i started in chaco canyon and

at chaco canyon, in new mexico, the anasazi built great residential and ceremonial centers. sometime between the 11th and 13th centuries a.d., all of these communities were abandoned. in the southwestern corner of colorado, one group of anasazi flourished at a place called sand canyon. now overgrown with juniper and pinyon, sand canyon pueblo was once a thriving, densely populated town. here, a team of archaeologists is excavating an abandoned anasazi settlement. woman: the bubble in the center. about 500 people once lived here in more than 400 rooms. the rooms are grouped around circular chambers, called kivas, where the anasazi practiced rituals. the rituals were secret, so the kivas were built below ground level and concealed beneath an earthen roof. heavy beams, like this one, supported the roof. curiously, many beams are charred. the kivas had been burned. archaeologist william lipe. i'm not sure what it means, but i can speculate that the burning of the kiva roofs was some type of closing down ritual for this village. we've seen that a few other places in the northern