Aztec Ruins National Monument
- New Mexico
 Contrary
to the name, the Aztecs of central Mexico did not build these
structures. Early Anglo settlers, convinced that the ruins were
of Aztec origin, misnamed the site. The name persisted. Now we
know that the people archeologists call "Anasazi"
lived here and in the surrounding region. Their descendants, the
Puebloan peoples, live in parts of New Mexico and Arizona today.
Aztec's
200-year history of inhabitation was influenced by two centers
of Anasazi culture. Sixty five miles south lay Chaco, a narrow
canyon whose floor was filled with structures built over several
centuries. During the 1000s and 1100s, Chaco exerted widespread
influence as an economic and ceremonial center throughout the
25,000-square-mile San Juan Basin.
By
the late 1000s , Aztec joined many other outlying settlements
which exhibited Chacoan style architecture, ceramics, and
connecting roads. Their residents participated in what
archeologists call the Chaco Phenomenon, an extensive social and
economic system which reached far beyond the canyon walls at
Chaco. With the collapse of this system in the mid 1100s, life
changed at Aztec.
A
few decades later, people culturally akin to the dwellers of the
rugged Mesa Verde country forty miles northwest occupied this
area. This second group remodeled the old buildings, using
techniques characteristic of the Mesa Verde region. They were
farmers and hunters as were the earlier Chacoans, and they
prospered for a few generations. But by 1300 they moved on, as
did other inhabitants of the region. Today, the Puebloan peoples
maintain a rich culture influenced by their ancestors who once
occupied this broad expanse.
Visitors
can contemplate the lives of the former inhabitants while
walking the trail through what was once the largest pueblo here,
the West Ruin.
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