Archaeologists call on feds to protect Chaco Canyon area

[Judi Lynn]

Archaeologists call on feds to protect Chaco Canyon area

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press : June 30, 2015 : Updated: June 30, 2015 3:53pm

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Tucked away among northwestern New Mexico's sandstone cliffs and buttes are the remnants of an ancient civilization whose monumental architecture and cultural influences have been a source of mystery for years.

Scholars and curious visitors have spent more than a century trying to unravel those mysteries and more work needs to be done.

That's why nearly 30 top archaeologists from universities and organizations around the nation called on the U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday to protect the area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park from oil and gas development.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, they talked about the countless hours they've spent in the field, the dozens of books they've published about the Chaco society and their decades of collective experience studying its connection to modern Native American tribes in the Southwest. They call Chaco a distinct resource.

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