The Bonito Paleochannel in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico: Recent Research and Implications for Causality and Effects

Abstract

During the late eleventh century AD, a episode of erosion in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, threatened to destroy portions of the Pueblo Bonito great house and possibly other large buildings. Known as the Bonito Paleochannel, this large arroyo meant the loss of significant amounts of surface water from valley-wide flooding originating in upstream and tributary sources. We believe that erosion was probably the result of an increasing size and frequency of floods. There is no compelling evidence that agriculture was affected by the paleochannel but we hypothesize that great house construction became extremely difficult. Consequently, the impact of the Bonito Paleochannel cycle may have been felt most in the political economy.