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The Mystery of the Aztec
The Aztec Ruin was declared as a National Monument in 1923.
By Nathan Jacob George 7th Grader Rehoboth Christian School
This summer, I had the opportunity to visit the Aztec Ruins National Monument. It is an Ancestral Puebloan in Northwest, New Mexico, near the Animas River. My family and I went on the trail to the Aztec Ruins, and we stopped at special sites to visit rooms of the Aztec Ruin. The exploration was a journey to the past at the Aztec Ruins.
History says that in 1916, Earl Morris led a major archeological exploration of the Aztec Ruins. About 950 years ago, Pueblo people made a new village in River Valley and on the Mesa. They gathered materials to build the ruin like the structure in Chaco Canyon. It gives us information about the history of the of life of the ancestral Pueblo people in the four corners region.
It’s a misnomer that the ancient Pueblo people were called “Aztec”. They were mistaken as the “Aztec civilization”, while they were the original pueblo people. Could they have come from Mexico? Excavations show that they were well-versed in hunting, farming, and pottery making. The Mancos Black-on-White bowl was made at the Middle and Northern San Juan regions between 1000 and 1150 AD. The Great Kiva was an area of religious and social cere-
monies. The Kiva in the Aztec Ruins is the oldest and largest reconstructed “Great Kiva” in the world.
By the late 13th century, people started to leave the area by 1300 AD; Aztec stood empty. Researchers are still trying to find an answer as to why the people left. The best possible explanations are that they joined other Pueblo people. There also might have been a famine and they migrated for verdurous pastures.
The Mancos Black-on-White bowl
