Chetro Ketl is an Ancestral Puebloan great house and American
archeological site located in Chaco Culture National Historical Park,
New Mexico. Construction on Chetro Ketl began c. 990 and was largely
complete by 1075. Following the onset of a severe drought, most Chacoans
emigrated from the canyon by 1140. The great house was rediscovered in
1823 by the Spanish governor of New Mexico and explored in 1849 by the
US Army Corps of Engineers. Chaco scholars estimate that it required
more than 500,000 man-hours, 26,000 trees, and 50 million sandstone
blocks to erect Chetro Ketl. The building contained around 400 rooms and
was the largest great house by area in Chaco Canyon, covering nearly 3
acres (1.2 ha). Chetro Ketl's purpose is widely debated, but many
archeologists believe the building was a place of large-scale ceremony
that held an important position within the larger Chacoan system. The
building has deteriorated significantly since its rediscovery in the
early 19th century, and its usefulness as a source of information about
Chacoan culture is slowly diminishing.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chetro_Ketl>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
French Revolution: One day after the National Convention voted
to abolish the monarchy, the French First Republic came into being.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_First_Republic>
1862:
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, declaring the freedom of all slaves in Confederate
territory by January 1, 1863.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation>
1922:
After nine days, the Great Fire of Smyrna was extinguished,
having caused tens of thousands of deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Smyrna>
1955:
ITV was founded as the first commercial television network in
the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV_(TV_network)>
1965:
The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a
resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire in the Indo-Pakistani
War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1965>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
nothospecies:
(botany) A hybrid which is formed by direct hybridization of two
species, not other hybrids.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nothospecies>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I urge you to work together in promoting a true, worldwide ethical
mobilization which, beyond all differences of religious or political
convictions, will spread and put into practice a shared ideal of
fraternity and solidarity, especially with regard to the poorest and
those most excluded.
--Pope Francis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pope_Francis>