Spitzer fellowship

exploration into the past of the four corners: ancient pueblos and cliff dwellings Diana Chang | vladimir schumovych

ITINERARY MAP

EXPLORATION INTO THE PAST OF THE FOUR CORNERS: ANCIENT PUEBLOS & CLIFF DWELLINGS

SUPPORTED BY THE BERNARD & ANNE SPITZER SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

WRITTEN BY DIANA CHANG & VLADIMIR SCHUMOVYCH PHOTOGRAPHED BY DIANA CHANG & VLADIMIR SCHUMOVYCH ILLUSTRATION DRAWN BY DIANA CHANG

MANY THANKS TO...

OUR HOPI TOUR GUIDE, RICKY OUR ARCHAEOLOGISTS, LARRY BAKER & CHRIS, OUR LECTURE SPEAKER, PAUL REED OUR NAVAJO TOUR GUIDE, JAMES BLACK, AND SPECIAL THANKS TO

JOANNA TSCHURTSCHENTHALER FOR JOINING US IN THIS LIFETIME JOURNEY

[Day 1] New York | Downtown, Alb | College Town, Alb [Day 2] Pueblo Indian Cultural Center | Santa Fe | Museum Hill | Los Alamos [Day 3] Bandelier National Monument | Jemez Spring Bathhouse | Chaco Canyon [Day 4] Chaco Canyon <Pueblo Bonito, Pueblo del Arroyo, Chetro Ketl, Una Vida> Moonwalk [Day 5] Aztec Ruin | Salmon Ruin | Durango, Co [Day 6] Mesa Verde <Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree, Chapin Mesa Museum> [Day 7] Ute Mt. Tribal Park<Lion Canyon: Eagleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nest, Tree House, Morse 5, Lion House> [Day 8] Anasazi Heritage Center | Lowry Pueblo | Hovenweep National Monument [Day 9] Blanding, UT | Five Kiva Pueblo | The Edge of Cedars Museum [Day 10] Moon House | House on Fire.

[Day 11] Three Kivas | Lecture at the Edge of Cedars Museum | Monument Valley | Kayenta, AZ [Day 12] Navajo National Monument <Aspen Trail to Betatakin> | Canyon de Chelly <White House> [Day 13] Canyon de Chelly <Spider Rock, Overviews> [Day 14] Navajo National Monument <Betatakin> | Page [Day 15] | Grand Canyon [Day 16] Grand Canyon <Mather Point, Market Plaza, Desert View> [Day 17] Wupatki National Monument | Sunset Crater National Park | Flagstaff | Lowell Observatory [Day 18] Walnut Canyon National Monument | Meteor Crater [Day 19] Historic District at Flagstaff | West Fork Oak Creek Vortex | Sedona [Day 20] Sedona | Boynton Canyon [Day 21] Tuzigoot National Monument | Montezuma Castle National Monument | Arcosanti | Phoenix [Day 22] Pueblo Grande | Casa Grande National Monument | Scottsdale [Day 23] Taliesin West | First Christian Church | Roosevelt Lake <Windy Hill> [Day 24] Tonto National Monument | Besh Ba Gowah, Globe [Day 25] Kinishiba, White River | Petrified Forest | Holbrook [Day 26] Gila National Monument [Day 27] Gila National Monument | Las Cruces | White Sands Missiles Range | Alamogordo [Day 28] Whitesands National Park | Albuquerque, NM [Day 29] Albuquerque BioPark [Day 30] Oldtown Albuquerque Day 31: Albuquerque | New York

ITINERARY

At the Center of Navajo Tribal Park exists a marker upon which four corners of four different states converge. This marker is appropriately named the Four Corners and is in the northeastern corner of Arizona, where this state meets New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.

Though these states are divided by the United States’ imaginary borders, the area that they make up together is actually one. Prior to the formation of the United States, this land sustained a civilization that held sophisticated wisdom in systematically constructing multistoried buildings, meticulously straight roads, elaborate water-collection and irrigation systems, communication networks, and developed outdoor spaces.

We believe that Southwestern Native American Architecture was/is heavily underrepresented in historical texts on architecture. Southwestern Native Americans were not trained to be builders but were inherently proficient in constructing durable monuments and using advanced knowledge of astrology to study the orientation of their settlements. Throughout history, the architecture that has been highly emphasized and remembered was mostly the product of wealthy patrons, be they the Egyptian emperor’s pyramids, Greek’s city temples, or Roman public projects. Southwestern Native American architectural achievements have possibly fallen victim to this trend since they aren’t common knowledge among the architectural community.

Although these ancient settlements have been researched by archeologists and have been documented in a few publications, we would like to try and create a manual of lessons that would be relevant to the contemporary scenes of architecture. We plan to achieve this through the exploration and documentation of the ancient settlements in writing, drawing, photography, and recorded interviews with scholars and inheritors of this legacy. As predicted by scientists, global warming continues accelerating desertification on over two-thirds of the world. The trend is showing that Earth is currently moving towards a more arid climatic condition; a climate these ancient settlements were designed for. Thus, we are eagerly determined to comprehend the people who designed and built these marvelous structures that survived thousands of years under these fierce weather conditions. We wish to learn from ancient builders about making humane and ecologically sound structures so as to inform the creation of compact human settlements of the future.

In conclusion, our thirty-one-day excursion allowed us to reconnect with the Ancestral World. Those monuments were never abandoned... Their spirits yet remain inside their sacred homes and their legacy continues teaching us how to live on the land...

OUR RESEARCH

Bandelier National Monument by DC

Arrived safe and sound at the heart of New Mexico. This unfamiliar city was vast desert land surrounded by towering mountain ranges. The cityscape blended in with the hot and arid horizon where the background of mountains dominated the landscape of the Southwest.

College Town, a place where cheap eateries aligned along University of New Mexico. No doubt we would go to Frontier Restaurant to start off our very first real meal of the day after numerous hours of flight and errands. What was New Mexican food? It was not a typically traditional Mexican burrito or taco we got to savored in the city...The secret recipe was their green chili sauce! It was prepared with fresh ingredients from the local farmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; market.

Challenges: The date, Oct 16, 2013, was a relief for us. We were very concerned that the Government Shutdown [Oct 1 to Oct 16] would delay our trip and harm our travel budget. Promises that all the National Parks would be reopened the next day alleviated our minds and kept us prepared for the long road/hiking/camping trip.

We, Diana and Vlad, just became licensed drivers one month before overtaking the long driving around the four states. We consistently worried about the dangers of driving at fast speed and the safety of the passengers. In additional, renting an affordable car was another struggle for us due to our oversized luggage and the aliments we needed to survive in this adventure. Lucky, the agent provided us a new Chevy Cruze that helped with saving gas and sufficed storage spaces.

Lastly, adjusting to the extreme temperatures and high elevations challenged us physically and psychologically during the long hikes and many cold camping nights.

DAY 1

Gaining three hours from the time zone difference allowed us to use our time efficiently. Our first destination was the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. The Museum showcases the history, culture and arts of the Pueblo people of New Mexico.

Traditional pueblo homes were built of adobe, usually plastered with a smooth coat of adobe for appearance’s sake and protection against weathering. The insulating qualities of adobe produce houses that are cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

The Indians either puddled the mud into turtle-shaped lumps or cut square rocks “terrones.”

The Spaniards later introduced the mold method of forming adobe bricks, first mixing the mud with straw for strength.

Santa Fe, a two-hour driving away from Albuquerque, was an adobe-brick built town. Almost in every structure, the ends of log beams protruded out of the facade. Elements like gutters were integrated into the wood-beams. This city was filled with artistic atmosphere where Puebloan Indians showcased their hand-crafted arts in the shops and street fairs

DAY 2

Museum Hill in Santa Fe showed the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest museums and some of worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest collections of Native American art and artifacts.

Our road trip to Los Alamos...

After an eventful day in Santa Fe, we headed to Los Alamos. Our experience in our lodging was very unpleasant. Blood stain, kicked door, ramen noodle crumbs on beds, stained carpet, and foul odors....

DAY 2

The cave dwellings are located along the south-facing canyon wall. In the winter the afternoon sun helps warm the dwellings while at the same time they are protected from the cold northern winds.

BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT The Bandelier National Monument is located in Frijoles Canyon where Ancestral Pueblo people flourished 10,000 years ago. These people were identified as the Anasazi, a Navajo term for “ancient enemies,” and many related descendants no longer use this term in the region. Because of the nearby water source found in the area, the Frijoles Creek sustained a sophisticated civilization became our inspirations.

The pale sandstone in the canyon is the composite of volcanic ash from Jemez volcanic mountains. The volcanic ash gradually compacted into a soft, crumbly rock called tuff that got eroded by wind and rain. As a result, this canyon has been shaped into its “Swiss Cheese” appearance. With their advanced knowledge and tools, the Ancestral Pueblo people enlarged habitable natural openings in the cliff face and built stone dwellings inside and in front of these enlarged openings.

Frijoles Creek still floods when it rains and has become a permanent stream.

It is one of the few water way that flows year-round within the area. This stream provided the Ancestral Pueblo people life. The water allowed indigenous and wild range plants to grow such as the Yucca, with its broad stiff leaves and large white flowers, which offered fibers for sandals, baskets, and rope.

Kiva: An underground circular structure, where these people hosted ceremonies, meetings, and dancing. It was akin to a modern community center that was used for religious purpose, education and family activities such as story telling. Many Ancestral Pueblo people gathered together to praise their gods as a daily activities. In order to enter their place of worship, they would enter through an opening in the roof by a ladder. The roof would have been plastered over and decorated with symbolic finger painting. The top of its roof was always left as a public plaza. Making it a public node on the inside and out. .

The kiva was not mainly ventilated through the same opening that was used to enter into it. A ventilation shaft was created behind the northern end of the kiva. This ventilation was essential to keep the fire burning inside the underground kiva.

The kiva at Bandelier was in a heavily deteriorated state but even so it started to reveal a lot of elements that would be within most of the kivas we would come to study in the coming month. Wall niches, remains of a wooden roof, fire pits, and stone benches

JEMEZ SPRING BATH HOUSE

After a horrible experience at a motel in Los Alamos, suffering from sleep deprivation and waking up to a stranger knocking on our door. We needed some real down time so stayed at Jemez Spring Bath House for a relaxing and indigenous hot bath.

We were excited to soak ourselves â&#x20AC;&#x153;nakedâ&#x20AC;? into our separate individual stone bathtub with boiling hot and icy freezing mineral water. The unfiltered volcanic water is shown in the picture.

DAY 3

SUNSET

at 7:30 PM Both happened at 8:00 PM

MOONRISE

at 8:30 PM

Waking up to 15F at Chaco Canyon was unexpected. Our water bottles were frozen and ice formed inside our tent and on our car. During our stay at the campsite, we could hear coyotes howling to the full moon and communicating with their packs as if they hunting for something in the night. Their howling crawled in the back of our spines while we were shivering and looking for the emergency blanket.

The Solstice Project advised us how to analyze the Chacoan pueblos. In fact, all pueblos built in Chaco Canyon were governed by their astronomical, solar and lunar observations. The earliest dwellings were built with simple walls one stone thick and bonded with generous courses of mud mortar. More extensively, they used walls with thick inner cores of rubble and thin veneers of facing stone which was then plastered over to protect the walls from eroFor the first time, we witnessed the sion. wild Southwest high-desert landscape that recorded the lives of the Ancestral They are now sited in a landscape surPueblo people. Survival in Chaco Canyon rounded by sacred mountains, mesas was a miracle, long winter, scarce lands and shrines that still remain as spirifor growing food, and low precipitation tual sentiments for their descendants. as well as limited resources of water By 1050, Chaco Culture had become the within the area. Their architecture was headquarter of ceremonies, administrafar more developed which felicitated tions, and economics of the San Juan with their political, economical, and so- Basins. The Chacoan people also concial systems. structed transportation network that linked Chaco Canyon Great Houses to The Chacoan achievements began in the over 150 great houses in the region. mid-800s and persisted over 300 years. Their plan phases are also displayed Their Great Houses with hundreds of in the visitor center. New construcrooms, were built in masonry by the tion and modification in great houses builders who had adept craftsmanship made a great impact in designing the to erect multiple-story stone buildings. monuments at Aztec, Mesa Verde, the Pueblo Bonito was their first great- Chuska Mountains, and other centers to est model of a successful Great House the north, south and west. Because of as it underwent many stages. It influ- their regional differences, many other enced nearby pueblos such as Una Vida, clans or their family began to evolve and Penasco Blanco, Hungo Pavi, Chetro the chacoan architecture while building Kelt, Pueblo Alto and others located in their own spiritual place to be honored the San Juan River region. and respected.

CHACO CULTURE DAY 4

Pueblo Bonito The largest of its great houses is Pueblo Bonito, the center of the Chacoan world. Planned and then built in stages, Pueblo Bonito was lived in from the mid-800s to 1200s. It eventually towered four stories high with over 600 rooms and 40 kivas.

Chacoan Architecture is known for their unique techniques that highlighted their accomplishments in construction. Core and immaculate veneer walls are a distinguishing feature of Chacoan greathouse construction. The core consists of roughly shaped pieces of sandstone laid in a mud mortar. The core is then faced on both sides with carefully selected and shaped stones to create the veneer. Several types of veneers were used, and styles changed over time.

Chacoans built very wide walls in the first story to create a strong and stable base upon which to build additional stories with narrower, lighter walls. Decreasing wall widths demonstrate that the second and third stories were planned before the first story was built. The walls were designed to interlock for extra strength, on the ground floor the main structural walls run west to east while on the second they run north to south and once again west to east on the following floor.

After the walls were build and roofs covered the rooms, they applied plaster to most of the walls, concealing this fine stonework. This protected the mud mortar from rain, thus, decreasing maintenance. To make their living quarters more accentuating, they would paint water serpents as a symbol to praise their water god and a spiral as eternity of life. These images were not only engraved on the walls but also all over the canyons in the area.

Great kivas, a key element of Chacoan public architecture, are found in nearly every Chacoan community. Great kivas are often within or near the plazas of great houses. Some are along roads and on prominent ridges and hill. The unique design, size, and central position of great kivas suggest a ceremonial purpose-public gathering places for communities with the region. Great kivas contain highly standardized architectural features: a low masonry bench around the base of the room, raised firebox and deflector, pits for seating four upright wooden posts used to support the roof, and an antechamber and entryway at the plaza level. Chacoan great kivas often include wall niches, where offerings and sacred objects were placed to be displayed within the kiva.

DAY 5

Chetro Ketl is a Chacoan great house.

Beginning with a single-story room block around 1010 CE , it grew to become a monumental structure that covered almost 3 acres by the early 1100s. The overall ground plan of Chetro Ketl is a D shape, with the front wall of the plaza forming the arc of the D. There are an estimated 500 rooms in the site -approximately 225 ground-floor rooms, and 275 second-and-third floor rooms.

The reason for these changes is unknown, but they could reflect a change of ideas or a change in the function of Chetro Ketl.

These narrow rooms were finished on all four walls, and well-plastered floors were laid between them. The plastered floor and a wall vent suggest that the rooms were roofed. When first constructed, the walls were probably free standing. As the plaza filled The colonnade was originally built by with soil and rubble from construction, placing square masonry pillars along the structures became a retaining wall the wall of a long, narrow room that to hold back the plaza fill. faced the plaza. The people later renovated this room by filling in the spaces between the columns. The long, narChetro Ketl row room was then divided into several smaller rooms.

DAY 4

Pueblo del Arroyo

The chacoans placed logs from one pilaster to the next and continued the process, thereby creating a stacked log or dome structure that covered the kiva interiors. Then they leveled the top with juniper bark, rock, and dirt. A airway in the center of the roof vented smoke and enabled the people to enter and exit the kiva. .

A new architectural element has been introduced in this pueblo, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;tri-wall.â&#x20AC;?

It seems to be a rare structure to be seen in the Chaco region but is found in Aztec Ruins. Most multi-walled structures are found to the north along the San Juan River drainage and in the Mesa Verde region.

Archaeologists are unable to answer the function of this tri-wall. Among the multi-walled structures that have been excavated, most have enclosed kivas.

DAY 4

We at first thought it was a Great House constructed by the Aztec. The name was mistakenly delivered when Cortez conquered Mexico and these conquerors believed that the Aztecs built these structures. Aztec Ruin was an elaborate stone structure and occupied for approximately two centuries.

Aztec’s first inhabitants and builders were influenced by Chacoan architecture, ceramics and ceremonial life. As mentioned previously in our experience in Chaco Canyon, it had created a big impact in the San Juan Basin region after 1100A.D.. Aztec’s West Ruin is the largest known Great House outside of Chaco Canyon with 400 rooms and 30 kivas, and it shows the evidence of community-wide activities. The structure was used as a gather place, ceremonial center, trade center, work area and for storage. The green siltstone in layer with the walls is from an impermeable formation that the water table sits atop, possibly accenting the importance of the water table in a symbolic way. T-shaped doors are common features and usually face the plaza in Ancestral Pueblo Great Houses. Their purpose has also been widely speculated, ranging from a functional explanation more elbow room when carrying pots through doors, to symbolic, directing one’s attention towards the earth a sacred place for the ancestral Pueblos.

The long, straight back wall of Aztec West marks both the summer and winter solstices. From the west corner of the wall, you can watch the summer solstice sun rose directly up the east corner. From the east corner, you can watch the winter solstice sun set down the west corner. The ancient people may have designed these alignments to keep a precise agricultural calendar, marking the best times for planting and harvesting crops. The alignments probably tracked a ceremonial calendar as well. Modern Pueblos still relate the sun, moon, and stars to their religious lives. Some still have traditions for choosing and training sun watchers.

There are two distinct masonry styles at Aztec West: Chaco masonry and Mesa masonry. Chaco masonry is characterized by organized, meticulous rock layering, chinking, and core-and-veneer masonry, which uses a central core of mud and stones sandwiched by outer facings of stones in mud mortar. Mesa Verde masonry, is a style characterized by larger, rounder stones with less emphasis on layering and chinking.

The people left in the late 1200s, leaving well-preserved structures and artifacts that tell their descendants their stories. Today, many Southwest tribes, descendants of Aztec Ruin habitants continue to guard their Ancestors’ legacy and spread the teaching.

AZTEC RUINS DAY 5

SALMON RUINS The Salmon Ruin is named after the Salmon family who homesteaded the ruin. The Chacoans continued spreading their wisdoms to the rest of San Juan River. After abandonment by the Chacoan people, other regional groups continued to occupy the pueblo and abandoned for the final time in the late 13th century.

There are many stages of construction as we witness in Chacoan Great Houses.

The Salmon Ruin has two distinct building components: an early section of the east wing built between A.D. 1068-1072, and major construction of the site occurred between A.D. 1088-1090. The structure contained 150 on the ground floor, 67 rooms on the second and an unknown number of rooms on the third.

There is a central tower kiva and a great kiva in the plaza. As shown in the photo, an evidence of extensive architectural modification during the Secondary Occupation (after A.D. 1160), such as circular kiva built within original square rooms.

Mr. Larry Baker, met later in Five Pueblo Kiva, is the Executive Director at the Salmon Library. He and his other researchers suggest that the puebloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back wall was laid out in alignment with astronomical observations that were based on a Lunar Standstill.

The Tower Kiva, a highly important feature in pueblo life, is unique in that the builders planned an innovative support system for the high structure; cobblestone foundations were used to raise the kiva to its four meter height and to support the tremendous weight of its two meter thick walls. Six masonry and log buttresses were also used to support the weight of the structure.

Again, we notice the construction of the hall represents hallmark of Chacoan wall construction: core and veneer masonry. Using sandstone that was specifically cut to fit, the masons used construction methods unique to their culture and exercised great skills at their craft.

A example of a common architectural modification which took place at Salmon-the conversion of square room into a round room (or kiva is seen in this room. Kiva, usually interpreted as ceremonial rooms, were probably also secure in nature. Placement of a kiva in preexisting square rooms is typical of the Northern San Juan style of construction and thus dates to a postChacoan, or Secondary, occupation of the room.

DAY 5

Our first STATE crossing from New Mexico to Colorado.

DAY 5

We have overcome our first camping experience. Missing the luxury of a hot shower for 5 days...Time for hot showers and warm beds...

DAY 5

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

Cliff Palace We had partially recovered from rough camping, long hour of driving, and hiking.

Mesa Verde National Park preserves the archeological heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people who built over 600 cliff dwellings and 4,500 archeological sites. This will be our first experience of walking on cliff edges and climbing ladders to reach the dwelling.

Before Europeans explored North America, some of the people living in the Four Corners region decided to move onto the Mesa Verde about 550 A.D. These people and their descendants lived and flourished here for over 700 years building stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of canyon walls. The cliff dwellers have absorbed their experience through their ancestors and their stone work reflect their skills at making a living from a difficult land.

The structures are evidence of a society that, over centuries, accumulated skills and traditions and passed them on from generation to generation. By Classic Pueblo Period, from 1150 to 1300 A.D. Using nature to their advantage, at about AD 1200 Ancestral Puebloan people began to build their villages beneath the overhanging cliffs. Their basic construction material was sandstone that they shaped into rectangular block about the size of a loaf of bread. The mortar between the blocks was a mix of dirt and water. Living rooms averaged about six feet by eight feet, space enough for two or three people.

Isolated rooms in the rear and on the upper level were generally used for storing crops because the rooms near the cliff were the most cool and dry.

DAY 6

Many daily activities took place in open courtyards in front of the rooms. Fires built in summer were mainly for cooking.

In winter, when alcove rooms were damp and uncomfortable, fire probably burned throughout the village. Smoke-blackened walls and ceilings are reminders of the biting code these people lived with for several months each year.

Ancestral Pueblo people spent much of their time stocking up on food, even in the best years. They grew most of their food, but supplemented crops of beans, corn, and squash by gathering wild plants and hunting deer, rabbits, squirrels, and other animals. For their convenience, Ancestral Puebloan people tossed away their trash close by. scraps of food, broken pottery, and tools, anything not wanted, went down the slope in front of their homes. Much Spruce Tree House of what we know about their daily lives comes from these garbage mounds. neighbors, craftsmanship showed skill and disciple. The interior of rooms was Spruce Tree House rarely plastered unlike that of kivaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s since it would usually be dark inside the The Third largest and best preserved rooms and guests would not really be cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National able to tell how well a wall was made. ark and was occupied by Ancestral Usually they used white, reddish-brown, Pueblo people between about A.D. 1200 and yellow colors but occasionally they and 1280. chose blue and green pigments.

Kivas and courtyards were important in the village and were almost always built together. People used the courtyards everyday as places to work, relax, and socialize. Alcove sites like this tend to be quite cold in winter, and kivas are well insulated by the earth around them. Over the centuries, most kiva roofs collapsed, but partial roofs still remain intact. The dwelling were usually plastered on the exterior to make the walls look nicer for the

Spruce Tree House was one of the largest villages in Mesa Verde. It had 130 rooms and eight kivas. Some 60 to 90 people lived here at any time. The villagersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; busiest time of year. The harvest is underway. Some men are still gleaning the fields, while others are spreading the crops on a rooftop to dry. These are the stores that will see them through the long winter and even the next year or two if a drought occurs.

DAY 6

Eagle’s Nest

UTE MOUNTAIN TRIBAL PARK

DAY 7

Arriving at 6:00AM at the Ute Mountain Tribal Park visitor center. We finally met with a Hopi Native Indian tour guide, Ricky. He drove us to Lion Canyon and visited four cliff dwellings; Tree House, Morse 5, Lion House, and Eagleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nest.

The ancestral Pueblo arrived in the Mancos Valley area about 400 A.D. They hunted and farmed in the canyons and mesa tops. They grew in numbers and built great stone dwellings using stone tools. These stone villages were nestled into the cliff faces and under All dwellings in Lion House were built great ledges. Food was plentiful and around 1140 A.D. and initially occupied life was food for many centuries. for fifteen to twenty years. The Ancestral Pueblo moved to another loca- Eventually the forces of nature came tion and returned to the site in 1195 to play against them. The Ancestral A.D. Each dwelling was rebuilt and occu- Pueblo were devastated by severe pied for about one full generation then drought and famine, which forced them abandoned forever. to leave their great cliff places and stone towers. By the end of the thirA kiva always had to be at least par- teenth century the canyons and metially subterranean due to religious sas were empty of human life. Nature reasons so when building on cliff ledg- continued to reclaim the land, slowly es great effort was applied to carving eroding and covering the great stone away at the rock at least 6 inches in dwellings abandoned by the Ancestral order for the kiva to sit lower down Puebloan people. than anything else.

While we were at the Native Indian Reservation Land, Ricky explained that this area is undergoing a drought because of the lack of precipitation and barren earth that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t growth any crops.

Standing in Lion Canyon capture 360 degrees vision of Arizona, the sleeping-man shaped Ute Mountain and Mesa Verde Park.

DAY 7

THE ANASAZI HERITAGE CENTER

Anasazi is a Navajo term and translated as their “ancient enemy,” they were also known as Ancestral Puebloans who farmed and lived in this area between A.D. 1-1300. The population size varied over time, but its peak many thousands of families occupied this corner of Colorado. Their descendants belong to a group of modern tribes known a Pueblo Indians.

The museum possesses two archeological sites built by the Anasazis in 12th century, the Dominguez and Escalate Pueblos. These names were delivered after Spanish friars who explored this area in 1776 and Escalate was the finest record of an ancient pueblo in Southwest Colorado.

In front of the Museum, we almost skipped Dominguez Pueblo because the remains of four rooms and a kiva in front of the museum. We can relate its construction techniques to Chaco Canyon. We walked to the top of a hill to see the Escalante Pueblo where it offered 360 degree views of the La Plata Mountains, the Montezuma Valley, McPhee Reservoir, and Mesa Verde.

Escalante Pueblo

Dominguez Pueblo, the four-room structure was a typical family unit for four to eight people. This monument is an example of the common household style of Northern San Juan Tradition: a row of small rooms facing a kiva or circular underground chamber.

Escalante Pueblo is much larger than Dominguez Pueblo. It is more than simple family dwelling. The original construction also reflects the architectural style of Chaco Canyon. The village had a planned, rectangular layout surrounding a kiva. The kiva contains eight pilasters or roof supports, a sub-floor shaft for fresh air, and an oblong chamber set into the kiva floor. The pueblo’s rooms are generally larger than localstyle rooms. Thick, double-faced walls with rubble cores made the structure stronger and able to support a second level. Some wall faces also alternate lock stones with smaller spills chinking stones. Some doorways are T-shaped.

Another group of Northern San Juan people briefly reoccupied the empty pueblo around AD 1150. A third and final occupation, involving only a few rooms, rook place around AD 1200..

DAY 8

LOWRY PUEBLO

Pleasantville, a flat farmland that extends out in the welkin, was within the influence of these ancient people.

Drought is clearly a sign of dry crops and flatness in the soil. Lowry Pueblo is 1,000-year-old Ancestral Pueblo Village that was named after George Lowry, an early 12th century homesteader.

The Ancestral Puebloans or Anasazis constructed Lowry Pueblo A.D 1060 and inhabited it for about 165 years. Lowry began as a small village with a few rooms and kiva. Between 1085 and 1170, a several more rooms the Great Kiva added. By the time the last families left Lowry and migrated to the south and east, the pueblo had grown to 40 rooms, eight kivas, and a Great Kiva.

During our visit, there was a group of archeologists exchanging their theories on this Pueblo that the Ancestral Puebloans built on top of the houses of an earlier community and they struggled to survive in this arid landscape. They cultivated corn, beans and squash, supplemented their diet with hunted meats.

There was a detached Great Kiva that oriented true north and south as their sacred alignment.

The lower level was decommissioned due to change of use. Instead of using the kiva for ceremonial use, the living space was designed to accommodate social and family connections, political and ritual ties, and the ties, and the needs of daily life. The pueblo stood two or three stories high, with rooftop entrances reached by ladders. Lowryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s small rooms suggest that most activities took place on top of the roofs and along the east side of the building, were most of the artifacts were discovered.

The Ancestral Puebloans used small Tshaped doorways to protect their living areas from the weather. Smaller doorways made its easier to block the wind and insulate against heat and cold. The long, uninterrupted back wall of the pueblo denied ground-level access to anyone approaching from the west.

Some of Lowryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s masonry reflects a style seen at Chaco Canyon. This style features layers of narrow slabs, small chinking stones, and the banding of darker and lighter sandstone. Lowry may have been an early Chacoan colony or trading center, or may simply have been built to resemble the Chacoan style. Later additions to the pueblo were of a local, block masonry style.

DAY 8

HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT

Moving forward to our last stop of the day, Hovenweep. Hovenweep, it is a Paiute/Ute word for “desert valley” in Little Ruin Canyon. During our hiking, there are many fragmented ruins that show the history how Ancestral Puebloans flourished in harsh environment. At Hovenweep. Population density varied through time. Research suggests that an increase of people occurred in the 1200s where they built pit houses, pueblos, ceremonial rooms, or kivas, and the towers are the Hovenweep’s trademark. Most of the building still standing were constructed from A.D. 1230 to 1275.

Hovenweep Castle

The Square Tower Group are Stronghold House, Unit Type House, Tower Point, Hovenweep Castle & Square Tower, Rimrock House, Hovenweep House, and Twins Towers.

The photo illustrates Hovenweep Castle, consists of two D-shape towers perched on the rim of Little Ruin Canyon. The stone walls, two and three courses thick, show detailed masonry techniques. Growth rings on a wooden beam in one tower indicate that the log was cut in A.D. 1277, one of the latest dates on any structure in the San Juan region. A residence was associated with the “castle”, but the people who We also see many gravity-defying stone lived her were farmers, not kings and structures built inside of a detached queens. boulder such as the Eroded Boulder House. Many dwellings stood right on They used solar calendars and astronthe canyon rim, and some structures omy to calculate growing seasons. They built atop isolators irregular boulder- developed many other natural resourcsnot practical sites for safety access. es to improve their lives. By the late Like other Ancestral Puebloans, those 1200s, prolonged drought overuse of who inhabited the Square Tower com- natural resources, and, possibly, intermunity had overcome the challenges nal strife led to the eventual abandonof harsh weather, dry land farming to ment of the region. The people settled raise crops, and inhabitable landscapes. in what are now the pueblo of the Rio Large numbers did no come to the area Grande Valley in New Mexico and the Hopi mesas of Arizona. until after 1100.

DAY 8

LITTLE WESTWATER RUIN

FROM COLORADO TO UTAH...

CONTINUE DISCOVERING OUR ANCESTRAL PUEBLOAN ARCHITECTURE DAY 9

EDGE OF THE CEDARS STATE PARK MUSEUM DAY 9

Larry Baker Little Westwater Ruin is located in the Westwater Creek Canyon just outside of Blanding, UT. Blanding is in the heart of Anasazi country and this ruin is practically part of the town. In fact, many residents tell stories of childhoods spent playing in the ruins all summer long.

The layout of the ruin is typical of the Pueblo III period. The broad flat plaza of the main central area was the location of the kivas with the housing and storage rooms in room blocks behind. Notice the remains of two story rooms in the back of the cave and the rooms tucked into the ledge above. The construction here is somewhat different from typical Mesa Verde Anasazi. However, the masonry and design are similar enough that there is no debate in stating that Little Westwater was occupied by Mesa Verde Anasazi. The Little Westwater Ruin, also known as Five Pueblo Ruin, has only Mesa Verde style kivas. Although the Kivas in Mesa Verde are typically dug into the ground, those at Little Westwater Ruin are built up from the rock ledge. The five kivas at Little Westwater are all typical round Mesa Verde style Kivas. They served as the center of life in the pueblo and each was accessed through their roofs.

During our visit at the Westwater Ruin, we met with two prominent archeologists who spent almost their entire lives studying and researching about Native American pueblos and cliff dwellings.

Larry Baker and his partner, Chris, were commissioned to restore Five Kiva Pueblo. Mr. Baker has served as the Executive Director of the San Juan County Archaeological Research Center and Library at Salmon Ruins. Research interests focus on prehistoric and historic architecture, archaeoastronomy, and the Ancestral Puebloan periods of northwestern Mew Mexico.

They restored the entire north section of the monument as they believed that there was a dividing stone wall between summer and winter clans. They also believed that there was a buried pithouse which was built during basketmaker period.

The ancestral Puebloan people exchanged their talents by helping each other to build their homes, make pottery, and cultivate crops on the mesa top. These two archaeologists also advised us to visit Moon House, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Leaning Towerâ&#x20AC;? in the Four Corners region, and the Edge of Cedars Museum.

DAY 9

Located in South Fork of Mule Canyon. It’s called House on Fire because during sometimes in the morning, the coloring of the alcove creates the illusion of flame.

MOON HOUSE

Estimated to have been built around 1262 and located on Cedar Mesa in McCloyd Canyon. This ruin is among one of the best preserved ruins of its kind.

We were only able to arrive at the canyon by off-roading and going on a “strenuous” 3-mile hike. Moon House is still cover with earlier petroglyphs on plastered walls. This complex is made up of 3 sections that were used for residential, storage and ceremonial.

DAY 10

THREE KIVA PUEBLO

After our stay at the Four Corner Inn and our experience with Navajo Indian Food, we are fully charged to explore more Anasazisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Architecture.

Just like other early civilizations flourished near the rivers, The Anasazi Indians also built their stone structures near Montezuma Creek. About 1,000 years ago, the Anasazi Indians occupied what is now known as the Four Corner Area. A team of Archaeological from Brigham Young University revealed 14 rooms and three kivas, a ramada working area, a trash mound and signs of a turkey run as numerous turkey bones were found.

Only one of the three kivas on the site ca be seen today. Three Kiva Pueblo is one of numerous sites in Montezuma Canyon. The people who lived in this village also farmed the wide valley.

But by 1300 AD, Three Kiva Pueblo was abandoned as were other prehistoric Pueblo settlements in the area. Perhaps drought or depletion of natural resources may have pushed these habitants to look for better lands.

DAY 11

From Utah

MONUMENT VALLEY

To Arizona

KAYENTA

DAY 11

“PRODIGY, REBEL, OR STEPCHILD? SALMON, AZTEC, AND THE MIDDLE SAN JUAN REGION IN THE CHACOAN AND POST-CHACOAN PERIODS”PAUL F. REED Paul F. Reed We arrived punctually for a lecture by Preservation Archaeologist Paul F. Reed at the Edge of Cedars Museum. Reed is the Chaco Scholar at Salmon Ruins. He has conducted fieldwork and research in the southwest for more than 25 years with Larry Baker. His recent publication called “Chaco’s Northern Prodigies: and he mainly focuses the region in the middle San Juan after 1100 A.D.

cation for agriculture; Animas was a smaller, easier to manage stream.

La Plata Valley supported settlements in Basketmaker III, from the AD 600s.

Chacoans moving into La Plata Valley but never built a massive great house but Reed’s team has found similar locally built versions of great houses.

Both animas and San Juan valley lacked early settlement and Fred Nials theorizes that more people practiced agriReed first introduced Salmon Ruin which culture. we have visited earlier. He talked about how Chacoan architecture might have In Chuska Valley, Salmon Ruin lacked had a strong influence on the develop- a substantial early community. The low ment of salmon ruins and its history. population within the area at the time of chacoans arrival made the site a Chacoans migrated and expanded far great location according to Chacoan and wide within the San Juan River re- needs as it was in a completely empty gion and Beyond, their unique architec- landscape and this great house was tural features appeared in many Great planned as a residential pueblo.

Houses in the three river valleys: La Plata Valley, Animas River and the Salmon ruins was started by Chacoans Chuska Valley, but the users of the great house switched over the years of its occuIn Animas River, massive great houses, pation. Eventually the architecture of Aztec N, E, and W. Aztec is unique, salmon ruins became more and more an founded after Salmon and developed amalgamation of different as people of a substantial surrounding community. different cultures kept adapting it to There was Probably a community in the their own needs. area prior to Chacoan. Aztec became the focal point for the Chacoan leadership in the Middle San Juan. Better loDAY 11

Anasazi is a Navajo term for â&#x20AC;&#x153;ancient enemy.â&#x20AC;?

Most descendants who live in the Southwest are Navajo and Hopi...

Navajo National Monument is part of Navajo Nation land, This has been home to the Navajo or Dine, for centuries. As tourists, we are magnetized by the unique handmade crafts found in local trading posts.

NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT

ASPEN TRAIL TO BETATAKIN

DAY 12

WHITE HOUSE We had only two hours to hike on the White House trail to see the inaccessible cliff dwelling in Mummy Cave in Canyon del Muerto, translated Canyon of the Death. On the canyon bed, we were surrounded by the cottonwoods trees... and crossing over the Chinle Wash.

There are archaeological evidences show that these people have lived in these canyons for nearly 5,000 years longer than any other settlements on the Colorado Plateau. Although Canyon del Chelly is established within the Navajo Reservation, most cliff dwellings were the work of the Anasazis. These complexes consist of living units, storages, and social and ceremonial chambers high on ledges on the canyon walls. They lived in small groups, hunted game, cultivated corn and beans, and created decorating and symbolic wall paintings.

Anasazis built the mutistoried villages, small household compounds, and kivas with decorated wall that blend in with the Canyon alcoves and talus slopes.

As the Ancestral Puebloans moved away 700 years ago, a few remained in the canyon. Later, Hopi Indians and others continued occupying these abandoned

cliff pueblos. Moreover, the Navajo arrived and they built their new homes, hogans, and learned new crafts to incorporate into the existing fabric of the ancients.

In addition, these Ancient Puebloans people, hopi indians and Navajo were the medicine experts that used wild plants as a gift giving from their ancestors and as being connected with all beings on Earth. When we shopped in the local trading posts and street market, we can easily find herbal medicines for different types of injuries and as healthy supplements. Dine, the Navajo people, continue to preserve and collect wild plants to use for medicines and ceremonies.

COTTONWOODS CAMPGROUND DAY 12

CANYON DE CHELLY SPIDER ROCK An epicenter of Navajo. Many Dine descendants showcase their work around the canyon rim. Their traditional beliefs still engrave deeply in everyone’s heart- how Navajo care for their families, livestock, and homes, and how plants are essentials for ceremonies and medicines.

“We will be like a rock a river has to go around.”

-Ailema Benally, Navajo Nation Leader

DAY 13

Navajo National Monument protects The reasons they moved out are beBetatakin, Keet Seel, and Inscription cause of drought, erosion, social presHouse. Our tour guide, Jimmy Black, sures, or religious dictates. is a Navajo retiree who volunteers to spread the teachings and stories about their ancestral legacy.

Ancestral Puebloas lived in Betatakin between 1250-1300. The alcove was their protection because it was deep enough to build high thermal-mass structures to keep the space warm by the winter sun and cool in summer shade. The rock layer below the Navajos sandstone was less porous so they could collect water for their benefits. There are also evidences shown that they used big blocks of stones to serve as operable windows/doors.

About 75 to 100 people lived here in clan or family groups. They used indoor to keep themselves from harsh weather, making potteries and food for their families, but they still spent much time outdoor in open courtyards or agricultural field. There are 135 rooms and some are destroyed by rock fall.

Smoke residue still remains on the wall and indicates there was fire for cooking, warming and ceremonies.

BETATAKIN

DAY 14

GRAND CANYON

DAY 15

Grand Canyon, one of the Seven wonders in the World. Each strata carved on the canyon left a remarkable story of erosion, wind abrasion, and other natural stone sculpturing. Because of the massive scale, the landscape provides and supports a variety of plant and animal communities, from the desert next to the Colorado River deep in the canyon to the infinite montane forest atop its North Rim. This island of beauty reveals a sequence of rock layers that serve as windows into time. Each layer is composed different by the natural occurrences. That long story includes rock nearly two billion years old in the bottom of the canyon, land masses colliding and drifting apart, mountain forming and eroding away, sea levels rising and falling, and relentless forces of moving water.

Our experience in Grand Canyon was unforgettable. We remembered how cold it was to camp on the canyon rim under the starry sky with shooting stars; ravens attacking us for food; dancing and blasting music for our Halloween...

DAY 16

SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENT

“900 years ago, a volcanic eruption has reshaped its surrounding landscape and forever changing the lives of people, plant and animals....”

DAY 17

WUPATKI PUEBLO

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every drop of water was precious, and there was never enough From infancy we were taught to drink sparingly, even then, there were times when we were thirsty...where the water supply to diminish and the population increase, what wuld become of the people?â&#x20AC;?

-Helen Sakaquaptewa, Hopi

Wupatki Pueblo is measured three stories high. They built well insulated double walls with a rubber core and plastered outer layer that were about 6 feet high; roofs were supported by timbers and crossed laid on top by wood beams and finished with bark, grass and clay. As seen, there are no formal exterior entrances, people would Wupatki is fairly dry and hot during the enter from the opening in the roof into day and cool in the shade. People gath- the interior space. ered around this area during the 1100s, it began with one family housing and The unique structure in this pueblo is grew into this 100-room-pueblo with a the red sandstone outcrop because it tower, community room, and ceremonial served as a backbone for the entire ball court. It was a farming community structure. The Great Kiva is no longer where people went through hardship of a subterraneous structure as seen in marginal precipitation and dry crops. other pueblos. There was no evidence o a roof or other floor feature of a During our visit, we spotted the black typical kiva. cinders patching the ground around us and it was caused by volcanic activi- This is our first time being in a ball ties from the eruption of nearby Sun- court. That could be a reason why Arset Crater Volcano in 1080 CE. These cheologists could not identify the root Wupatki occupants must have coincided of the people. They seemed to be Kaywith the event but decided to move to enta, Sinagua and Cohonina. The concept this lower elevation. As a result of of a ball court could have been borthe eruption, the thin layer of ashes rowed and modified from earlier contact retained precious soil moisture and im- with Indian cultures of Mexico. proved farming potential.

The Hokoham balls - a carefully shaped The masons would look for nearby natu- rock and perhaps covered with pine rally fractured blocks as bricks and lay pitch or other material. It was almost stone to build walls. High walls on the like the idea of soccer in their ancient north and west sides blunted prevailing times. winds. Terraced rooms to the south and east to capture winter sunlight.

DAY 17

LOWELL OBSERVATORY

FLAGSTAFF DAY 17

WALNUT CANYON

Another breathtaking pine-forest scenery where the Sinagua people, the people without water, arrived in San Francisco volcanic region and built their cliff dwellings between 1125 and 1250.

These builders took advantage of natural recesses in the limestone walls.

The softer rock layers was sculpted by flowing water and the Sinagua people built their stone dwellings inside these shallow caves.

These people used to built pit houses near their crop fields. The volcanic activities caused by Sunset Crater Volcano again has influenced lives around the area where the Sinagua people flourished and were able to farm on fertile volcanic ashes.

Artifacts suggest that the builders were women. They gathered limestone, shaped them into blocks and cemented them together with a gold-colored clay.

The Sinagua builds used wooden beams to reinforced the doorways. Finally, they applied plaster with clay inside and out to protect the cement and prevent from weathering. “...Where people stopped and built homes are all sacred places. No matter if they passed by or the people who couldn’t travel stayed in their homes.

Their spirits are there in all the sites.

All the sites are sacred to us.”

-A Zuni Tribal Member

Walnut Canyon homes built within the alcoves facing south and east to allow the sunlight bathe interior spaces. A few north-facing cliff dwellings were also found in the area and these may have been occupied during warm seasons. Other archeological sites such as pit houses and free-standing pueblos dot the canyon rim.

DAY 18

METEOR CRATER This extraordinary place was impacted by a huge iron-nickel meteorite travelling at 26,000 miles. It is now the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oldest and best preserved Meteor Crater.

FLAGSTAFF HISTORIC DISTRICT

DAY 19

SEDONA

West Fork Oak Creek Vortex Natural skyscrapers?

DAY 19

SEDONA

BOYNTON CANYON VORTEX

KACHINA LADY BOYNTON CANYON VORTEX

DAY 20

TUZIGOOT MONUMENT

For us, The Tuzigoot was a stone-brick mountain. Built and occupied by Sinagua people between 1100 and 1425 C.E. It was one of the largest community in the Verde Valley along with Montezuma Castle.

During the time of Tuzigoot’s occupation, the valley was a broad oasis-a well-watered land with many marshes, creeks, and a large variety of deciduous trees along the river. Native desert vegetation filled the space between this riverside corridor and the higher terrain at the valley’s edge. A shallow basic east of the springs impounds millions of gallons of water in Tavasci Marsh. The marsh was critical to Tuzigoot’s people. they wove reeds into baskets and mats. Trees became roof beams, and mud was used for mortar in pueblo wall.

For the people of Tuzigoot and the Valley Verde, this landscape was home. By the late 1300s, the people of the Verde Valley began to move. A few families at a time, they left their homes and migrated to new places. By 1425 Tuzigoot’s rooms were empty. Many people traveled east and north, following ancient trails to villages where the Hopi and Zuni-some of their descendantslive today.

DAY 21

MONTEZUMA CASTLE

Southern Sinagua people flourished in Verde Valley sometimes between 1100 and 1300. Montezuma Castle is named by the early American settlers who assumed that it was Aztec in origin. The structure is about 5 feet high and there were about 20 rooms. It occupies a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley.

The room was for one-family occupancy.

It is probably dark due to the lack of openings to the outdoor to preserve comfort temperature. There is little furniture: mats and blankets for sleeping, clay pots for storage, and supplies for work, craft, and daily living.

Each clan was responsible for different daily tasks. Some people were responsible for farming, some were for hunting and game, and others for building their homes.

Each gender played a significant role in southern Sinagua community. Men may have been responsible for weaving from yucca fibers and other individuals made jewelry from shells collected in nearby water streams. As the entire was matrilineal, they made pottery used for

storing food. Probably, they layered plaster on the walls, sealing out insects and protecting the masonry.

We could hear their voices and laughter. It seemed to us a very warm community where people were assigned a role to help each other within society.

At the end of the day, these people would probably look up at the same stars observing and acquiring knowledge from their constellations to understand the turning of each season.

Again, fire lit and kept their room warm for another night.

DAY 21

ARCOSANTI

BY PAOLO SOLERI A prominent architect and apprentice of After our self-tour around Soleriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sir Wright built his very unique desert utopia, we found a palm-sized taranfuturistic utopia in Arizona. Soleri be- tula and a golden scorpion resting on lieved in Arcology where Architecture the wall in our room on the greenhouse and ecology working together as one terrace. Living in Arcosanti is as living integral process to produce new ur- with nature. ban habitats. Arcosanti, a non-profit city built by volunteers, students and professionals from all over the world.

When complete, this urban setting will house 5,000 people by combining compact urban structure with large-scale solar greenhouses on 25 acres.

Upon our arrival at the site, there were no paved roads nor pedestrian paths.

The lack of cars highlights Soleriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concept of anti-mobiles. He wanted to design an urban fabric where occupants interacts with nature. All construction was built with experimental earthformed concrete structure that withheld high thermal mass to preserve and release solar heat during night time. We could hear the tones of bronze and ceramic windbells ringing in an open-arch studios while siting at the roof of the arch watching the sunset. r DAY 21

PUEBLO GRANDE The museum was surrounded by saguaros, the big and tall cacti. There are a few archaeological sites and replica along the trail outside the museum.

Platform mound, built in AD 1450, were probably ceremonial and administrative centers. The lower level â&#x20AC;&#x153;platformâ&#x20AC;? was made of room-like cells filled with earth. Furthermore, we saw a replica of adobe compound of a late style Hokoham home includes a walled courtyard.

We believed that we were in the area where Hokoham people flourished. As seen in Santa Fe, adobe was a very common building material that helped to absorb and release at night and keep the interior space cool during the day.

The ballcourts were built and used from about AD 750 to 1200. They are commonly seen in the south of Arizona such as in Wupatki Pueblo.

DAY 22

CASA GRANDE The early Spanish explorers named it Casa Grande, Great House. The Hokoham, which means “those who have gone” are the people who once lived here between 1500 and 550 years ago.

The Hokoham people also cooperated to build and manage vat canal system that diverted water from the rivers for irrigation. As a result, water from the Gila River, food from the desert floor and hillsides, building material from Earth itwhen they wanted a new house they self sustain a civilization. dug in the ground for materials to build it. Several feet below the sandy topsoil, “Where did they go? Perhaps disease the Hokoham found caliche, a dense lay- and long drought interrupted by flooder of earth containing a mineral called ing altered the lives of the Hokoham. calcium carbonate. To use it, they added Perhaps they had to find other ways to water until the caliche turned into a live in the desert”-Archaeologist muddy ooze that they could thicken and pile up into walls for building. Hundreds of juniper, pine and fir trees were carried or floated 60 miles down the Gila River to the village. Anchored in the walls, the timbers formed ceiling or floor supports. Its walls face the four cardinal points of the compass. A circular hole in the upper west wall alights with the setting sun at the summer solstice. Other openings alight with the sun and moon at specific times. Perhaps people used to study how the positions of celestial objects related to times for planting, harvesting, and celebration.

DAY 22

TALIESIN WEST

by FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT Taliesin West was Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, work place, and architectural laboratory. This National Historic Landmark was built

by Sir Wright and his apprentices out of the stone and sand that surrounded them in the Sonoran Desert at the foothills of the McDowell Mountains. Many of those apprentices who worked and lived alongside Mr. Wright still live at Taliesin West.

“The long low lines of colorful, windswept terrain, the ineffable dotted line, the richly textured plain, great striated, stratified masses lying noble and quiet or rising with majesty above the vegetation of the desert floor: nature-masonry is piled up into ranges upon ranges of mountains that seem to utter a formlanguage of their own” -Frank -Frank Lloyd Wright DAY 23

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH

By Frank Lloyd Wright

DAY 23

TONTO

Theodore Roosevelt Lake The occupants of Tonto were Salados People, the Salt River people. The first settlers here arrived in Tonto basin between years 100 to 600. Starting in the 1100s population centers approached their social and economic peak. These farmers built their pit houses village along Tonto Creek and Salt River. Archeological evidence indicates that drought, plant and animal depletion, and population growth pushed resource availability to critical level.

Tonto Cliff Dwelling

However, during the early 1300s climate favored the people of the basin.

Moisture increased farming potential, and there were abundant resources of plants and animals. Once again, another dramatic change occurred that caused decrease farming and increased hunting and gathering. Their new way of survival had negatively impacted the ecosystem.

Moreover, these people faced catastrophic flooding of the Salt River that destroyed lowland farms and villages.

At the same time people moved into the Tonto cliff dwellings. Some built defensive walls around villages, while others built n defensible hilltops and in caves.

DAY 24

BESH BA GOWAH The earliest residents of the site were the Hokoham, who established a pithouse settlement here around A.D. 900 and abandoned it around A.D. 1100. At approximately 1225, the Salado Indians began construction the pueblo. BeshBa-Gowah is one of several pueblos that were built along the banks of Pinal Creek in the thirteenth century.

The area apparently attracted these settlements due to the availability of water, the diversity of natural food resources, and a climate which provided along growing season for crops. Shortly after A.D. 1400, the pueblo was abandoned and the civilization of the Salado people mysteriously disappeared. The area remained uninhabited for centuries until the Apache people made it their homeland sometimes after A.D. 1600,

The pueblo was built in stories. Many of the ground floor rooms were used for storage as upper stories were added for living areas. The Salado climbed the ladder from the ground floor to the second floor. On the ground floor, the largest room discovered in the pueblo, the ceremonial chamber. Some archaeologists believed that it may have been used in a fashion similar to the kivas of the ancient Anasazi and other neighbors to the north.

We entered Besh-Ba-Gowah in the same way as the original residents, through the central corridor. It was constructed for purposes of defense while other believe it was to channel all the traffic to the center of activity within the pueblo, the central plaza. The plaza was the focal point where public ceremonies were held and many dead were buried and was the center of commerce.

DAY 24

KINISHIBA

DAY 25

PAINTED DESERT PETRIFIED FOREST

DAY 26

GILA CLIFF DWELLING Driving to Gila was never ending due to the serpent-like and cliff edge road.

The ancient Puebloan people who built these cliff dwellings near Gila River belonged to a larger tradition that covered in areas in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico. Archeologists call this the Mogollon area and their pottery reflects very unique sites that differ slightly from those of the ancestral Puebloan area farther north.

We have a hypothesis that these cliff dwellings are integration of Chacoan, Mesa Verde and Mogollon style. Their Kiva is no longer used and it is now a theater where people were seated for a community event. There were presence of curved walls as seen in Moon House and stone-arches used for opening and structural purposes. Gila Cliff Dwelling is the offspring of all ancient pueblos in the southwest.

The Puebloans who once lived here grew corn, beans and squash. They first built their pueblo inside the aves of Cliff Dwellers Canyon with rock, mortar, and tmber felled between 1276 and 1287.

Our last night stay in our tent was though as cold as any other nights we camped, but waking up next to Gila River and pine trees was worthwhile.

As mentioned previously, the Mogollon people may have traded with the Hokoham in Casa Grande Ruins About 40 rooms built inside five natural caves here yield evidence that people traded both materials and ideas: macaw feathers probably from Mexico and T-shaped doorways like those found in other areas of the southwest and norther Mexico.

DAY 27

WHITESANDS NATIONAL PARK

DAY 28

ABQ BIOPARK

DAY 29

Our last day....

DAY 30

CLIFF PALACE by DC