Aztec West Audio Tour: Stop #1

The first numbered stop on the Aztec West self-guided audio tour.

NPS

The trail through the Aztec West great house is 0.5 mile in length and requires about 40 minutes to complete using the audio tour. Most of the trail is paved and accessible to wheelchairs, with some steps and low doorways. Wheelchairs are available at the visitor center to borrow upon request.

• Stop #1

  
  

  The first numbered stop along the Aztec West self-guided trail.

  Credit / Author:

  Aztec Ruins National Monument

  Date created:

  08/15/2020

  Audio Transcript

  The Aztecs never lived here. Aztec Ruins is built by ancestors of American Indian people who are still living in the Southwest today. The site got its name because early Spanish explorers traveling north from Mexico commonly use the term Aztec. When naming many of the ancient sites they encountered. The name was later popularized in literature during the 1800s. Although different tribes have their own names for their ancestors. The ancient builders of Aztec ruins are generally called ancestral pueblo. And people great houses like Aztec ruins were the culmination of thousands of years of Pueblo history that included hunting, gathering and eventually farming in what is now the Four Corners region. Archeologists call this period the Chaco phenomenon. It was a time of unity and broad artistic expression among the Pueblo people. From 850 to 1250 C.E. Common Era great houses in Chaco Canyon and across the region served as community centers for trade, politics, agriculture and ceremony. Builders from Chaco migrated to the banks of the Animus River around 1100 CE, joining a growing community known today as Aztec Ruins. They may have intended it to be a colony of Chaco or a new regional center in its own right.