Other Peoples » Ah, Wilderness!

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, New Mexico

Mogollon, newmexico Comments Off

Sep 102009

Posted 20 photos from Three Rivers Petroglyph Park, south of Carrizozo, New Mexico. A short hike takes you past hundreds of glyphs, surrounded by magnificent scenery.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021997&id=1108374610&l=e1bb1cf39e

This site is managed by the BLM. Entrance fee was $3. There is a small, bleak RV campground on site. A dozen miles east toward the White Mountains takes you to a nice Forest Service campground and a trail into the White Mountains Wilderness Area.

For some history and other pix, see http://gamblershouse.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/the-real-three-rivers/

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Impact of Dam on Cochiti Pueblo (New Mexico)

newmexico, Other Peoples Comments Off

Jul 062009

The following is a very interesting article on how a dam impacted Cochiti Pueblo just in the last 35 years.

Rio Grande Voices: Culture interrupted

Completed in 1975, dam at Cochiti changes way of life for pueblo people

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Culture-interrupted

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History of the Sinagua written in the red rocks of ruins

arizona, Sin agua Comments Off

Oct 272008

History of the Sinagua written in the red rocks of ruins

Oct. 24, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Palatki Red Cliffs Heritage Site is a nice place to explore when the sun is out and the weather is nice. It might be even better on a stormy day.

"It’s really beautiful when it rains here," Coconino National Forest ranger Terrilynn Green said. Waterfalls spill over the cliffs, but the ruin, sheltered by an overhang, remains dry.

Because of this, Palatki (a Hopi word meaning "red house") is fairly well-preserved, although it never has been rebuilt and the site hasn’t been excavated, Green said. …

The hike to the ruin is about a quarter-mile. Some might find it challenging, but anyone in good physical condition should have no trouble.

To the left of the visitor center, another trail, also about a quarter-mile and with a gentle grade, leads to an overhang containing rock art and the remains of an old homestead.

About 2.5 miles down the road from Palatki is another ruin, Honanki. The site is watched over by Pink Jeep Tours Co., which signs in visitors and take clients to the ruin, pointing to various symbols on the rock.

Honanki has more walls standing than Palatki does, and it may have been one of the largest Sinagua population centers in the Verde Valley. Archaeologists believe it was one of the places the Sinagua went after they left Palatki.

There were more than 60 rooms on the ground floor, perhaps as many as 72 when additional stories are taken into account. The site was abandoned around 1300.

Some of the rock art is obvious; some of it is visible only in the right light. Archaeologists say they find something new every time they look at the site.

History of the Sinagua written in the red rocks of ruins

Coconino National Forest – Palatki Ruins

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Tuzigoot – Ancient Sinagua Ruins in Arizona

arizona, Other Peoples Comments Off

Oct 222008

Read Adventurous Wench’s brief account of Tuzigoot, in Arizona south of Flagstaff and not far from Montezuma’s Well and Castle — worth a visit.

Not far from Sedona, Arizona, lie the ruins of Tuzigoot, an ancient Sinagua town that was abandoned centuries ago.

Tuzigoot – Ancient Sinagua Ruins in Arizona

AW also has some cool Mayan photos:
Flickr: Adventurous Wench’s Photostream

[updated 10/28/08]
This marsh and park are in sight of Tuzigoot but miles away by road.

Arizona Hiking: TAVASCI MARSH

TAVASCI MARSH Dead Horse Ranch State Park Situated in the backwaters of the upper Verde River, Tavasci Marsh is a bird watcher’s paradise.

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ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional

newmexico, Other Peoples, wildlands Comments Off

Jun 172008

peace, mjh

ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional
By Leslie Linthicum
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer

Mount Taylor and its mesas rise from the desert, and its peak— often capped with snow— reaches 11,301 feet. The mountain can be seen from Albuquerque, 80 miles away, and beckons hikers, hunters, piñon gatherers, and skiers and bikers for an annual quadrathlon.
    Members of Acoma Pueblo call the mountain Kawesktima, "a place of snow." To the Navajo it is Tsoodzil, or "turquoise mountain." The Zunis call it Dewankwi Kyabachu Yalanne or "in the east snow-capped mountain."
    Members of those tribes, along with the Hopis and Lagunas, made the application for a traditional cultural property distinction for the mountain.
    The tribes hold the mountain sacred, and it plays a part in their traditional lives. It is a place where their deities live; where shrines are visited; where feathers, plants and soils are collected for religious uses; and where pilgrimages are made for prayers.
    Members of the tribes said they asked for the state designation after they saw a flurry of uranium exploration permits for the mountain and after some exploration activities disturbed religious shrines and ancestral graves.

ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional

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Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange

arizona, Other Peoples Comments Off

Apr 212008

The Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange (SDKE) is a collaborative initiative led by the UA Libraries that seeks to bring together individuals and organizations who have information, services and other resources that can contribute to increased awareness, research and preservation of the Sonoran Desert.

http://www.sdke.org/

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Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park, Globe, AZ

Other Peoples Comments Off

Oct 252007

In the presence of the past at Besh-Ba-Gowah, by John Stanley, The Arizona Republic

A thriving community

In its heyday, from about 1225 to 1400, the village of Besh-Ba-Gowah was home to 350 people – hunters, gatherers and remarkably sophisticated farmers who grew corn, squash, beans and cotton and other crops, irrigating when possible and dry farming when not. They understood flood-plain farming techniques.

Archaeological evidence suggests the site was occupied from about A.D. 750, perhaps even earlier, as the thriving Hohokam culture established villages across the region. Over time, the residents of Besh-Ba-Gowah were influenced by the Ancestral Puebloans to the north and developed their own distinctive culture. (Ancestral Puebloans were formerly known as the Anasazi, a term now considered inexact and – to the modern descendants of the Puebloan tribes – offensive.)

Generation upon generation of Salado people lived here, more or less in peace with their neighbors, tending their crops and making ever more sophisticated pottery, including the intricate geometric designs of Gila polychrome.

Besh-Ba-Gowah was part of a loose-knit trade network that reached from tropical Mexico to the Pacific Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

All that changed in the 14th century, when widespread drought brought increasing competition for food and water, spurring widespread social upheaval, war and large-scale migrations.

By 1400, Besh-Ba-Gowah was effectively a ghost town. …

Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park
Where: 1324 Jesse Hayes Road, Globe, AZ

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1025beshbagowah1026.html

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Cave Creek Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

arizona, Other Peoples Comments Off

Oct 042007

Worth the Trip: Cave Creek Museum exhibits area’s past | EastValleyTribune.com

Marija Potkonjak, Tribune

The Cave Creek Museum may be small, but it packs an afternoon.

“If people really get into it, they could be here two hours,” says Evenly Johnson, the museum’s executive director.

Hidden away on Skyline Drive in view of Black Mountain, the
volunteer-run, member-supported museum will open Oct. 3 for the fall
and winter season.

“This museum almost draws you back in time,” says Johnson.

The collection is split into two galleries covering the history of the people who have lived in the Cave Creek area.

A tour of the museum starts with the archaeology wing, which features
pots recovered from local digs such as the Livingston and Ocotillo
sites.

“This area is very rich in archaeology,” says Johnson. “If you know
what you are looking for, you will see it out in the desert.”

An entire wall is dedicated to the Hohokam, Anasazi and Mogollon
peoples. Their lives are dissected in a way that’s easy for children to
understand. The newly refurbished exhibit also features a replica of a
Hohokam house and an activity center where children and adults can
learn to grind corn for flour. …
Cave Creek Museum

6140 E. Skyline Drive. $3 adults, $2 seniors and students. Open 1 p.m.
to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, but opens at 10 a.m. Fridays. (480) 488-2764. www.cavecreekmuseum.org.

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The Turquoise Traders

Anasazi, newmexico, Other Peoples Comments Off

Aug 262007

GEMLAND.NET » Blog Archive » The Turquoise Traders

The drive through New Mexico had been long and tedious, and though I was tired, I was also excited to reach my goal. Just a few more miles, I thought to myself, and I’ll be there. This was to be the first of several places I had wanted to visit that are now known to be intimately tied to the history of turquoise in the New World.

I was expecting the place I had been seeking to just jump out at me. But no, it turned out that it wasn’t that noticeable. Had I not been looking for it, I would have just driven on by, like the thousands of cars and trucks a day that zoom north and south between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, oblivious to the little group of small hills just east of the Interstate — another of those redundantly named places in the Southwest — the Cerrillos Hills. (Cerrillos means “little hills”, in Spanish.)

Probably not one person in a thousand moving along that asphalt ribbon could have told you that in those barren looking hills is the oldest continuously mined site in North America. Like so many other places in our modern world where remnants of past greatness lie within reach of our everyday lives and yet go easily unnoticed and unconsidered, the Cerrillos Hills and their rich mines once shaped empires.

The Indians of the Southwest, the Aztecs of Mexico, and later the Spaniards, would all come to know of this place and the treasure it once offered – the mineral we call turquoise.

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Navajos to Mark Chaco Canyon Centennial

Chaco, Navajo Comments Off

Aug 242007

Cibola County Beacon – News
Navajos to mark Chaco Canyon Centennial, By Diane Fowler, Beacon staff writer

CHACO CANYON – The Navajos of northwest New Mexico will observe the centennial anniversary of Chaco Canyon National Heritage Park Saturday by reminding the Dine of their historical place in that mystic canyon.

The gathering is not connected to the park or the National Park Service in any way, according to a spokeswoman for the event. She asked to remain anonymous, but was willing to share some of the details of the observance.

“We will focus on the history of the Navajo people in Chaco Canyon. It’s not a part of our history that is emphasized, but our people were forced to leave Chaco Canyon 100 years ago when it was made a national park,” she said.

“We lost our land and it was a tragic time for us,” she added.

The spokeswoman observed that currently most people think of Chaco Canyon as a national park and not as a place where people live, “The Navajo people still exist in the Chaco Canyon area,” she remarked.

The observance will include an address by San Juan County Commissioner Irving Chavez in support of the local community. Navajo Nation Vice-President Ben Shelly and other tribal leaders will also speak.

Tribal elders, who are familiar with the history of the canyon, will make a special appearance, along with Miss Indian Farmington. Traditional singing will provide entertainment and a potluck dinner will be served.

The event will be held on tribal land rather than the actual park site. Everyone is welcome to attend.

From highway 550, take county road 7800 to state route 57, then take a left on county road 7980 and look for a large tent.

The observance will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2007.

http://www.cibolabeacon.com/articles/2007/08/23/news/news1.txt

[hat tip to walkingraven]

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Range Creek, Utah (Fremonts)

Fremont, utah 2 Responses »

Jul 292007

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources – Range Creek

Information: Conditions at Range Creek as of July 8, 2007
Range Creek Wildlife Management Area hiking permits are available online.

HIDDEN IN THE BOOK CLIFFS of Emery County between the Tavaputs Plateau and the Green River, Range Creek valley was once the site of numerous Fremont Indian villages. Until recently, this remote canyon was private property and was off-limits to the general public. Because of its isolation, the thousand-year-old Fremont Indian artifacts are numerous and well-preserved. Recently, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources obtained ownership to this remarkable area and implemented a policy of limited public access.

http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/range_creek/

Salt Lake Tribune – Hidden treasures, By Brett Prettyman
Conservation officers protect and explore a wealth of ancient Fremont Indian rock art and artifacts at Range Creek Canyon

http://www.sltrib.com/travel/ci_3880827

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Yarmony Pit House, Colorado

colorado, Other Peoples Comments Off

Jun 182007

Ancient home has answers underground, by Pam Boyd, Vail CO, Colorado

EAGLE COUNTY — One of the oldest archaeological sites ever unearthed in Colorado was discovered on a sagebrush plateau in northern Eagle County 20 years ago this summer. A crew from Eagle-based Metcalf Archaeological Consultants discovered the Yarmony Pit House — a 6,000 year old, well preserved artifact treasure trove in the ranch country north of State Bridge.

It was the find of a lifetime. Evidence collected at the site shows that Yarmony was inhabited thousands of years before the Anasazi — Colorado’s famed “ancient ones” — built their dwellings at Mesa Verde. People were residing at Yarmony thousands of years before the pyramids were built in Egypt or the boulders were placed at Stonehenge.

“Yarmony has kind of become the gold standard by which you measure pit house discoveries,” says Michael Selle, White River Field Office archaeologist for the U. S. Bureau of Land Management. …

Early on, the crew knew Yarmony was special. Their excavation uncovered evidence of a prehistoric pit house — a dwelling space dug into the ground, with dirt walls, and a dirt- and brush-covered log roof supported by poles set into the ground. A hole in the center of the roof provided access into the dwelling, as well as ventilation for the fire inside.

Read it all: http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070618/NEWS/70618018

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SIXTH ANNUAL UTE MOUNTAIN TRIBAL PARK OPEN HOUSE MAY 27th, 2006

Anasazi, Mesa Verde, Other Peoples Comments Off

Mar 022007

Ute Mountain Tribal Park is near Mesa Verde, Colorado. mjh

SIXTH ANNUAL UTE MOUNTAIN TRIBAL PARK OPEN HOUSE
MAY 27th, 2006

The following events are scheduled:
*Porcupine House and Pictographs Tour – 8:30am – 3:00pm Cost is $22.00 per person
*North Lion Canyon Tour – 8:30am – 3:30pm Cost is $22.00 per person

*Anasazi Sun Calendars in Mancos Canyon and Anasazi Petroglyph tour
Virginia Wolf Archaeologist/Anthropologist and Ed Wheeler Archaeologist/Anthropologist
will conduct these tours from 9:00am to 12:00 (noon)
and from 1:00pm to 4:30pm the cost of this tour is $22.00 per person

http://www.utemountainute.com/tribalpark.htm

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UNM’s Maxwell Museum Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Other Peoples Comments Off

Jan 312007

Maxwell Museum of Anthropology Home

One of the nation’s finest anthropology museums, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology offers exhibits and programs relating to cultures around the world, with a special emphasis on the cultural heritage of the Southwest.

UNM Today: UNM’s Maxwell Museum Celebrates 75th Anniversary

The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico celebrates 75 years in 2007. … The Maxwell Museum was established in 1932 by Edgar Lee Hewett as a teaching museum. It is recognized as an important regional museum and a nationally known research center.

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Page 1 of 2 1 2 Older Entries

Ah, Wilderness!

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, New Mexico

Impact of Dam on Cochiti Pueblo (New Mexico)

History of the Sinagua written in the red rocks of ruins

Tuzigoot – Ancient Sinagua Ruins in Arizona

ABQjournal NM: Fight Over Mountain Emotional

Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange

Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park, Globe, AZ

Cave Creek Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

Marija Potkonjak, Tribune

The Turquoise Traders

Navajos to Mark Chaco Canyon Centennial

Range Creek, Utah (Fremonts)

Yarmony Pit House, Colorado

SIXTH ANNUAL UTE MOUNTAIN TRIBAL PARK OPEN HOUSE MAY 27th, 2006

UNM’s Maxwell Museum Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Edgewiseblog

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