# Twelve of the fourteen major buildings were oriented to the cardinal directions, the solstice, or the moon's…

> Disputed: Twelve of the fourteen major buildings were oriented to the cardinal directions, the solstice, or the moon's minor or major standstill, and the…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/answers/ANS0D9KVQ587JDN/twelve-of-the-fourteen-major-buildings-were-oriented-to-the  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Great houses of Chaco Canyon](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon)[Are the great houses aligned to solar and lunar directions, or do their orientations follow building tradition and topography?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/questions/QST0D9KV4VA5QRF/are-the-great-houses-aligned-to-solar-and-lunar-directions)Answer

Answer · Great houses of Chaco Canyon

# Twelve of the fourteen major buildings were oriented to the cardinal directions, the solstice, or the moon's…

Twelve of the fourteen major buildings were oriented to the cardinal directions, the solstice, or the moon's minor or major standstill, and the buildings were placed on solar and lunar bearings to one another.

**Disputed** Answers **1** questionPublished0

## Where it stands

**Disputed** Three pieces of evidence for, one against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Wall azimuths fall within a degree or two of the targets more often than random or traditional orientations would.
- Bearings between buildings fall on standstill azimuths more often than the canyon's shape alone would give.

## What would rule it out

- A test showing that the number of buildings within 2.8° of a target is what random orientations, or the south-facing tradition, would give.

## Evidence 3 for · 1 against

[Eleven of the fourteen buildings fall within 0.2° to 2.8° of a solar or lunar azimuth on the sensible…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/evidence/EVD0D9KVQMW0FXJ/eleven-of-the-fourteen-buildings-fall-within-0-2-to-2-8-of-a)

Suggestive

FOR

[Pueblo Alto and Tsin Kletsin lie 3.7 km apart on a bearing of 0.6°, and Una Vida and Peñasco Blanco 9.8 km…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/evidence/EVD0D9KVQWP1YG4/pueblo-alto-and-tsin-kletsin-lie-3-7-km-apart-on-a-bearing)

Suggestive

FOR

[Pueblo Bonito's principal interior wall is at 0.21° ± 0.14° and its perpendicular at -89.79°, within a…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/evidence/EVD0D9KVQD275XK/pueblo-bonitos-principal-interior-wall-is-at-0-21-0-14-and)

Supported

FOR

[Claimed alignments between great houses to the standstills appear to result from local topography.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/evidence/EVD0D9KVR4G2SWH/claimed-alignments-between-great-houses-to-the-standstills)

Suggestive

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[Are the great houses aligned to solar and lunar directions, or do their orientations follow building tradition and topography?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/questions/QST0D9KV4VA5QRF/are-the-great-houses-aligned-to-solar-and-lunar-directions)

Part of [Do the buildings and markers at Chaco encode astronomy?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/chaco-canyon/questions/QST0D9KTT3J4BBQ/do-the-buildings-and-markers-at-chaco-encode-astronomy)

Most likelyMost great houses face south to south-south-east, continuing the orientation of earlier pit houses and unit…

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Twelve of the fourteen major buildings were oriented to the cardinal directions, the solstice, or the moon's… [Answer ANS0D9KVQ587JDN]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0D9KVQ587JDN
```

Key

**ANS** 0D9KVQ587JDN

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Origin

Published

Version

1

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