Parallel roads, solstice and sacred geography at the Gasco Site

A Chacoan ritual landscape

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3310573
AutoresR S Weiner (0000-0001-5197-804X, Dartmouth College, autor de correspondencia), Richard A Friedman (0000-0002-5136-2998, San Juan College), John R Stein (Gallup Indian Medical Center)
Año2025
Volumen99
Número404
Páginas500-516
Fecha de publicación2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
EditorialAntiquity Publications (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.15184/aqy.2025.4
OpenAlexW4406808638
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas18

Monumental roads were constructed during the ninth to thirteenth centuries by the regional society centred on Chaco Canyon in the US Southwest. Here, the authors present new lidar and field documentation of parallel roads at the Gasco Site, which sits within a ritual landscape south of Chaco Canyon. Their findings reveal that the Gasco Road is substantially longer than previously believed and forms alignments between natural springs and towards the winter solstice sunrise over Mount Taylor, a mountain sacred among contemporary Indigenous peoples. These findings highlight the agency of landscapes and skyscapes in structuring ritual practices in ancient societies worldwide

Archaeology · Geodesy · Geography · Solstice · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · History