 pilgrimage on the chacoan landscape of the north american southwest Prof Ruth M. Van Dyke - USA Binghamton University – State University of New York Te Colorado Plateau on the North American Southwest is a land of open vistas and cloudless skies, where horizontal mesas are riven by canyons and punctuated by rocky spires. On this rugged, arid topography, sky, light, stone and water loom large in human perception. For Indigenous peoples in the Southwest, natural and archaeological places are inextricably connected to memories, histories, religious practices, and cosmologies. Movement across these places, often in the form of pilgrimage, is an important part of Indigenous life. As an anthropological archaeologist, I collaborate with Indigenous peoples to learn about their pasts. My contribution to this volume consists of three parts. First, I provide orientation to this region of the world and some background on contemporary Pueblo pilgrimage practices. Ten, I focus on Chaco Canyon as a pilgrimage destination. Finally, I discuss how I as an archaeologist can use material evidence to learn more about the process of pilgrimage to Chaco. the pueblo world in the southwest united states Despite half a millennium of colonial predation, the Colorado Plateau today is home to thriving Indigenous communities. Among these are Western Pueblo peoples (Hopi, Zuni, Acoma and Laguna), who live in northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico, and eastern Pueblo peoples, who live along the Rio Grande River [Fig. 1]. My focus for archaeological research is Chaco Canyon, which was the centre of the ancient Pueblo world between the 9 th and 12 th centuries CE. In this short discussion, I illustrate the importance of ethnographic work with examples from the Hopi and the Zuni Pueblo peoples – both descendant communities of the people who built and gathering in Chaco Canyon a millennium ago. Fig. 1. Colorado Plateau in the North American Southwest, showing the Chaco region, including Chaco Canyon and the greater San Juan Basin. Map drafted by author.