Casamero Pueblo: Caught in the Owl's Eyes Gaze

Casamero Pueblo is a Chacoan outlier Great House site located between Grants and Gallup, NM. This two-story Great House was occupied between A.D. 1000 and 1125. It had 22 ground floor rooms and may have had six second-story rooms. It is located 45 miles south of Chaco Canyon, making it a Chacoan outlier community.

You can see its walls in the far distance, to the right of the sign, at the base of the bright red sandstone cliffs of Tecolote (Owl) Mesa. The two alcoves just to the right of the sign form the large "owl's eyes" that give the mesa its name.

The Great House had T-shaped doorways that are characteristic of Chacoan architecture, one small interior kiva, a great kiva, and two Chacoan roads. Casamero was settled during a time that corresponded with a surge of building in Chaco Canyon – around A.D. 1050. It existed during much of the florescence of Ancestral Pueblo culture in Chaco Canyon, was clearly related to it, and declined in unison with it. When something in Chaco Canyon died, so did Casamero. 

The masonry is Chacoan-style core and veneer. The mortar between the limestone blocks is extensively chinked with chips of limestone. 

The Owl's Eyes. 


Looking toward the right "Owl's Eye" and another deeper alcove beyond it that has a water pour-off channel at the top. 

9/27/20 with Diana Clanin

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