This Soldier Was Fighting Native Americans When He Discovered An Elaborate Ancient Lost City
Channel: watchJojo
Date: 23/04/2018

It’s unlikely that José Antonio Vizcarra was looking for ancient ruins. After all, it was the height of summer in 1823, and Vizcarra, the governor of New Mexico, was waging war against the Navajo. For 74 days Vizcarra and a column of 1,500 soldiers advanced through the west of the state, and their route took them through Chaco Canyon.This was the first recorded journey through the canyon. And while Vizcarra may not have realized it, he was actually about to make an incredibly important archaeological discovery. In the valley, he spotted the ruins of a number of different buildings. This, as it turned out, was a city of the Anasazi, the ancestors of the Pueblo Native Americans.The canyon lies in a remote location between the modern cities of Farmington and Albuquerque. From 800 A.D. to around 1130 A.D., however, the site was the hub of Anasazi culture. But even with Vizcarra’s rediscovery of the ancient structures, it wasn’t until later in the 19th century that archaeologists began to delve into the secrets of the Chacoan past.