremonies.

00:25:49.180 --> 00:25:53.090
Insight into these ceremonies
may rest here, on the mesa

00:25:53.090 --> 00:25:56.280
above Pueblo Bonito in this
very large mound.

00:25:59.510 --> 00:26:02.740
As predicted by the infrared
imaging, there's no evidence

00:26:02.740 --> 00:26:05.540
of household refuse.

00:26:05.540 --> 00:26:09.460
Instead, excavation showed that
thousands of pots were

00:26:09.460 --> 00:26:12.760
intentionally shattered here
over half a century, until the

00:26:12.760 --> 00:26:16.890
mound reached the height of
a small Chaco building.

00:26:16.890 --> 00:26:20.850
In Pueblo tradition, the
deliberate breaking of a pot

00:26:20.850 --> 00:26:22.100
is an offering.

00:26:24.260 --> 00:26:27.860
The process of destroying an
object, whether it be pottery,

00:26:27.860 --> 00:26:31.060
baskets, or clothing, or
whatever, you send it into the

00:26:31.060 --> 00:26:35.050
afterworld because you make it
unusable for the living.

00:26:35.050 --> 00:26:40.070
And so they were both for gifts
to the dead and gifts

00:26:40.070 --> 00:26:42.450
for purification that
pottery was broken.

00:26:48.340 --> 00:26:50.790
Archaeologists have determined
that this large-scale

00:26:50.790 --> 00:26:54.410
ceremonial breakage of pots
occurred only at certain times

00:26:54.410 --> 00:26:56.510
of the year.

00:26:56.510 --> 00:26:59.180
It is thought now that people
came to the canyon

00:26:59.180 --> 00:27:03.145
periodically, possibly timed
to celestial cycles.

00:27:08.990 --> 00:27:11.630
Some people would come as far
as 200 miles from their

00:27:11.630 --> 00:27:16.850
outlying communities, crossing
vast stretches of barren land.

00:27:20.220 --> 00:27:23.780
Coming up on the canyon, they
would have seen within it the

00:27:23.780 --> 00:27:29.160
towering structures and entered
the dark enclosures of

00:27:29.160 --> 00:27:30.410
their great stone walls.

00:27:36.530 --> 00:27:39.410
Possibly stepping down into one
of the covered chambers

00:27:39.410 --> 00:27:42.090
embedded in the buildings,
circular

00:27:42.090 --> 00:27:43.340
structures called kivas.

00:27:50.100 --> 00:27:53.430
For centuries, kivas had been
the centers of ceremonial life

00:27:53.430 --> 00:27:57.720
of the Pueblo people, where
continuing to this day,

00:27:57.720 --> 00:28:02.140
complex rituals occur, ordered
and timed to the solar cycle.

00:28:06.320 --> 00:28:09.370
We do not know the nature
of the ceremonies here.

00:28:09.370 --> 00:28:12.390
But the great number and size of
the kivas suggest that the

00:28:12.390 --> 00:28:13.640
scale was immense.

00:28:24.550 --> 00:28:28.880
There are 15 great kivas, and
each of these could hold over

00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:30.130
400 people.

00:28:32.590 --> 00:28:35.930
There are over 100
small kivas.

00:28:35.930 --> 00:28:40.700
And in each of these, 50 to
100 people could gather.

00:28:40.700 --> 00:28:42.360
Many thousands of
people may have

00:28:42.360 --> 00:28:43.610
worshipped here at a time.

00:28:48.570 --> 00:28:52.450
Here at the great kiva Casa
Rinconada, every feature is

00:28:52.450 --> 00:28:55.690
organized in relationship
to the sky.

00:28:55.690 --> 00:28:58.450
The south doorway is
to the sun at noon.

00:28:58.450 --> 00:29:01.800
The north doorway is
to the North Star.

00:29:01.800 --> 00:29:04.040
The large timbers supporting
the roof are located

00:29:04.040 --> 00:29:05.915
north-south and east-west
of each other.

00:29:08.520 --> 00:29:11.330
The building was originally
covered with a massive roof of

00:29:11.330 --> 00:29:12.600
wood beams and soil.

00:29:22.210 --> 00:29:25.750
In the dark interior of the
kiva, the movement of the sun

00:29:25.750 --> 00:29:28.390
would not be directly seen.

00:29:28.390 --> 00:29:31.230
And yet the kivas symmetric
design to the sun and the

00:29:31.230 --> 00:29:34.390
stars must have been known to
the people participating here

00:29:34.390 --> 00:29:37.140
in ceremony.

00:29:37.140 --> 00:29:39.600
While its alignments are
symbolically directed to the

00:29:39.600 --> 00:29:43.905
invisible sun above, it's round
insulating walls contain

00:29:43.905 --> 00:29:45.710
a darkness connecting
with the earth.

00:29:50.290 --> 00:29:53.200
The structure embeds
relationship to the motions of

00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:57.840
the sky and to the earth that
people inside the kiva must

00:29:57.840 --> 00:29:59.090
have held in their minds.

00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:13.700
The placement of the doorways in
most of the Chaco kivas is

00:30:13.700 --> 00:30:17.860
to the north, to
the night sky.

00:30:17.860 --> 00:30:20.540
North is where the sun is
absent, where the shadows

00:30:20.540 --> 00:30:23.730
fall, where the stars circle
the Pole Star.

00:30:40.280 --> 00:30:42.590
Clearly the Chacoans
commemorated the sun with

00:30:42.590 --> 00:30:45.015
great care in their
architecture.

00:30:45.015 --> 00:30:48.150
But solar alignments were found
by the Solstice Project

00:30:48.150 --> 00:30:50.030
in only four of the
large buildings.

00:30:52.760 --> 00:30:56.550
Anna and Phil faced a puzzle.

00:30:56.550 --> 00:30:59.770
With such meticulous planning
and evidence, it seemed

00:30:59.770 --> 00:31:01.520
unlikely that the other
buildings had no

00:31:01.520 --> 00:31:02.770
place in the scheme.

00:31:13.900 --> 00:31:19.750
The moon in Chaco is
vivid and bright.

00:31:19.750 --> 00:31:23.280
And like the sun, its shadows
and positions on the horizon

00:31:23.280 --> 00:31:26.930
could be observed
over the years.

00:31:26.930 --> 00:31:32.540
These people would have been as
aware of the night heavens

00:31:32.540 --> 00:31:36.130
as they would have been
the cycle of the sun.

00:31:36.130 --> 00:31:41.530
If you align a building to some
aspect of the sun, why

00:31:41.530 --> 00:31:44.790
wouldn't you-- if you have
knowledge of the lunar cycle--

00:31:44.790 --> 00:31:50.840
why wouldn't you orient that
to some aspect of the moon.

00:31:50.840 --> 00:31:54.280
But the moon is more elusive.

00:31:54.280 --> 00:31:56.960
The Hopi call it the foolish
man who runs

00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:59.930
around with no home.

00:31:59.930 --> 00:32:02.460
Today, very few people are
aware of the moon's long,

00:32:02.460 --> 00:32:04.920
complex cycle.

00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:07.440
There are the monthly
phase changes.

00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:10.160
And like the sun, the rising and
setting positions of the

00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:13.340
moon are constantly shifting
on the horizon

00:32:13.340 --> 00:32:15.700
from north to south.

00:32:15.700 --> 00:32:18.190
Only observers carefully
tracking the moon over many

00:32:18.190 --> 00:32:20.410
years would experience
it's complete cycle.

00:32:22.930 --> 00:32:26.000
The full moon occurring at
midwinter rises and sets

00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:27.900
farthest north in the year.

00:32:27.900 --> 00:32:31.630
But if you track the same
midwinter full moon over 9 and

00:32:31.630 --> 00:32:35.315
1/4 years, it would rise and set
farther and farther north.

00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:42.530
And then it would travel south
over 9 and 1/4 years, to

00:32:42.530 --> 00:32:45.900
complete an 18 and
1/2 year cycle.

00:32:45.900 --> 00:32:48.480
The far points in the cycle
are called the minimum and

00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:49.730
maximum extremes.

00:32:53.670 --> 00:32:56.350
It would take generations of
people to track and mark this

00:32:56.350 --> 00:32:58.090
long cycle.

00:32:58.090 --> 00:33:00.860
And this information would have
little practical value to

00:33:00.860 --> 00:33:02.110
the Chacoans.

00:33:04.320 --> 00:33:07.650
I thought it would be highly
unlikely that we would find

00:33:07.650 --> 00:33:10.050
that the Chacoans aligned their
buildings to this long

00:33:10.050 --> 00:33:12.080
cycle of the moon.

00:33:12.080 --> 00:33:15.810
And if we found that, it would
be the only culture known in

00:33:15.810 --> 00:33:20.230
the world to align their
buildings to the moon's cycle.

00:33:20.230 --> 00:33:23.240
But we did find evidence that
they had that knowledge on

00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:25.230
Fajada Butte.

00:33:25.230 --> 00:33:28.700
Here, by tracking the moon's
shadow on the spiral just

00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:31.535
where the sun was marked, they
could observe its long cycle.

00:33:34.090 --> 00:33:37.290
When the moon reaches its
minimum extreme, once in 18

00:33:37.290 --> 00:33:41.080
and 1/2 years, its shadow falls
in the center of the

00:33:41.080 --> 00:33:43.980
spiral just where the sun's
light dagger pierces the

00:33:43.980 --> 00:33:45.240
spiral at summer solstice.

00:33:48.620 --> 00:33:51.810
And 9 and 1/4 years later,
when the moon reaches its

00:33:51.810 --> 00:33:55.630
maximum extreme, its shadow
falls in the outer edge of the

00:33:55.630 --> 00:33:58.080
spiral, just where one
of the suns daggers

00:33:58.080 --> 00:33:59.330
falls at winter solstice.

00:34:02.570 --> 00:34:05.660
Year by year, the shadow cast
in the spiral by the winner

00:34:05.660 --> 00:34:09.760
full moon crosses the 9 and 1/2
turns of the spiral, as

00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:13.000
the moon travels from minimum
to maximum extremes

00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:14.330
over 9 and 1/4 years.

00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:19.469
The correspondence of the number
of spiral turns and the

00:34:19.469 --> 00:34:23.900
years in the cycle
is intriguing.

00:34:23.900 --> 00:34:28.199
The maximum extreme moon casts
a shadow on the outer edge.

00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:30.440
And the minimum moon casts
its shadow along the

00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:33.980
center of the spiral.

00:34:33.980 --> 00:34:37.239
The project discovered that
seven buildings are aligned to

00:34:37.239 --> 00:34:40.100
the rising and setting positions
of the maximum and

00:34:40.100 --> 00:34:42.090
minimum extreme moons.

00:34:42.090 --> 00:34:45.989
The same moons that are
marked on the spiral.

00:34:45.989 --> 00:34:49.300
Alignment schemes vary
among the buildings.

00:34:49.300 --> 00:34:52.159
Each building provides a
distinct stage for viewing the

00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:53.409
moon's drama.

00:34:57.230 --> 00:35:00.560
The Chacoans would see the
extreme moons rise or set in

00:35:00.560 --> 00:35:03.330
line with the perpendicular
across the buildings plaza.

00:35:06.420 --> 00:35:10.230
Or, they would see the moon rise
and set along a buildings

00:35:10.230 --> 00:35:11.500
long back wall.

00:35:21.660 --> 00:35:26.050
Pueblo Pintado is located 15
miles from the canyon.

00:35:26.050 --> 00:35:28.920
According to the survey, the
winter full moon will rise in

00:35:28.920 --> 00:35:34.350
alignment with its long wall
once in 18 and 1/2 years.

00:35:34.350 --> 00:35:37.230
Tonight, Anna and Bill stone
of the National Geodetic

00:35:37.230 --> 00:35:40.250
Survey will see if their
findings are confirmed.

00:35:40.250 --> 00:35:41.592
And there it comes.

00:35:41.592 --> 00:35:42.410
Oh, you do see it?

00:35:42.410 --> 00:35:42.917
You can see it now.

00:35:42.917 --> 00:35:43.420
It is quite pale.

00:35:43.420 --> 00:35:44.190
Oh my god, it's rather large.

00:35:44.190 --> 00:35:45.635
It's very large on the horizon.

00:35:45.635 --> 00:35:45.920
Wow.

00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:47.160
Yeah.

00:35:47.160 --> 00:35:51.320
It is December 1997, the night
preceding the full moon that

00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:53.980
occurs closest to
winter solstice.

00:35:53.980 --> 00:35:56.180
And it is the year when
the full moon is

00:35:56.180 --> 00:35:58.660
at its minimum extreme.

00:35:58.660 --> 00:36:01.200
The measurements here with the
compass do agree to within a

00:36:01.200 --> 00:36:05.220
fraction of a degree from the
survey was done on the

00:36:05.220 --> 00:36:07.270
alignment of this wall.

00:36:07.270 --> 00:36:09.960
But, you know, tomorrow night,
we'll really have a chance to

00:36:09.960 --> 00:36:13.110
test our data when we're in the
canyon and we'll see the

00:36:13.110 --> 00:36:15.245
full moon rise from the
large buildings.

00:36:26.500 --> 00:36:30.490
On the following day, Connie
Garcia of Acoma Pueblo has

00:36:30.490 --> 00:36:35.260
come to the canyon to observe
the full moon with Anna.

00:36:35.260 --> 00:36:39.670
About 1/2 hour after the sunset,
we'll see that moon

00:36:39.670 --> 00:36:42.890
rise right along that wall.

00:36:42.890 --> 00:36:47.140
Right about here you'll
see it rising up.

00:36:47.140 --> 00:36:49.840
The team will document the
moon's rise with time-lapse

00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:51.090
photography.

00:37:01.330 --> 00:37:05.340
What we're seeing now is
something that was seen

00:37:05.340 --> 00:37:11.080
centuries ago, centuries ago by
people who my people came

00:37:11.080 --> 00:37:14.110
from, are descended from.

00:37:14.110 --> 00:37:19.170
And it's just I feel like
I'm connected to

00:37:19.170 --> 00:37:21.830
a more primal time.

00:37:21.830 --> 00:37:27.090
It's hard to believe that
people who didn't have

00:37:27.090 --> 00:37:30.630
sophisticated equipment like
we do these days could

00:37:30.630 --> 00:37:33.150
actually plot something
like that.

00:37:37.970 --> 00:37:40.720
Only after generations of study
and surveying of the

00:37:40.720 --> 00:37:43.710
moon could the Chacoans align
their massive building so

00:37:43.710 --> 00:37:46.960
perfectly to its extreme
position.

00:37:46.960 --> 00:37:51.240
And what is even more amazing,
and typical of the Chacoans,

00:37:51.240 --> 00:37:53.930
is that there is a
symmetry to it.

00:37:53.930 --> 00:37:57.940
This moon not only rises in
alignment, but it also sets in

00:37:57.940 --> 00:38:00.820
alignment with the walls of the
building across the canyon

00:38:00.820 --> 00:38:02.070
Pueblo del Arroyo.

00:38:09.240 --> 00:38:12.140
And six months later, the
Chacoans would see the

00:38:12.140 --> 00:38:16.310
midsummer full moon rise in the
doorways of del Arroyo and

00:38:16.310 --> 00:38:17.855
in line with its prominent
walls.

00:38:26.930 --> 00:38:30.760
This moon then traverses the
canyon floor, now burnished by

00:38:30.760 --> 00:38:32.010
the summer sun.

00:38:37.820 --> 00:38:40.370
It fills the plaza of Pueblo
Bonito with it's light.

00:38:53.820 --> 00:38:58.155
And then, as though completing
its cycle, it sets in line

00:38:58.155 --> 00:38:59.405
with Chetro Ketl.

00:39:11.270 --> 00:39:14.210
This is where things seemed
really extravagant.

00:39:14.210 --> 00:39:17.940
Because here I realized if I
followed the line if this back

00:39:17.940 --> 00:39:22.010
wall of Chetro Ketl to the moon,
I'd be going across 12

00:39:22.010 --> 00:39:25.680
miles and through a mesa
that blocked the view.

00:39:25.680 --> 00:39:28.390
But I would come to another
building, Kin Bineola, right

00:39:28.390 --> 00:39:30.810
on that line to the moon.

00:39:30.810 --> 00:39:33.660
I wondered if this was a
coincidence, or had the

00:39:33.660 --> 00:39:36.530
Chacoans aligned their lunar
buildings to each other, the

00:39:36.530 --> 00:39:39.330
way they had their solar
buildings Then

00:39:39.330 --> 00:39:41.910
we found more evidence.

00:39:41.910 --> 00:39:44.830
Here at Kin Kletzo in the
central canyon, there's a

00:39:44.830 --> 00:39:49.320
relationship to the building
15 miles away.

00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:52.300
The walls of Kin Kletzo are
aligned to the rising of the

00:39:52.300 --> 00:39:53.400
same minimum moon.

00:39:53.400 --> 00:39:56.195
And here, too, the view
is blocked by a mesa.

00:40:01.010 --> 00:40:04.160
Following a line from this
building and from del Arroyo

00:40:04.160 --> 00:40:09.720
towards that rising moon and
traveling a distance of 15

00:40:09.720 --> 00:40:13.840
miles over a desolate area with
no other buildings, we

00:40:13.840 --> 00:40:18.420
leave the central canyon, pass
through mesa walls, and

00:40:18.420 --> 00:40:21.310
eventually the alignment of
this moon passes directly

00:40:21.310 --> 00:40:24.130
through another building,
Pueblo Pintado.

00:40:28.340 --> 00:40:32.830
Pueblo Pintado and Kin Bineola
are related on these lunar

00:40:32.830 --> 00:40:35.760
lines to the central complex,
even though they're located

00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:38.500
far from the canyon.

00:40:38.500 --> 00:40:41.150
A line to the maximum moon
rise connects two other

00:40:41.150 --> 00:40:44.220
buildings in a similar way,
located out of sight of each

00:40:44.220 --> 00:40:48.250
other, but perfectly aligned.

00:40:48.250 --> 00:40:51.680
This line is exactly bisected
by the solar axis of the

00:40:51.680 --> 00:40:52.930
central complex.

00:40:56.020 --> 00:41:00.080
From no one building and at no
one time would a person see

00:41:00.080 --> 00:41:02.120
this pattern.

00:41:02.120 --> 00:41:04.950
It's as though this intricate
symmetry of relationships to

00:41:04.950 --> 00:41:10.480
the sky and the Earth was drawn
on the landscape, but

00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:13.210
only to be held in the
minds of the people.

00:41:16.130 --> 00:41:18.710
What's so striking, I think,
in Chaco is it is the

00:41:18.710 --> 00:41:21.720
intuition working with the
national environment, but

00:41:21.720 --> 00:41:23.640
there's such intelligence
at the same

00:41:23.640 --> 00:41:26.120
time and such planning.

00:41:26.120 --> 00:41:29.510
12 generations of people
dedicated themselves to

00:41:29.510 --> 00:41:32.050
achieving this abstract
pattern.

00:41:32.050 --> 00:41:35.090
It's as though the pattern
itself had such intrinsic

00:41:35.090 --> 00:41:39.180
value to them that without
writing in itself it had the

00:41:39.180 --> 00:41:42.830
power to direct their activities
over 250 years.

00:41:47.350 --> 00:41:52.660
We've never found an architect's
plan of any sort,

00:41:52.660 --> 00:41:55.620
nor do we need to.

00:41:55.620 --> 00:41:59.280
If in the oral tradition,
and I'm guessing in the

00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:03.800
ceremonial, literally in the
spiritual ceremonial systems,

00:42:03.800 --> 00:42:11.860
there was the inherent
instruction on how to layout

00:42:11.860 --> 00:42:15.880
according to cosmological
requirements.

00:42:15.880 --> 00:42:17.130
You don't have to write that.

00:42:19.880 --> 00:42:25.150
As you walk through any of these
sites, you're in the

00:42:25.150 --> 00:42:33.030
midst of a thought process that
works simultaneously with

00:42:33.030 --> 00:42:40.960
the aesthetic, the pragmatic,
the scientific, the mystical

00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:43.640
in planning the use of space.

00:42:48.280 --> 00:42:50.520
You almost had a community
spirit, a community

00:42:50.520 --> 00:42:51.130
intelligence.

00:42:51.130 --> 00:42:54.590
People so organized that you are
all working together and

00:42:54.590 --> 00:42:58.080
you were all believing
in the same things.

00:42:58.080 --> 00:43:04.760
And you all worked arduously
to build around you.

00:43:04.760 --> 00:43:08.115
And the prayers that you set
were all one in the same.

00:43:11.780 --> 00:43:15.620
I think a lot of Chacoan
ceremonial architecture was

00:43:15.620 --> 00:43:22.730
built to be used to reactualize
mythic events.

00:43:22.730 --> 00:43:25.440
Pilgrims all over the world,
that's why they go to these

00:43:25.440 --> 00:43:26.120
sacred spots.

00:43:26.120 --> 00:43:30.090
They go there to get in contact
with the power--

00:43:30.090 --> 00:43:33.720
ancient power of the events
and the miraculously

00:43:33.720 --> 00:43:35.940
associations of those places.

00:43:35.940 --> 00:43:40.390
And so in many cases, Chacoan
structures were built for the

00:43:40.390 --> 00:43:45.380
purpose of being able to use
those roads, buildings, and

00:43:45.380 --> 00:43:48.895
sacred places to get in touch
with ancient mythic events.

00:43:53.150 --> 00:43:57.370
We stand here right at the foot
of one of those roads,

00:43:57.370 --> 00:43:59.430
the incredible roads
that go north.

00:43:59.430 --> 00:44:05.790
And north in our belief, too, is
just the way it leads back

00:44:05.790 --> 00:44:07.090
to where we came from.

00:44:07.090 --> 00:44:11.090
What we speak of coming from
the north and emerging from

00:44:11.090 --> 00:44:12.340
that place, too.

00:44:14.630 --> 00:44:17.900
On the steep cliffs behind
Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl,

00:44:17.900 --> 00:44:20.790
stairways and rampways
climb the mesa and

00:44:20.790 --> 00:44:23.460
connect with roads.

00:44:23.460 --> 00:44:26.680
At Pueblo Alto, these
roads converge in

00:44:26.680 --> 00:44:30.160
the Great North Road.

00:44:30.160 --> 00:44:32.940
The Chacoans roads, seen here
as depressions in the

00:44:32.940 --> 00:44:37.220
landscape, are consistently 30
feet wide, as wide as our

00:44:37.220 --> 00:44:39.930
modern two lane roads,
and remarkably

00:44:39.930 --> 00:44:42.660
straight for great distances.

00:44:42.660 --> 00:44:44.070
Their elaborate construction

00:44:44.070 --> 00:44:47.160
suggested a practical function.

00:44:47.160 --> 00:44:49.410
What struck us from the
beginning of our study of the

00:44:49.410 --> 00:44:52.900
North Road is that it is
overbuilt and underused.

00:44:52.900 --> 00:44:54.980
There are no communities
along this road, and

00:44:54.980 --> 00:44:56.630
there are no resources.

00:44:56.630 --> 00:45:03.470
And that orientation along an
essentially north axis has no

00:45:03.470 --> 00:45:04.880
logical reason.

00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:06.860
There's no end point.

00:45:06.860 --> 00:45:10.040
There's no major buildings
at the end of that road.

00:45:10.040 --> 00:45:13.530
And as a result of that, a
number of us came to the

00:45:13.530 --> 00:45:16.490
conclusion that the road itself
was a directional

00:45:16.490 --> 00:45:20.530
corridor, that the intent of the
construction of the road

00:45:20.530 --> 00:45:23.690
was to build it to the north.

00:45:23.690 --> 00:45:26.840
The North Road is best
seen from the air.

00:45:26.840 --> 00:45:30.010
To retrace the root of this
astronomically aligned road,

00:45:30.010 --> 00:45:33.620
Anna enlisted the help of Adriel
Heisey, an ultralight

00:45:33.620 --> 00:45:34.870
pilot and noted photographer.

00:45:51.610 --> 00:45:55.400
The road goes up the cliffs out
of the central buildings.

00:45:55.400 --> 00:45:59.380
Then just north of Pueblo Alto,
it heads across empty

00:45:59.380 --> 00:46:02.190
desert country with
no buildings.

00:46:02.190 --> 00:46:04.435
And yet, it's so elaborate.

00:46:04.435 --> 00:46:09.370
In sections, we documented
double routes over 15 miles,

00:46:09.370 --> 00:46:12.420
each 30-feet wide.

00:46:12.420 --> 00:46:16.740
This corridor heads north for
35 miles across monotonous,

00:46:16.740 --> 00:46:18.870
empty terrain.

00:46:18.870 --> 00:46:22.170
And then suddenly, it drops down
the steepest edge of the

00:46:22.170 --> 00:46:23.420
Badlands Canyon.

00:46:31.250 --> 00:46:33.630
When we explored the slope where
the road drops, we found

00:46:33.630 --> 00:46:37.270
the remains of an old stairway
and many fragments of broken

00:46:37.270 --> 00:46:42.080
pots, as though people might
be commemorating the end of

00:46:42.080 --> 00:46:44.865
this road to the north through a
ceremonial breakage of pots.

00:46:47.890 --> 00:46:52.450
To the north is where our point
of origin begins, the

00:46:52.450 --> 00:46:56.280
point where we came
into this world.

00:46:56.280 --> 00:47:00.950
In essence, that north line,
that north road connects us

00:47:00.950 --> 00:47:04.340
back to the Creator.

00:47:04.340 --> 00:47:07.060
Trails and roads are a very
important concept that are

00:47:07.060 --> 00:47:12.670
used even today with our
afterworld and our present

00:47:12.670 --> 00:47:16.050
worlds being tied together by
the Barefoot Trail, the

00:47:16.050 --> 00:47:18.674
Barefoot Road.

00:47:18.674 --> 00:47:21.570
The badlands going to the north
may have been an area

00:47:21.570 --> 00:47:25.042
where the spirit went when a
Chaco Canyon person died.

00:47:27.940 --> 00:47:30.730
There's a concept that the
afterworld is a perfect

00:47:30.730 --> 00:47:32.720
reflection of the
present world.

00:47:46.520 --> 00:47:49.220
For the Chacoans, could the
North Road have been a

00:47:49.220 --> 00:47:52.720
connection of the world
below with the above?

00:47:52.720 --> 00:47:55.610
Or the north with the south?

00:47:55.610 --> 00:47:57.590
Of the dark with the light?

00:48:00.150 --> 00:48:02.590
Reversing direction on the road
and following it to the

00:48:02.590 --> 00:48:06.280
south, it climbs to the rim of
the Badlands Canyon, to the

00:48:06.280 --> 00:48:09.210
light, and runs across
the desert to the

00:48:09.210 --> 00:48:12.830
south to the sun.

00:48:12.830 --> 00:48:16.110
It joins the solar axis of the
central complex, around which

00:48:16.110 --> 00:48:17.966
the sun and the moon revolve.

00:48:22.160 --> 00:48:26.890
And it joins there the mid wall
of Pueblo Bonito, which

00:48:26.890 --> 00:48:30.450
is directed by the arrow to the
above, to the noon sun.

00:48:33.450 --> 00:48:37.510
Here in Chaco, it's as though
the North and the South, the

00:48:37.510 --> 00:48:41.370
worlds of the below and the
above, are joined with the

00:48:41.370 --> 00:48:44.811
cycles of the sun and the moon
in this sacred center.

00:48:58.570 --> 00:49:02.300
I find it fascinating that
people came to this place

00:49:02.300 --> 00:49:05.800
because the land was so
compelling, and because the

00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:09.140
formations of the sun and the
moon just drew them into such

00:49:09.140 --> 00:49:12.120
a fantastic order of themselves
in relationship

00:49:12.120 --> 00:49:13.510
with the university.

00:49:13.510 --> 00:49:16.540
And what could be
more beautiful?

00:49:16.540 --> 00:49:19.620
The whole land here was used.

00:49:19.620 --> 00:49:22.880
Any construction by these
ancient people was related to

00:49:22.880 --> 00:49:25.650
the Earth and the sky.

00:49:25.650 --> 00:49:29.290
And it's very exciting, it's
very compelling to be in the

00:49:29.290 --> 00:49:32.920
middle of a situation where it's
as though everything is

00:49:32.920 --> 00:49:36.570
playing itself out to you in
a program, in a pattern.

00:49:42.300 --> 00:49:44.790
We may never know if the
Chacoans completed their

00:49:44.790 --> 00:49:47.270
astronomical pattern.

00:49:47.270 --> 00:49:50.380
These enigmatic buildings will
always hold secrets to

00:49:50.380 --> 00:49:54.385
themselves, including reasons
why people left.

00:49:57.470 --> 00:49:59.320
Severe droughts occurred
in the region in

00:49:59.320 --> 00:50:01.510
the early 12th century.

00:50:01.510 --> 00:50:04.460
Archaeologist speculate that
famine may have further

00:50:04.460 --> 00:50:08.210
stressed an already tenuous
social hierarchy.

00:50:08.210 --> 00:50:11.730
Perhaps even leading to
violent disruptions.

00:50:11.730 --> 00:50:13.640
And there may have been
changes in the Chacoan

00:50:13.640 --> 00:50:16.890
religious beliefs.

00:50:16.890 --> 00:50:21.400
Pueblo people hold their history
of Chaco's ending.

00:50:21.400 --> 00:50:24.700
Here at Chaco, there were very
powerful people who had a lot

00:50:24.700 --> 00:50:26.460
of spiritual power.

00:50:26.460 --> 00:50:34.780
And these people probably used
their power in ways that

00:50:34.780 --> 00:50:37.590
caused things to change.

00:50:37.590 --> 00:50:47.790
And that may have been one of
the reasons why the migrations

00:50:47.790 --> 00:50:52.300
were set to start again, is
because these people were

00:50:52.300 --> 00:50:55.310
causing changes that were
never meant to occur.

00:50:58.370 --> 00:51:02.055
After 2 and 1/2 centuries, the
Chacoans ceased construction.

00:51:05.120 --> 00:51:07.470
The buildings were
carefully sealed.

00:51:10.420 --> 00:51:12.870
People began to move out.

00:51:12.870 --> 00:51:19.430
People sealed up doorways, broke
models and methods as

00:51:19.430 --> 00:51:22.850
part of their ceremony
of going away.

00:51:22.850 --> 00:51:27.440
Clans moving out, clan increased
dividing and

00:51:27.440 --> 00:51:31.510
splitting and moving
to different areas.

00:51:31.510 --> 00:51:36.480
Before the Chacoans left the
canyon, they also burned most

00:51:36.480 --> 00:51:38.650
of the kivas in the
large buildings.

00:51:38.650 --> 00:51:41.655
The intense heat left these
burn marks on the walls.

00:51:46.670 --> 00:51:51.170
Kivas would burn only if their
massive roofs were removed.

00:51:51.170 --> 00:51:54.100
The effort required to dismantle
these structures was

00:51:54.100 --> 00:51:57.180
almost equal to the enormous
effort of building them in the

00:51:57.180 --> 00:51:58.430
first place.

00:52:05.220 --> 00:52:09.390
Certainly, their leaving
was not very abrupt.

00:52:09.390 --> 00:52:12.340
They weren't here yesterday,
and all of a sudden tonight

00:52:12.340 --> 00:52:14.980
decided to leave tomorrow
morning.

00:52:14.980 --> 00:52:17.570
The migrations were very slow
and very calculated.

00:52:21.040 --> 00:52:25.660
Perhaps over time, the original
premises on which

00:52:25.660 --> 00:52:29.880
they began to develop
these places

00:52:29.880 --> 00:52:32.840
could've been corrupted.

00:52:32.840 --> 00:52:37.990
And some people who come here
feel that there was an aspect

00:52:37.990 --> 00:52:40.920
to this place that was
perhaps darker.

00:52:44.200 --> 00:52:48.020
I think that they were so in
tune with the natural forces

00:52:48.020 --> 00:52:49.910
that they were able to
control these forces.

00:52:52.650 --> 00:52:55.440
And sometimes it's been
said this could

00:52:55.440 --> 00:52:59.020
be abused by people.

00:52:59.020 --> 00:53:02.800
And that perhaps there were
decisions made in the past not

00:53:02.800 --> 00:53:06.350
to continue this accumulation of
knowledge of control of the

00:53:06.350 --> 00:53:07.600
natural forces.

00:53:25.770 --> 00:53:31.020
Something like a place like
this, everything goes back to

00:53:31.020 --> 00:53:32.901
Mother Earth.

00:53:32.901 --> 00:53:37.050
The houses that you build, the
massive stone walls that you

00:53:37.050 --> 00:53:42.020
construct, everything is meant
to fall down and go back to

00:53:42.020 --> 00:53:43.270
the Mother Earth.

00:53:47.300 --> 00:53:52.680
It should be left as it is and
this is all just part of the

00:53:52.680 --> 00:53:54.950
natural way of life.

00:53:57.800 --> 00:54:01.740
There's some things in our
migration histories that we

00:54:01.740 --> 00:54:04.100
don't understand.

00:54:04.100 --> 00:54:07.440
But I think some of those things
were never meant to be

00:54:07.440 --> 00:54:09.940
understood.

00:54:09.940 --> 00:54:14.410
They served a purpose when
they were needed.

00:54:14.410 --> 00:54:20.100
And now that purpose or that
need is no longer there, it's

00:54:20.100 --> 00:54:23.390
no longer necessary to repeat
that portion of that story.