Mesa Verde is best known for its cliff dwellings. In fact, these dwellings are what people generally conjure up when discussing the Ancestral Puebloan culture (or the Anasazi as many people still refer… Continue reading
From Chaco Canyon I drove back north to Aztec Ruins, a large great house site that contains a reconstructed kiva where visitors are permitted to sit inside. This site flourished concurrently with Chaco… Continue reading
The great kiva at Casa Rinconada is the largest in the canyon at 63 feet in diameter and is unusual in that it is not incorporated in any great houses, has a 39… Continue reading
Chaco Canyon, in addition to being the home of some amazing ruins, also happens to be a fantastically beautiful place. The Ancestral Puebloan people believed that this was their “center place,” a sacred… Continue reading
Chaco Canyon was the heart of the ancient Puebloan culture, the epicenter of religious, social, and economic life in the region between the late 800s to early 1100s AD. More than a dozen… Continue reading
From Chimney Rock I drove to the Salmon Ruins, which lies along the San Juan River near Farmington, New Mexico. The first phase of construction here in 1068 – 1072 AD was limited… Continue reading
Welcome to Archaeology Week! After visiting the Great Sand Dunes, I headed towards something marked in my atlas as “Chimney Rock Archaeological Area,” which is as of this year officially a national monument.… Continue reading
Driving on I-70 from Moab, we decided to stop at Thompson Springs, Utah to check out the petroglyphs of Sego Canyon. Located within 5 miles of the highway, the canyon has examples of… Continue reading
We started the next day at Devil’s Garden, the 7+ mile loop trail that includes 8 arches and a 150 foot spire. Relatively flat at first, the trail gets interesting after passing Landscape… Continue reading
The rest of our time in Needles was full of beautiful sights just slightly less amazing than the Chesler Park/Joint Trail hike. We did a number of short hikes and overlooks along the… Continue reading
