Late Period of Chaco Canyon

Name: Late Period of Chaco Canyon
Start: 1061
End: 1070

Type Event Region North America Time c. 1061–1070

Around the 1060s CE, the Chacoan system of the American Southwest was in the final stage of its mature period, with Great Houses still functioning bu…

Timeline

c. 1061–1065Pueblo Bonito · New MexicoPueblo Bonito, the largest Great House in Chaco Canyon, continued to function as a regional ceremonial and storage center; maintained rooms, pottery circulation, and luxury goods trade indicate that the elite network had not yet collapsed.
c. 1065–1070Chaco outlier settlement zone (San Juan Basin) · UtahNew large-scale outlier construction projects decreased markedly, and the cost of hauling building materials over long distances rose; sediment and tree-ring climate records show that intermittent drought began affecting agricultural surplus and population distribution, setting the stage for the upheaval of the Chaco system in the 12th century.

Sources

The Chaco World — Stephen H. Lekson (2015)
Tree-Ring Dates from New Mexico I–VIII: A Compilation — Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona https://ltrr.arizona.edu/