Earliest Origins

When the people of Chaco first began to settle in this region it was during the Basketmaker phase (which we study in Camp Internet)

This was the time period when nomadic (wandering) hunters and gathers first began to build seasonal and then permanent homes. The permanent homes are called pit houses and are partially submerged in the ground. They also settled into an agrarian (farming) way of life and began growing corn, beans and squash (link here to ….)

At first they settled on the sandstone Mesa tops. Then they moved down into the Canyon and built several villages. Their ancestors had been ancient hunters who had roamed through Chaco Canyon 8500 years ago and the Basketmakers, who began to settle and build pit houses arrived 1500 years ago. By 700 AD (1300 years ago), permanent settlements were established and the first above ground pueblos were built. The semi-subterranean pit houses were then transformed into below ground ceremonial rooms that we now call kivas.