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The last major excavation at Chaco Canyon was the National Park Service’s “Chaco Project,” from 1971 to 1982. In 1997, the National Park Service and the University of Colorado began a program to revisit the data collected by the Chaco Project.From the twelfth to the thirteenth centuries, many of the pueblos in Chaco Canyon were abandoned.

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The Chaco Canyon was abandon and no one knows why for sure, but some archaeologists have been thinking that excessive logging for firewood and construction have caused deforestation,which also caused erosion,which made the land unable to sustain a large population

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It's entrancing to think about the collapse of ancient civilizations. The Incans, the Romans, the Egyptians-we want to understand why they fell from such great heights, in part to know whether the writing's on the wall for us.

The causes can be hard to parse, though, especially at a distance of hundreds or thousands of years. A recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reexamined the collapse of the Chaco Canyon civilization, which is often taken as a cautionary tale for modern societies. They found that contrary to conventional wisdom, the collapse of Chaco might not be so ominous after all.

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From 860-1140-a period known as the "Bonito Phase"-a complex agricultural society thrived in Chaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico. The society's signature achievement was the construction of "great houses" made from thousands of pieces of timber. But by the end of the 12th century, Chaco Canyon had been abandoned. No one knows why for sure, but the thinking among archaeologists has been that excessive logging for firewood and construction caused deforestation, which caused erosion, which made the land unable to sustain a large population. The story has been taken as an example of "ecocide," and a warning about our own rate of resource consumption.

In this latest article, a trio of anthropologists from the University of New Mexico pokes big holes in this theory. The deforestation narrative rests mainly on two kinds of evidence: radiocarbon dating of the fossilized contents of packrat nests (the absence of fossilized pine trees in the nests after a certain time could indicate deforestation), and hints that toward the end, the people of Chaco Canyon resorted to importing logs from great distances to continue building their houses.

They offer a number of reasons why these theories don't hold water and argue, "there is no basis for concluding that the abandonment of Chaco Canyon was brought on by deforestation." They don't have an alternative hypothesis to offer, though, which presents an interesting question: If your society is going to collapse, would you rather go down in history as a cautionary tale, or as a riddle?

Kevin Hartnett is a writer in South Carolina. He can be reached at kshartnett18@gmail.com.

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Deforestation not the culprit in ancient American civilization collapse - The Boston Globe

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It's entrancing to think about the collapse of ancient civilizations. The Incans, the Romans, the Egyptians-we want to understand why they fell from such great heights, in part to know whether the writing's on the wall for us. The causes can be hard to parse, though, especially at a distance of hundreds or thousands of years.

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Anasazi of Chaco Canyon and other settlements abandoned hunting and gathering in favor of cultivating crops such as maize corn. What rain did fall was hoarded and used sparingly and effectively. Evidence of dams, canals, and other water control features found by archaeologists shows the importance of water to the Anasazi.

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They built many water control devices in the canyon including catch basins and diversion dams. Chacoan people took advantage of the native plants including bee weed, nuts, rice grass, cactus fruit. They grew corn, beans, and squash. Meat sources included turkeys, rabbits, and larger game such as antelopes and deer.

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The Archive documents over 100 years of excavation in Chaco Canyon, and contains approximately 300 linear feet of records, 30,000 photographs, 7,000 color slides, 600 glass lantern slides, 2,000 maps, 1,000 manuscripts, and field notes, reports, and other written records.
The objects in this exhibit represent the range of materials in the Chaco Collection. They give us insight into the remarkable achievements of the Chacoan culture, and help us connect more directly to the past.

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The building was used for,Today, many believe that the great house buildings and centers for ceremonies, trading, activities. Others argue that the buildings were living spaces.

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They are located in the four corners of Colorado,New Mexico,Arizona and Utah

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What are inside the buildings?

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The Anasazi wove blankets, robes, kilts, shirts, aprons, belts (etc.) by women.  They wove the clothes made from animal fur.  They also wove thick robes for winter.  The footwear was sandals, and moccasins .