The Chacoans are known for their monumental architecture. In addition to the great houses and great kivas, they also constructed a vast network of roads. Here are some fun facts about Chacoan Roads:
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Segments of some of the roads are still visible from the air, but others are only detectable with lidar. |
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Some of the roads are dozens or even hundreds of miles of long. The longest is the Great North Road, which starts just east of Pueblo Alto above Chaco Canyon, and runs due north to Kutz Canyon near Bloomfield, then continues to Aztec and beyond. |
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The roads in Chaco Canyon average about 15 feet wide, and the ones leading toward outliers average about 30 feet wide. For reference, a modern road in a US neighborhood is a standard 28 feet wide. |
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The roads are often bordered by berms and sometimes surfaced with caliche or other materials. |
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In some places there are numerous parallel segments of roads. |
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In other places there are ring roads that encompass multiple great houses. |
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Some roads are aligned with solar events such as winter solstice. |
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The roads don't swerve around obstacles such as cliffs or valleys, or conform to the landscape as modern roads do, but instead are very straight. When they change direction, it tends to be with sharp, angled turns rather than curves. When a road comes to a mesa or cliff face, it goes straight up, with stairs carved into the side of the mesa, then the road continues on its original alignment. |
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Some roads are just short segments that point or lead toward important places or landscape features. |
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Some road segments connect to places that were occupied in the past. |
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The Chacoans didn't use the wheel, so they had no wheeled vehicles or carts. They had no beasts of burden. Their only method of transportation was walking. |
Why did they build roads on such a monumental scale? Were the roads primarily for the transportation of people, goods and building materials? Where the roads symbolic or ceremonial? Depending on the road, it could be any or all of these possibilities.
