Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National
Historical Park hosting the densest and most exceptional concentration
of pueblos in the American Southwest. The Park is located in the arid
and inhospitable Four Corners region of New Mexico, in a remote canyon
cut by the Chaco Wash. Between AD 900 and 1150, Chaco Canyon was a
major center of culture for the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. Chacoans
quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances,
assembling 15 major complexes which remained the largest buildings in
North America until the 19th century. Evidence of archaeoastronomy at
Chaco has been proposed, with the "Sun Dagger" petroglyph at Fajada
Butte a popular example. Many Chacoan buildings may have been aligned
to capture the solar and lunar cycles, requiring generations of
astronomical observations and centuries of skillfully coordinated
construction. Climate change is thought to have led to the emigration
of Chacoans and the eventual abandonment of the canyon, beginning with
a 50-year drought in 1130. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is considered
sacred ancestral homelands by the Hopi and Pueblo people, who maintain
oral accounts of their historical migration from Chaco and their
spiritual relationship to the land.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaco_Culture_National_Historical_Park>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
312:
Constantine the Great defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian
Bridge in Rome, leading him to end the Tetrarchy and become the only
ruler of the Roman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Milvian_Bridge>
1919:
The U.S. Congress passed the Volstead Act over President Woodrow
Wilson's veto, reinforcing Prohibition in the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volstead_Act>
1954:
The Kingdom of the Netherlands was re-founded as a federacy with the
proclamation of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands>
1965:
Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with
Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, was promulgated
by Pope Paul VI, absolving the Jews of the killing of Jesus, and
calling for increased relations with all non-Christian religions.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostra_Aetate>
2007:
In the Argentine general election, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
became the first female to be elected President of Argentina, winning
with a 22 percent lead over her nearest rival, one of the widest
margins obtained by a candidate since the collapse of the National
Reorganization Process in 1983.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristina_Fern%C3%A1ndez_de_Kirchner>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gregarious (adj):
1. Describing one who enjoys being in crowds and socializing.
2. (zoology) Of animals that travel in herds or packs
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gregarious>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Walk a single path, becoming neither cocky with victory nor broken with
defeat, without forgetting caution when all is quiet or becoming
frightened when danger threatens.
--Jigoro Kano
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jigoro_Kano>
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