September 19, 2025
On September 16, 2025, Robert Redford died. Among his many films and productions, he narrated The Mystery of Chaco Canyon. Released in 2000, the award-winning documentary was a production of the Solstice Project. The film presented a theory of how an ancient civilization might have created Chaco Canyon and its purpose tracking the sun and moon. Directed by the Solstice Project founder Anna Sofaer, the film aired widely across the PBS affiliates. Watch The Mystery of Chaco Canyon available on PBS now.
Side Notes
- Robert Redford, Oscar-winning director, actor, and indie patriarch dies at 89. AP News.
- Charles Robert Redford Jr. (August 18, 1936 – September 16, 2025) was an American actor, director, and producer. He received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Golden Globe Awards (including the 1994 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award), the 1996 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, a 2002 Academy Honorary Award, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the 2019 Honorary César. He was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014.
- Chaco Culture National Historic Park Service. Explore the monumental structures and breathtaking landscape at Chaco, a thriving regional center for the ancestral Pueblo people from 850 to 1250 CE (Common Era), through hiking & biking trails, ranger guided tours & programs, and more. Chaco Canyon is a sacred and deeply personal place for many Indigenous peoples throughout the Southwest. Please visit with respect.
- What is archaeoastronomy? University of Maryland.
