This Ancient Mega Pueblo Still Dominates the New Mexico Desert After 400 Years

The Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon

The Ancestral Puebloans built Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico between AD 828 and 1126. This massive D-shaped building contained 800 rooms and stood four stories tall on its northern side.

Covering 2 acres with a 500-foot base, workers spent over 800,000 hours building it. Anthropologist Brian Fagan ranks it alongside Stonehenge and Machu Picchu in importance.

Spanish explorers named it “beautiful town” when they found it.

The Birth of Pueblo Bonito

The Ancestral Puebloans built Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico between AD 828 and 1126.

Construction began around AD 850 with “Old Bonito,” a curved row of 50 rooms that became the north wall. This happened as Puebloan populations were growing rapidly across the region.

Nearby forests provided all building materials. Workers used ponderosa pine for roof beams, with oak, piñon, and juniper for other parts.

They also set up workshops to process turquoise, a valuable blue-green stone used for trade and ceremonies.

Building in Four Major Phases

Pueblo Bonito grew through four main building phases between 850 and 1115 CE. The biggest expansion occurred from 1020 to 1060 CE, when new east-west sections created the distinctive D-shape.

Building methods improved with each phase. Early rough stonework evolved into precisely cut blocks in careful patterns.

The finished structure rose five stories high in places, stepping down toward the central plaza like a giant stone stadium.

The Architectural Marvel

Builders used a “core-and-veneer” technique for walls up to 3 feet thick. They placed two stone faces with rubble filling between them for strength.

A perfect north-south wall divides the central plaza in half. Throughout the building, aligned doorways create long sightlines.

The most unique features are T-shaped doorways requiring exceptional skill to create, found alongside three other doorway styles.

The Great Kivas

Pueblo Bonito contains over 30 kivas – round, underground chambers for religious ceremonies. Two great kivas sit on opposite sides of the central wall in perfect symmetry.

Inside these sacred spaces, stone benches line the walls. Floor vaults created drum-like sounds during ceremonies, while ventilation shafts brought in fresh air.

Many include a small floor hole called a sipapu, representing where humans first emerged from the underworld.

The Mystery of Room 33

Room 33, in the oldest section, contains 14 high-status burials spanning 330 years. One man was buried with thousands of turquoise beads and shell ornaments – the richest burial found in the Southwest.

DNA tests revealed nine individuals shared the same maternal lineage, proving Ancestral Puebloans passed status through the mother’s family line.

This small room served as a burial place for an elite family that maintained power for centuries.

Advanced Astronomical Alignments

Pueblo Bonito shows impressive astronomical knowledge. The south plaza wall aligns exactly with sunrise on spring and fall equinoxes – when day and night are equal.

Wall niches throughout the structure capture sunlight only during specific celestial events like solstices.

These alignments turned the building into a calendar marking seasonal changes for farming and ceremonies, showing how builders integrated sky knowledge into their architecture.

The Trading Center

Pueblo Bonito was a major trade hub. Archaeologists found traces of Mexican chocolate in pottery – the earliest evidence of chocolate in the United States before Spanish arrival.

The site contained 111 cylindrical pottery jars from Mesoamerican cultures, tropical bird feathers, shells from both coasts, and copper bells. These items traveled over 1,200 miles to reach Chaco Canyon, showing the far-reaching connections of this community.

A Ceremonial Center

Few people actually lived in Pueblo Bonito despite its many rooms. Archaeologists found only 50-60 burials and 69 hearths – not enough for a large population.

Research suggests only about 12 households (roughly 70 people) lived here permanently. Most rooms served other purposes like storage or ceremonies.

The site lacks the trash deposits typically left by large populations, indicating it primarily hosted gatherings, trade, and religious events.

The Threatening Rock

Builders placed Pueblo Bonito dangerously close to the canyon wall, beneath an unstable cliff section they named “tse biyaa anii’ahi” (leaning rock gap).

Despite the danger from this 97-foot, 30,000-ton rock formation, they built their greatest structure in its shadow and constructed stone supports to stabilize it.

In January 1941, the massive formation finally collapsed, destroying about 30 rooms along the rear wall.

Abandonment and Environmental Change

By 1126 CE, Pueblo Bonito stood empty. Over generations, people had cut thousands of trees for building and fuel, stripping the surrounding landscape.

This deforestation, combined with drought, caused water tables to drop and soil to become infertile. Without these resources, even this advanced society couldn’t survive in Chaco Canyon.

By the mid-1100s, the Ancestral Puebloans moved to areas with more reliable resources.

Visiting Pueblo Bonito

Visit the ruins at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northwestern New Mexico. Park entrance costs $25 for vehicles (valid 7 days).

You’ll find Pueblo Bonito 4.5 miles from the Visitor Center via the 9-mile Canyon Loop Drive.

Read More on WhenInYourState.com:

• Ancient Cliff Dwellings at Bandelier Tell 800-Year-Old Stories in New Mexico’s Canyon Wilderness
• Ancient Tribes & Spanish Settlers Carved 24,000+ Messages on These Black Volcanic Canvas in New Mexico
• 11 of the Most Remarkable Ruins at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico