Large blocks of rooms were added during several building episodes over a 250-year period. Each construction phase continued to adhere to the great house plan. After the building was erected, the intricately crafted masonry was covered over with a coat of plaster to give the great house a very different look from the one you see today. A short walk up the slope will take you to a petroglyph panel. The sandstone walls of Chaco Canyon were an important place for the people to record images and symbols.
Pictographs are images painted onto the rock.
Both types of imagery occur near the great houses, at isolated panels, at shrines, and at sites that marked astronomical observations. Pueblo and Hopi descendants often recognize the images as meaningful symbols. Some petroglyphs represent clan symbols. These clan symbols can affirm ancient and ongoing associations to the sites and mark the paths of their clan's sacred migrations. The Future Una Vida will not be excavated in the foreseeable future for several reasons.