Chimney Rock
Outstanding Features

As an outlier of the Chacoan culture, Chimney Rock is the most isolated and remote of the Anasazi communities connected to Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Its core and veneer masonry reflects the same architecture found at Chaco. Chimney rock is also the highest outlier in elevation at 7,900 feet.

Archaeologists believe that the heavy Chacoan influence at Chimney rock was imported solely by men; that the Chacoan immigrants were not families but single males. Masons and architects were needed at Chimney rock. Both were typically male occupations. Also, Chimney Rock's religious significance suggests that priests may have made the pilgrimage north from Chaco. Anasazi priesthood was another responsibility held by men.

Other archaeological theories hold that Chimney Rock was a trading outpost for the Chacoan Culture. Ancient roads connected the outliers to Chaco, and it's believed that Chimney Rock's major export was timber. The buildings at Chaco Canyon contain large timbers that could not have been harvested in the arid desert of northern New Mexico, but could have been brought from Chimney rock. Speculation suggests the logs were floated down the Piedra River and then carried by hand.