Supernova pictograph at Chaco

“Was it worth it?” Ted asked as we looked up at the Supernova Pictograph in Chaco Canyon.
Even with my hood up and a scarf wrapped around my neck, my face felt tingly from the cold. “Absolutely,” I said through stiff lips, and it was. The large red star, crescent moon, and hand possibly depicted an exploding star which happened nearly a thousand years ago called the Crab supernova. With their observant sky watching, J. McKim Malville writes in Guide to Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest, the people of the canyon no doubt saw it and Halley’s Comet in 1066.
Chaco, despite its challenging landscape, became the cultural, economic, and ceremonial center of the Ancestral Puebloan world, its influence reaching as far away as Mesa Verde and Bluff.
We’d been to Chaco before and walked through Pueblo Bonito with its 600 rooms, 40 kivas, and great plaza, Chetro Ketl, and Casa Rinconada.
Those dwellings are aligned with the four cardinal directions as well as above and below, enabling Chocoans to observe solar and lunar events, so important for farming, trading, ceremonies, and pilgrimages.
This time, we planned to see the petroglyphs and pictographs on the Peñasco Trail, but before we did, we visited the Richard Wetherill Cemetery.
Richard Wetherill, as most people know, was an amateur archaeologist who put Mesa Verde’s Cliff Palace on the map in 1888-1889.
In 1896, he turned his attention to Chaco Canyon, and as part of the Hyde Exploring Expedition under the direction of the American Museum of Natural History, he oversaw the excavation of Pueblo Bonito.
In the article, “Richard Wetherill in Chaco Canyon,” January 10, 2021, the author writes, “Picture a lanky cowboy with the adventurous spirit of Indiana Jones minus the hat and the whip, and you’ve got Richard Wetherill.”
After Wetherill moved to Chaco in 1898, he set up a trading post and used rooms in Pueblo Bonito to keep his inventory. He also raised sheep and cattle.
In 1906, when his archaeological methods came under fire from professionals, he gave up archaeology and relied on Chaco, other trading posts, and ranching for finances.
On June 10, 1910, under circumstances still controversial, a young Navajo man killed him.
Richard, his wife Marietta, and several Navajo people are buried in a small cemetery. As the wind rustled through the tumbleweeds that obscured some of the headstones, it seemed like a sad ending.
After we left the cemetery, we hiked up the Peñasco Trail which led to the Kin Kletso ruin, a late Chocoan dwelling, and about a half a mile later to the Casa Chiquita ruin, also a late construction, both exhibiting different masonry than the earlier Pueblo Bonito.
The path continued to narrow, passing the cliffs on the north side of the canyon. The petroglyphs included Kokopellis, circles, spirals, dancers, undulating lines, and two round circles that looked like they’d been embossed on the cliff’s wall, one with rays going through the middle.
We also saw Navajo rock art and historic inscriptions, including W. B. Grigsby, Washington D. C., November 2, 1911, US Survey.
By the time we finished photographing the petroglyphs and inscriptions, it was nearly 3:30. The park closed at 5, so we turned around and headed back to the Jeep.
We stayed the night in Bloomfield and returned to Chaco the next morning. The wind gusted 30 to 40 miles per hour with temperatures in the low 30’s, so we bundled up for the six-mile round-trip hike to the Supernova panel.
We were alone on the Peñasco Trail which was littered with tumbleweeds, a challenge for our little dog.
An hour later, we arrived at the Supernova site on the south side of the canyon, grateful the Park Service had posted a sign since the artist had painted the star, crescent moon, and hand 16 feet above us under the cliff’s lip. Below those images, we could see concentric rings, possibly with a tail.
Although astroarchaeologists don’t know for certain, some believe the star and moon could depict the Crab supernova witnessed on July 4, 1054 A.D. by Chinese astronomers.
In Song Huiyao, Yang Weide writes, “it had appeared at dawn, in the direction of the east, under the watch of Tigun. It had been seen in daylight, like Venus. It had rays stemming in all directions, and its colour was reddish white. Altogether visible for 23 days.” By night, it could be seen for 642 days.
The pictograph is about a mile from Peñasco Blanco, located on the canyon’s rim. Scientist believe it’s a realistic depiction of the waning moon in relation to the exploding star, possibly recorded by the sky watcher at Peñasco Blanco.
They also think the concentric rings could portray Halley’s Comet seen in 1066 A.D. though both theories are controversial.
After we photographed the Supernova and (possibly) Halley’s Comet, we trekked back down the trail, this time with the wind at our backs, pondering the ancient images we had just seen.
The Chinese named the Crab supernova “guest star” because it was temporary. The Britons perceived it as an evil omen, and if it happened today, we might think it was ushering in a new world.
J. McKim Malville writes, “For people who depended upon the regularity of the sun and moon for establishing the dates of periodic festivals and the changing seasons, it must have been unsettling and perhaps a little terrifying to encounter changes in the otherwise calm and predictable heavens.”
We’ll never know if the extraordinary celestial event changed the hearts and minds of the canyon people witnessing it, but whatever its effect, it must have shifted their worldview and thus changed their world.