The Mystery of Chaco Canyon:

Unveiling the Ancient Astronomy

Since its release in 2000, our award-winning film, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon, has aired more than 10,000 times on 95% of PBS stations across the country. New Mexico PBS has broadcast this full-length documentary more than 90 times. Learn more about our captivating exploration of ancient astronomy in the American Southwest, directed by the Solstice Project founder Anna Sofaer and narrated by Robert Redford.

HOW TO WATCH:

We’re thrilled to announce that our award-winning film, “The Mystery of Chaco Canyon” is now streaming on Amazon Prime CLICK HERE

You can now purchase the DVD of our full-length documentary on Amazon CLICK HERE

Rent and stream the full version on Vimeo CLICK HERE

HOME VERSION
EDUCATIONAL VERSION

The Mystery of Chaco Canyon continues to impact and inform audiences in significant ways; 800 K-12 schools and colleges have purchased copies of The Mystery of Chaco Canyon to teach about the remarkable archaeoastronomy of the ancient Pueblo people of Chaco. The film has also streamed at 130 colleges and universities where 5,000 viewings have taken place in classrooms, student centers, dorm rooms and apartments for a total time viewed of 1,800 hours.

The Mystery of Chaco Canyon examines the deep enigmas presented by the massive prehistoric remains found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. It is the summation of 20 years of research. The film reveals that between 850 and 1150 AD, the Chacoan people designed and constructed massive ceremonial buildings in a complex celestial pattern throughout a vast desert region. Aerial and time lapse footage, computer modeling, and interviews with scholars show how the Chacoan culture designed, oriented and located its major buildings in relationship to the sun and moon. Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Chacoan people, regard Chaco as a place where their ancestors lived in a sacred past. Pueblo leaders speak of the significance of Chaco to the Pueblo world today.

 View The Promo Trailer:

10 minute Intro clip to the movie:

The film challenges the notion that Chaco Canyon was primarily a trade and redistribution center. Rather it argues that it was a center of astronomy and cosmology and that a primary purpose for the construction of the elaborate Chacoan buildings and certain roads was to express astronomical interests and to be integral parts of a celestial patterning.

While the Chacoans left no written text to help us to understand their culture, their thoughts are preserved in the language of their architecture, roads and light markings. Landscape, directions, sun and moon, and movement of shadow and light were the materials used by the Chacoan architects and builders to express their knowledge of an order in the universe.

This is the long-awaited sequel to Anna Sofaer’s classic film THE SUN DAGGER, which changed forever our perception of America’s earliest Indian peoples.

The Mystery of Chaco Canyon” and “The Sun Dagger” are available for HOME use and for EDUCATIONAL use. The EDUCATIONAL version has an accompanying Teachers Study Guide. Half hour versions of both films are avaliable for teaching (please email [email protected] for this option).