Aztec Ruins National Monument, located near Chaco Canyon, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The site’s name can be attributed to Father Francisco Velaz de Escalante who may have believed the area was inhabited by the Aztec Indians of Mexico.
The structures at Aztec Ruins National Monument were built in the early 1100s most probably to serve as “a public ceremonial, economic and political center”. Aztec was a bustling well-designed community with several great houses and kivas, along with roads.
The Ancestral Puebloans who constructed the complex at Aztec were influenced by Chaco architecture and ceremonial life but, as Chaco Canyon’s influence in the region waned, Aztec may have taken on more importance as a cultural until the late 1200s. It is conjectured that the people may have moved away because of drought, or because of social, religious or political reasons. The Ancestral Puebloans migrated south along the Rio Grande and west into Arizona, leaving behind impressive great houses and a 40-foot diameter semi-subterranean kiva that is “the oldest and largest reconstructed building of its kind”.
