The Science Life Anthropology

Two scientists’ trek showed how people of Chaco Canyon may have hauled logs

The researchers literally put their heads together to solve this transportation mystery

A photo of two men walking side by side on a road. Both men have a piece of fabric across their foreheads that attaches to a large log on their backs.

James Wilson (left) and Rodger Kram (right) carry a ponderosa pine log using head straps called tumplines. The two scientists suggest that this is how ancient people of Chaco Canyon hauled timber across more than 75 kilometers about 1,000 years ago.

Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder

By McKenzie Prillaman

As the morning sun peeked through the trees, Rodger Kram readied himself for the coming marathon.