Chaco Canyon ~ Archaeology

Preservation and respect for the rich historical content of the Chaco Canyon property is paramount, with extensive efforts already underway, a year or more before breaking ground. The ruins and artifacts buried just beneath the visible surface hold valuable keys to deepending our understanding of this area's original inhabitants.

 

Doug McFadden, former head archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management's nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, said the ruins - at 14 sites - offer excellent examples of how the Virgin Anasazi lived from the year 1 to the 1200s, when they abruptly vanished.

 

 

McFadden, whose private consulting firm conducted an archaeological survey of the area for McCowan last spring, said the ancient dwellings - layered and built in blocks of rooms - were used for residential and storage space. They extend down about 15 feet. "They show us the different periods of occupation from the early [Anasazi] to the late period," McFadden said. "It's a neat situation to have that continuity of occupation. It allows us to study how things changed for them over time." McFadden saluted McCowan for stepping up to preserve the sites. "It's an extremely rare situation for a [private] developer to go out of his way to protect a site," McFadden said. "He is not required by state or federal law to do an [archaeological] inventory."

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