Una Vida, Ancient Puebloan great house in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
Una Vida is a two-story great house containing 160 rooms, built with mortarless stone walls and wooden roof beams covered in mud and clay. The structure follows an extended D-shaped design with various attached sections that spread across the canyon floor.
Construction began around 800 AD, concurrent with nearby Pueblo Bonito, and underwent major expansion after 930 AD. This growth phase reflected the flourishing of society in the Chaco region during the Middle Period.
The structure demonstrates advanced building methods used by Ancestral Puebloans, with rock art nearby showing human figures, solar symbols, and geometric designs. These carvings reflect the spiritual and daily beliefs of the people who inhabited this place.
A one-mile round-trip trail guides visitors through the archaeological site, which remains in a largely unexcavated natural state. The location preserves the sense of how the ruins appear without extensive reconstruction or modification.
The structure's characteristic D-shape features an unusual extension added to accommodate the natural drainage patterns of the canyon floor. This practical design choice shows how builders adapted construction to the existing landscape.
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