![]() As noted by Mayan archaeologist, Alonso Mendez, during our recent visit to Chaco, typically temple architecture was astronomically aligned to endow royal residents with divine association. The architect/astronomers of Bonito took great care to be in perfect alignment with the sun: aligning its primary walls to the sun’s daily solar noon position in its N-S mid- wall and to the equinox in its exterior south wall. The people of Bonito sensed special powers grounded in cosmology. This concept has been held by some descendant Pueblo people over centuries and by cultures throughout Mesoamerica. Bonito was a shrine for constant honoring of ancestors.Ĭacao and Scarlett Macaws from Mesoamerica brought resonance of tropical life and perhaps - as described in the film by our colleague Rob Weiner - they evoked the Flower World, a paradisiac vision of the afterlife. Paul Pino of Laguna Pueblo said in our recent interview that these objects are valued as permanent substances in prayers. ![]() More than 50,000 pieces of turquoise and thousands of shells were among these offerings. Precious objects brought to Bonito from distant regions were placed as offerings to honor the burials of elite figures. In each stage earlier kivas are closed, and new ones opened some repositioned or entirely closed. The geometric complexities at the later stages are a stunning puzzle. With changes over time the structure increasingly limits entrance and suggests an enclosed sanctuary of esoteric activities. Viewers will see Bonito expand in this animated series of 3-D models to four stories, with 800 rooms, and more than 35 kivas - speaking volumes about the Chacaons’ investment in monumental religious architecture. It is the largest structure built in ancient North America, one on a par with Mesoamerican temple architecture. Written on the Landscape returns to the central complex with new revelations of Pueblo Bonito’s key role as a powerful center to this the wider Chaco World. The ancient roads associated with these Great Houses are also emblematic of Chacoan style architecture. These massed up structures, found up to 200 from Chaco Canyon, are recognizable as Chacoan by their geometric layouts that contain kivas and connect with nearby Great Kivas. ![]() ![]() Chaco’s ideology is expressed in the construction of over 150 Great Houses across a region the size of Ohio. Adriel’s infectious excitement in discovering “new sites everyday” will draw the audience into viewing rigorous replications of Chaco’s central architecture on remote rugged landscapes. In flights with acclaimed aerial photogapher Adriel Heisey, our film explores the expanse of the Chaco World throughout the Four Corners. The scale of the Chaco culture is also vast in it’s geography. Many of these roads join to become the 35 mile Great North Road, a corridor relating the center to the North and a badlands canyon, perceived in Pueblo thought to be a connector to the place of emergence and to the creator. Note that the great number of roads in Chaco Canyon were built on a scale beyond utilitarian purposes. But it will be experienced in Written on the Landscape in animations such as this: image to right. ![]() The astounding scale of the central buildings escapes a visitor to Chaco Canyon. We reveal the power of the Chacoans’ cosmology to inspire monumental constructions for ritual related to the cycles of the sun and moon. With new computer models of Chaco architecture shown in animation and set in Chaco’s austere desert landscape, our new film brings to life the deeper mysteries of the Chaco culture and its vast expanse. At this Spring Equinox, as the sun turns toward the north and the light, we want to express again our profound thanks for your continuing support, and to share the exciting progress of our new film Written on the Landscape: Mysteries Beyond Chaco Canyon. ![]()
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