A mysterious, some say mystical, Chaco civilization vanished about A.D. 1300 but it has left a legacy of astronomical records and alignments that researchers have barely deciphered.

This Anasazi culture, a major economic center, flourished for several centuries, building 13 villages or towns in the canyon and several hundred outlying structures over a wide region.

The towns and outliers were connected with an amazingly sophisticated road network totaling 1000 miles or more. Some roads connect towns, others dead end; one, the north road, goes north for 40 miles from Chaco's Pueblo Alto .

Whys, wheres, and wherefores of the roads are currently being investigated and debated by archaeoastronomers and archaeologists.