Aztec
Outstanding
Features
Contrary to the name, the Aztecs of central Mexico did
not build these structures. Early Anglo settlers, convinced that the
buildings were of Aztec origin, misnamed the site. The name persisted,
even though archeologists determined that people they call "Anasazi"
lived here and in the surrounding region. Their descendants, the Pueblo
people, live in parts of New Mexico and Arizona today. They prefer we
call the early people "Ancestral Pueblo."
Aztec’s 200-year history of inhabitation was
influenced by two centers of Ancestral Pueblo culture. Sixty-five
miles south lay Chaco, a narrow canyon whose floor was filled with
structures built over several centuries. During the 1000s and 1100s,
Chaco exerted widespread influence as an economic and ceremonial center
throughout the 25,000-square-mile San Juan Basin.
By the late 1000s, Aztec joined many other outlying
settlements that exhibited Chacoan style architecture, ceramics, and
connecting roads. Their residents participated in what archeologists
call the Chaco Phenomenon, an extensive social and economic system
that reached far beyond the canyon walls at Chaco. With the demise
of this system in the mid 1100s, life changed at Aztec.
A few decades later, people culturally akin
to the dwellers of the rugged Mesa Verde country forty miles northwest
occupied this area. This second group remodeled the old buildings,
using techniques characteristic f the Mesa Verde region. They were
farmers and hunters as were the earlier Chacoans, and they prospered
for a few generations. But by 1300 they moved on, as did other inhabitants
of the region. Today, the Pueblo people maintain a rich culture
influenced by their ancestors who once occupied this broad expanse.
Inside the Great Kiva
Aztec Ruins National Monument preserves structures
and artifacts of Ancestral Pueblo people from the 1100's through
1200s. People associated with Chaco Canyon to the south built and
used the structures, then people related to the Mesa Verde region
to the north used the site in the 1200's. The monument was established
in 1923, and designated a World Heritage Site in 1987. Acreage:
319.47
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- Occupation Period
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- Outstanding Features
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- Location
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- Discovery
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