The Old New Mexico - Part 2

The Ancient Puebloan culture reached its peak in 800-1200 AD, when dozens of colossal, even labyrinthine, one-house cities were built in Chaco Canyon and other places in northwestern New Mexico and adjacent parts of Colorado and Arizona.

Lone tourist in Pueblo Bonito ruins, Chaco Canyon National Historic Park , New Mexico.

Chaco Canyon has the tallest pre-Colombian structures north from Central Mexico.

The Ancient Puebloan culture reached its peak in 800-1200 AD, when dozens of colossal, even labyrinthine, one-house cities were built in Chaco Canyon and other places in northwestern New Mexico.

Some houses in Chaco Canyon have five stores and more than a hundred rooms.

Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon.

Spring equinox sunset, Chaco. Some structures are aligned with rare and little-known celestial events, such as the northernmost moonrise, which occurs only once in eighteen years.

These cities are famous for unbelievable complexity of planning. Sometimes outer walls in cities separated by many miles of deserts and high mountains are in perfect alignment. The largest cities were usually shaped as semicircles, at least in Chaco area.

Some walls in Chaco form direct lines with walls at Pueblo Pintado, another Ancient Puebloan center 32 km/20 miles to the east Many such alignments are yet to be discovered.

Chetro Ketl (left) and Kin Kletso ruins, Chaco Canyon.

Secret path to Pueblo Alto city, Chaco Canyon.

An extensive road network once connected all those cities, while sacred sites were scattered around them.

Fajada Butte, a sacred rock at the entrance to Chaco Canyon.

One of the Great Kivas, Chaco Canyon Nat'l Monument.

Kivas, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

The Ancient Puebloans also built rounded pit houses called kivas. Reminiscent of Neolithic dwellings, kivas served as places of religious gatherings, symbols of connection with the past.

Reconstructed kiva, Aztec Ruins.

Ancient Puebloan settlements hidden in the vertical cliffs of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.

Frijoles Canyon hides ancient ruins in Bandelier Nat'l Monument.

Later, frequent attacks by other tribes forced the Ancient Puebloans into remote canyons, where they built spectacular cliff towns. Then they moved away. Their descendants are the Hopi of Arizona and the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico.

Cliff pueblo, Mesa Verde Nat'l Monument , Colorado.

View of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. A small Ancient Puebloan structure is hidden at the base of the tall rock in the center.

Ancient Puebloan structure, Canyon de Chelly.

The Mogollon and Ancient Puebloan lands were eventually taken over by semi-nomadic tribes from the North - the Apaches and the Navajo, respectively. They didn't build much, but their art was also interesting.

House on a cliff, Canyon de Chelly.

Newspaper Rock, Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona.

Newspaper Rock, near Canyonlands National Park , Utah.

The Navajo created some of the most impressive rock art in the region. Pictograph, Canyon de Chelly.

Ancient Puebloan village later renovated and re-inhabited by the Navajo, Canyon de Chelly.

Pictograph showing Spanish soldiers, Canyon de Chelly.

Ancient Puebloan and Navajo masonry side by side, Chaco Canyon.

The Navajos also learned to build stone structure. But their masonry was completely different from Anasazi styles. They didn't use mortar, and their structures were almost always circular rather then rectangular.

Ancient Navajo ruins, probably 17-18 century, Chaco Canyon.

Second Mesa, a hilltop village in Hopi Reservation, Arizona.

Old Oraibi, the oldest village of Hopi Reservation.

As for the Ancient Puebloans, there descendants are the Hopi of Arizona and the present-day Pueblo Indians of New Mexico.

Old Oraibi, the oldest village of Hopi Reservation.

Pueblo ruins, El Morro Nat'l Monument.

Part 3

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