Escapees May-June 2024

Aztec Ruins National Monument

The American Southwest is dotted with intriguing ancient Indian ruins, and wheth er it is perched high on a cli ff or built down at ground level, each is unique and thought-provoking. Here are four less well-known ruins in New Mexico and Arizo na built between 1,100 and 1,300 AD that we’ve especially enjoyed. NEWMEXICO Bandelier National Monument The most fun and “hands-on” (or more accurately, “feet-on”) ancient ruins we’ve explored are at Bandelier National Monument just outside Santa Fe, NM. The cliff dwellings are built into dozens of tiny caves in the face of a long cliff, each one about the size of a walk-in closet. Small manmade holes above each cave once held the end of a timber beam while an exterior wall supported the other end. In this way, the cave formed a rounded wall at the back of each room while three stone-and mortar walls completed it. All that is left today, of course, are the caves in the cliff and the divots above that held the roof beams.

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ESCAPEES Magazine May/June 2024