PUEBLO BONITO and THREATENING ROCK

If you looked through Gallery I of our Chaco Canyon experience, you saw photos of a huge boulder which appeared to be just about to fall over into the canyon. While that boulder is also visible in this photo, hugging the cliff wall to your left in the distance, if you would like a better view of it, click the following link: https://www.optimimagery.com/THIS-IS-ME-Vacations-around-Sa/TRAVEL/TRAVEL-2019/JULY-2019-NEW-MEXICO/JULY-2019-NEW-MEXICO-I/i-BzSh3nF

An enduring mystery of Chaco is that one of the largest and most intricate of the great houses was built right in front of such a hazard (actually, a boulder probably considerably larger, but perched just as precariously). Archaeologists agree that the threat from this monster had to be obvious, yet people just went ahead and built there anyway. Some believe that decision may have been an act of proving their faith: Maybe if they showed the relevant Deity their trust, then He would look kindly upon them and their endeavors. The Chacoans did not totally ignore the threat: They did add some reinforcement around the base, and placed prayer sticks in the crack between the rock and the cliff.

The Navajo (who discovered this area about 150 years after it had been abandoned by the Ancestral Pueblo People who built the great houses here) called the rock "tse biyaa anii'ahi" (leaning rock gap). The first "White Folks" to see it called it "Threatening Rock."

Apparently the prayer sticks worked: The 97-foot tall rock stayed in place until 1941, when all 30,000 tons then fell over, focusing the brunt of the blow on the ancient walls of Pueblo Bonito.

Most of the major excavation had been done in the 1920's, so the demolished area had already been thoroughly studied. It's my understanding that no one experienced the falling of Threatening Rock, and that the next group of archaeologists were shocked to be the first to see it.

Here we are standing on Threatening Rock, looking over the eastern portion of Pueblo Bonito toward Chetro Ketl and the Chaco Culture Visitor Center.

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