Chaco Meridian

The Chaco Meridian is a north-south axis on which lie the Ancestral Puebloan sites, Aztec Ruins and Chaco Canyon, as well as Paquime at Casas Grandes in northern Mexico.

Archeologist Stephen H. Lekson developed the theorizes that the location of these sites approximately on the same line of longitude (107°57'25") was intentional, and represents a ceremonial and political connection between the sites and is due to migration of the rulers of the Ancestral Puebloan moving their capital city.

Lekson based his theory on architectural similarities between the sites, such as colonnades, T-shaped doors, and room-wide platforms.

The Chacoan Great North Road lies near the meridian, starting at Chaco Canyon and ending near Aztec Ruin.

[1] In 2009 in Archeology Magazine, he amended the list of sites on the "meridian" to include Shabik'eschee, which is near Chaco, and Sacred Ridge north of Aztec near Durango, Colorado.