Escapees May-June 2024

Wupatki National Monument

1250 AD. The earlier masonry style is similar to that found at the enormous Chaco Canyon ruins, and the later style is similar to that found at the Mesa Verde ruins. Ironically, early settlers assumed the Aztecs had built the ruins! However, the Aztecs lived 1,600 miles further southeast near modern-day Mexico City. They never ventured as far north as modern-day Arizona or New Mexico. We were astonished by the sheer size of this ruin. Although the rooms are very small (think closets!), the number of rooms is mind-boggling. The “Great House” was used primarily for communal activities and storage, containing 400 rooms and 30 circular Kivas! Visitors can wander through at leisure, and we had the place almost to ourselves. We were intrigued by the “T” shaped doorways. We’d seen similar doorways at the Mayan ruins of Palenque in southern Mexico and also at the Ankor War ruins in Cambodia. Archaeologists think this shape made it easier to get through the doorway carrying pots and other things! When the ruin was fi rst discovered by geologist John Newbery in 1859, the pueblo was largely intact, and had 25-foot high walls and a lot of pottery, grain and other artifacts remaining in the rooms. However, by 1878, settlers had dismantled much of the ruins by carrying away about 25 percent of the stones to build their homes.

The National Park Service has placed timber ladders in front of many of these dwellings, and they encourage visitors to climb up and have a look inside. Kids love climbing up and down these ladders, and so did we! Some of the ladders were the size of a household ladder, but a few were more like a fi re engine ladder. Alcove House requires climbing three long ladders to get up to it! The Anasazi people (also called “Ancestral Puebloans”) lived at this site between 1150 and 1550 AD, and we were surprised to learn that they painted patterns on the walls of their homes. In addition to a few petroglyphs on the exterior cliff walls, many rooms were decorated with “wainscotting” inside, where the lower half of the wall was one color and the upper half was another color. One wall even had a wonderful zig-zag “W” shaped pattern painted in red and white. It’s now preserved beneath plexiglass for protection. The Anasazi also built a large multi-room pueblo on the fl at ground at the base of the cliff dwellings. Aztec Ruins National Monument Aztec Ruins National Monument is home to a very large and fascinating ancient pueblo built by the Ancestral Puebloans on fl at land with stone-and-mortar walls rather than being built into the side of a cliff. Like the ruins at Bandelier, it was constructed around 1100 AD. It was renovated repeatedly until the people left around

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May/June 2024 ESCAPEES Magazine