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From the category archives:
American History
September 15, 2009 – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
On our last full day in Colorado, we toured the six-mile Mesa Top Loop Drive, visiting most of the archeological exhibits and overlooks.
Square Tower House cliff dwelling is named for the four-story-high structure standing against the curved back wall of the alcove. About 60 of the original 80 rooms of Square Tower House remain.
All of the cliff dwellings, including Square Tower House, were part of the final Mesa Verde building phase. People lived here between AD 1200 and 1300.
Small lizard on a ruin wall
After spending the morning among the ruins, we took a drive in the afternoon. At one point, we found ourselves on open range, with the road blocked by a herd of horses. As I very slowly eased the car forward, the horses parted and let us through.
Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 15, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
Pithouse – For thousands of years, native peoples were living in the surrounding areas before coming to Mesa Verde. As with people all over the Southwest, Ancestral Puebloans lived in modest dwellings — shallow pits dug into the ground, covered with pole and mud roofs and walls, with entrances through the roofs.
In this excavation (above), what appears to be one pithouse is actually two. The larger one, built first, around AD 700, was destroyed by fire. The smaller one, which looks like an antechamber to a larger room, is actually a second pithouse built soon after the first one burned. It contains a new feature, a verticle ventilator shaft in one side, which appears in pithouses from then on — innovation!
Above is an Ancestral Puebloan kiva – an undeground religious room. The small circular hole in the floor is a sipapu, a symbolic entrance into the underworld – the Pueblo place of origin. This early kiva design was continued in the Mesa Verde villages and cliff dwellings.
Many fires have swept across Mesa Verde over time. Recent fires have exposed previously undiscovered Puebloan sites.
At our campsite on our final afternoon in
Colorado, 2009.
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Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado — September 12, 2009
We arrived at Mesa Verde early enough to relax for a while before heading further into the park.
(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)
View of the sky over Mesa Verde National Park
It’s a mother-in-law warning device! (see previous post on it.) from display at Far View Visitor Center
Spruce Tree House was constructed between AD 1211 and 1278 by the ancestors of the Puebloan peoples of the Southwest. The dwelling contains about 130 rooms and 8 kivas (kee-vahs), or ceremonial chambers, built into a natural cave measuring 216 feet (66 meters) at greatest width and 89 feet (27 meters) at its greatest depth. It is thought to have been home for about 80 people.
Knife’s Edge, location of the old pre-1950s harrowing route into the park.
Evidence of past wild fires can be seen throughout the park, some quite recent.
Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde. Unlike other cliff dwellings in the parks, Spruce Tree House can be accessed without a ranger guided tour, though rangers will be on duty at the ruin when the trail is open.
Spruce Tree House was opened for visitation following excavation by Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Fewkes removed the debris of fallen walls and roofs and stabilized the remaining walls.
It was discovered in 1888 by two local ranchers searching for stray cattle.
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 12, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
Spruce Tree House information is from National Park Service web page — Spruce Tree House
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Mesa Verde, Colorado
Copyright 1898 by Photochrom Co.
Library of Congress Photochrom Print Collection
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.17995
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Cliff houses, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Library of Congress
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c01891
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Museum of Automobiles
on Petit Jean Mountain
near Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas
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Petit Jean State Park and Petit Jean Mountain images
Petit Jean State Park and Petit Jean Mountain information
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Haw Creek galleries
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Photographer: Wiswall (probably Wiswall Brothers)
created between 1909 and 1932
National Photo Company Collection.
(Library of Congress)
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c00924
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Delat County, Colorado
October 1940
Russell Lee, photographer
Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Collection
(Library of Congress)
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsac.1a34205
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Mother-in-law bell
Bells of this type were stamped out of quarters and were common in the 1880′s. They were worn by men and women during war dances and by an older woman to warn her son-in-law that she was approaching. Older Navajo believed that a man could become blind if he looked at his mother-in-law.
from display of artifacts
in Far View Visitor Center
Mesa Verde National Park
September 12, 2009
Debo came closest with the guess, “wildlife warning bell,” except that the bell is to warn the wildlife — the son-in-law — instead of warning of the approach of wildlife.
I still don’t know whose blog post I was thinking of when I noticed this artifact in the display. I deliberately took care to get a good picture so that I could share it with whoever had written the post, but now I can’t find it.
Oh well.
Perhaps it was just a blog comment that I had read somewhere.
Or maybe, just maybe, I’ve been reading blogs in my dreams.
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 12, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.
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In a previous post, I provided the following information:
I came across this little item during our recent travels. It has an interesting purpose.
What do you think it is? Include the interesting purpose, if you can.
I’ll provide the answer later in the week if no one gets it correct.
Some additional information:
- I came across it in a National Park visitor center.
- I took a photograph of it because it reminded me of a post someone had written on their blog about a relative — a post I cannot find right now.
- It’s a 19th century artifact.
- Debo and Dot have come closest so far
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 12, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.
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