Next stop, Cortez, Colorado... |
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| This is our starting point for several adventures: Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, and Anasazi Heritage Center. | |
| May 9: Hovenweep National Monument is almost on the Colorado/Utah border about 43 miles from Cortez, CO. It's a small complex, about 400 acres, but it's amazing that there were six Ancestral Puebloan (AP) villages in this small canyon, called Little Ruin Canyon, from AD1200 to AD1300. You can see it all here, square, oval, circular and D-shaped towers. Hovenweep is a Ute word meaning deserted valley. These people were now cliff dwellers that most people think of when you say Anasazi... | |
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| Entering the Hovenweep Nat'l Monument | One of the first sights, a couple of the round towers at Tower Point. |
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| This is actually the upper story of a large pueblo, the rest is mostly rubble below. | Towers, rim rock house, houses built into the rock just down the rim a little bit, so many variations. |
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| This is definitely living quarters for a family or small clan. Not that you can see it, there is a Kiva included in the structure. | They built on many surfaces, including some of the large rocks and not just on the rims. |
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| Hovenweep Castle consists of two D-shaped towers perched on the rim of the canyon. | Another view of Hovenweep Castle. |
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| Looking across at the castle, that hill of dirt and what looks like rocks just below is actually stones that have fallen from the structure. | Checking out the canyon, it is pretty amazing thing to look at. |
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| Current resident of Little Ruin Canyon. | looking down the canyon, away from the pueblos, not a very big canyon. |
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| Looking up the canyon as we cross the bottom towards the pueblos. | It is plenty steep to get in and out though, Jim, Allison & Jim are climbing out in front of me. |
| May 10: This is the main reason we are here... Mesa
Verde! I have always wanted to visit here, the pictures have always
been intriguing and mesmerizing to me. You have to wonder how these
AP's did it, built these villages under the cliffs, off of the
canyon floor. Mesa Verde was the first Nat'l Park set aside to
preserve the works of humankind.There are over 4,500 archeological
sites in the park, only 600 are cliff dwellings. This is a MUST SEE National Park, it still gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. :)
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| Wildlife... we saw these cute little prairie dogs at the end of the drive out of the RV park as we left to head to Mesa Verde. | If you are 62 years or older, one must buy an "old farts" card. $10.00 (one time, good for life) will get you into almost all Nat'l Parks for free or reduced price. The only way to go! |
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| I made this up from all the pictures that I took of Mesa Verde Nat'l Park and there are a few of Allison's as well. Let me know if you prefer this format or whether you like them all as individual on pages like "this page". Inquiring minds need to know. Turn sound on if you like music. | This is a Kiva Jar, one of the best specimens recovered in the Mancos Valley area. It is Black on White, so it was probably used for ceremonies, etc. Beautiful for something created over 700 years ago! |
| May 12: Anasazi Heritage Center, what a great museum (as I have said before so worth the visit). So much to learn here, you need to take the time and you will learn a lot about Ancestral Puebloans. | |
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| More Black on White pottery found in the area, the pottery just intrigues me, to be so precise, the shape, the design and they didn't even use kilns. | Sleeping Ute Mountian, if you look really closely, it is a sleeping Indian on it's back, head to the right with a feathered headdress on, highest point is the arms crossed over the chest, and then the legs to the right. |
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| McPhee Reservoir, they had to remove a LOT of artifacts before they filled it with water. | Escalante Pueblo |
| What a great time, so glad that we came here and may
come back again!
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