Pueblo Alto: A Great House Embedded in a Larger Mystery
A brief glimpse at the Chaco System of the American Southwest
In northwestern New Mexico, within the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, lies Pueblo Alto, a great house built by the Ancestral Pueblo of the Chaco Culture. Spanish for “high town,” Pueblo Alto shares a mesa with Nuevo Alto, 0.6 miles from Pueblo Bonito, the largest known of the Chaco great houses. Because of its high position relative to the rest of the landscape, Pueblo Alto is prominently visible to much of the San Juan Basin.
Constructed in approximately CE 1020, Pueblo Alto shows signs of expansion and alteration until the twelfth century, until the dissolution of the Chaco System and the mass migration of the Ancestral Pueblo from the Four Corners area of the American southwest. The great house is comprised of approximately 130 masonry rooms and 18 kivas; however, unlike other great houses, Pueblo Alto lacks a great kiva. Pueblo Alto also appears to have hosted approximately 5 to 20 families. Though many still debate the exact purpose of this site, it appears to have been a significant nexus point for agriculture in the area, perhaps primarily serving as a storage site. Researchers have described great houses in Chaco Canyon, such as Pueblo Alto, as built to control the production, storage, and circulation of…
