Located in today's New Mexico are the remains of a great, mysterious city built by ancient Puebloans.
Great Mysterious City Built by Ancient Puebloans
According to Science Alert, from 900 to 1200 CE, a huge number of ancient Puebloans from Chaco Canyon occupied great structures that went as high as four stories. Several of these structures had hundreds of rooms within them.
The buildings were made of weighty timbers and blocks of sandstone. They were considered the largest established structures in North America before the 19th century. Considering how they did not use wheels or draft animals for the construction, the logistics and transportation challenges of such materials across close mountains have puzzled many.
Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have delved into this mystery and discovered how these ancient Puebloans literally used their heads to combat these challenges. Their research was included in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
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How Did Ancient Puebloans Overcome Logistic Challenges to Build the City?
The researchers revealed that a human's spine, neck, and skull can work together and support a wooden beam weighing 60 kg for around 100 kilometers. All that is needed to maneuver the great load are a few willing humans as well as some head straps.
At first, study co-authors Joseph Carzoli, a neurophysiologist, and James Wilson, a biochemist, attempted to heft the logs over their shoulders. However, they quickly realized that such a method was inefficient. Integrative physiologist Rodger Kram says how debilitating and dumb the approach was.
This is something that humans have known for millennia. Despite this, the prehistoric hack is often bypassed. Instead, waist straps get linked to hiking backpacks in order to help alleviate the shoulders from the load and distribute the heaviness to the core. An easier option, however, would be to use a tumpline to strap the weight into one's head.
Logistic Hack: Tumpline Strapped to One's Head
Tumplines are simple prehistoric tools that have been globally used for millennia. Wilson explains that these tools enable a person to carry heavier loads over farther distances without getting fatigued.
Around and within Chaco Canyon, archaeologists have spotted effigies of ceramic illustrating ancient Puebloans that used tumplines to bring resources and fiber wraps of yucca which may be ancient tumpline remnants. The researchers note that sherpas from Nepal are still using tumplines to carry weights that are as heavy as 111 kg.
After practicing for many months with Carzoli's guidance, Kram and Wilson were able to cooperatively carry a ponderosa pine worth 60 kg up and down a steep road at a daily rate of 25 kilometers. Science Alert notes that this was not significantly slower compared to a walking pace that has no burdens. The researchers also say that this was done with unexpected comfort.
Kram and colleagues note how it is important for the carriers to verbally communicate with each other in order to ensure proper timing. The researchers also brought T-shaped chunks where the timber may lean against them as they took breaks. This idea was taken from sherpas in Nepal.
They estimated that three individuals could carry 85 kg of timber from Chuska mountain forests all the way to the Chaco desert. With rest and refueling time factored in, the trip may take four days.
According to Science Alert, projections indicated that around 200,000 beams were necessary to construct the whole city. This is not an easy job, but given the time and human resources, it could be feasible.
The scientists admit, however, that they lack evidence to prove that tumplines were indeed used for timber transportation. Nevertheless, they have shown that such an approach may have been effective in doing so.
The researchers' next step would be to re-enact the entire trip and see if it was indeed possible.
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