The Ancient Ones
No, the title of this blog does not refer to Richard and I. Even though we recently seem to have been weathering our fair share of age related agonies! In fact, this last week, we have yet again raised the injury stakes in our game of who can hurt themselves the worst. Richard made his call with a twisted knee – gained during his first game of Pickleball, (a smaller version of tennis popular with retirees) and exacerbated during his second game the day before we left Montrose. I saw his knee and raised him with a bumped knee of my own. You gotta love how competitive old farts can get!
I was worried that Richard’s incapacitated knee would put a stop to our sightseeing capabilities. But he is more of a trooper than I anticipated. Having applied ice packs and rested for a couple of days he limped along stoically as we walked around the beautiful campsite we were staying in, in Bayfield, about 20 miles east of Durango.
The countryside around here is lusciously green with gentle hills but, being put out of walking action, Richard decided to let Benny (our trusty RAM steed) take us on a drive around nearby Vallecito Lake. Here the landscape is still recovering from the Missionary Ridge Fire of 2002, when over 70,000 acres were burned. Over 4000 fire-fighters fought to keep the flames from 58 homes in the area, but 28 were destroyed along with vehicles, boats and trailers that frequent this popular recreational area. In memory of the heroic fire-fighters, a series of 14 wood carvings was commissioned. Here is one we encountered on our tour of the lake. It is in memory of Alan Wyatt, the one firefighter who died during the fire,
In between, we ate lunch at an upbeat lake side café "Pura Vida", with adjoining Tiki Bar, adorned with colourful flowers and décor calling to mind lazy, Jimmy Buffet, Margaritaville type slogans, which managed to make us feel as though we were in a beach resort.
The thunderstorm that rolled in whilst we were eating, made it feel even more like a Caribbean holiday!
I heard on the radio that we are actually in what is known as the Four Corners area, where the borders of the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet. For the last 400 years, prior to the arrival of the American settlers, south west Colorado was the roaming area of the Ute Native Americans, and before that, the ancestral Puebloan people. In their heyday, around a thousand years ago, it is reckoned there were more “Ancient ones” settled here, than today’s population of the same area.
I learned all the above facts, not from the radio, rather during our tour of Chimney Rock National Monument. Now there is a misnomer if ever there was one! For one thing, there are two rock pinnacles, and another, the idea of a chimney conveys absolutely nothing about this unique archeological site, consisting of a Chacoan Great House Pueblo, a large uncovered Kiva (communal meeting house), and several pit houses, (houses formed from a dug out base and covered with side walls of sandstones filled with adobe mud, and a roof made of sticks and mortar). They had various functions – work houses, storage facilities, as well as family dwellings.
What a fascinating day of learning about a civilization so alien to ours, only one thousand years apart. http://www.chimneyrockco.org
The Ancient Puebloans that settled atop and around the mesas (a flat topped hill or mountains) in the Four Corners area from around 950 AD, were farmers who raised maize (or corn), squash and beans in the valleys surrounding them. The population in the Chimney Rock area exploded within the next hundred years, both by natural expansion but also because of migration of the Chaco culture from Chaco Canyon some 90 miles south in New Mexico. It probably did not expand further, as this area was the most northern area capable of a growing season for corn or maize.
These ancient farmers supplemented their diet with other food sources like pinyon tree nuts, roots, seeds and berries, as well as hunting for wild game. They did not have the bow and arrow, only a lance-like spear and snares. They domesticated dogs and turkeys. Clothing came from animal fur and skins sewn with turkey bone needles. Yucca leaves provided fibers for makings sandals and mats, ropes and snares. Blankets were made by tying downy turkey feathers around yucca fibres. I will never look at a yucca plant in the same way ever again!
Chimney Rock is the most isolated and remote community tied to Chaco culture, as well as the highest in elevation. Modern Puebloan cultures consider Chimney Rock a place of spiritual significance. And, for me, it is understandable why. Firstly, there are two faces clearly discernible in the rock formations. That would definitely make me believe there was something special about this place. Two “Gods” looking down on the village – that must have been significant indeed.
However, it seems these ancient ones were much wiser than my naïve interpretation, and I, gave them credit for! I was put in my place as the guide explained how the irregular horizon provided by the San Juan Mountains to the north is a perfect backdrop for establishing a solar calendar. Priests observing the movement of the sun from south to north and back again to the south could accurately predict important times of the year such as the equinoxes and solstices. These events were probably critical in scheduling festivals and activities involved in planting and harvesting crops, and this information could easily have been communicated to other parts of the Chacoan world. The architectural design of the pueblo buildings at the very top, nearest the two pinnacles, are of a markedly different style than the pit houses of the surrounding area, built in two stages around 1080. With two kivas, and about 40 rooms, built in the Chaco style, it may have been specifically constructed and used for special festivities.
The Chaco culture began to decline around 1100 – and strangely enough by about 1125, the Ancestral Puebloans began to leave the area and head south. As there are no signs of conflict, the reason for this movement is unknown but was most probably related to climactic changes, or drought. By 1300 many Puebloan cities in the northern Four Corners area were deserted. It was not until several hundred years later that the Utes, Navajos and Apaches moved into the Four Corners area from the north and the plains from the east.
Nowadays, Ute, Navajo, Zuni and modern Peublo tribes inhabit the Four Corners on reservations that amount to a tiny fraction of the whole area they once lived on. During our visit to the Southern Ute Cultural Centre and Museum in Ignacio, we learned that the erstwhile nomadic Utes thought the concept of land ownership was purely one belonging to the invading settlers. They soon had to adopt the concept of land ownership, however, as they were forced onto reservations and had to become farmers to provide for their families, whilst their children were isolated and raised in English speaking boarding schools, in an attempt to assimilate them into the American culture, which was obviously so much more civilized. Unfortunately this western influence meant their history and identities were slowly taken away from them.
As I read about the tribe’s attempt to bring back the Ute language and instill in their children a sense of their history and culture, I was reminded of the Scot’s struggles to retain their own culture under the oppressive English during the 17th century. It seems that all encroaching or invading tribes, the world over, use the same assimilation methodology once the initial genocide attempts are over.
I am glad that the reason for the demise of the once thriving villages of Chimney Rock was not based on violence.
Further photos available here
I was worried that Richard’s incapacitated knee would put a stop to our sightseeing capabilities. But he is more of a trooper than I anticipated. Having applied ice packs and rested for a couple of days he limped along stoically as we walked around the beautiful campsite we were staying in, in Bayfield, about 20 miles east of Durango.
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| It even has its own Alpaca to keep the grass tidy and entertain us!! |
The countryside around here is lusciously green with gentle hills but, being put out of walking action, Richard decided to let Benny (our trusty RAM steed) take us on a drive around nearby Vallecito Lake. Here the landscape is still recovering from the Missionary Ridge Fire of 2002, when over 70,000 acres were burned. Over 4000 fire-fighters fought to keep the flames from 58 homes in the area, but 28 were destroyed along with vehicles, boats and trailers that frequent this popular recreational area. In memory of the heroic fire-fighters, a series of 14 wood carvings was commissioned. Here is one we encountered on our tour of the lake. It is in memory of Alan Wyatt, the one firefighter who died during the fire,
In between, we ate lunch at an upbeat lake side café "Pura Vida", with adjoining Tiki Bar, adorned with colourful flowers and décor calling to mind lazy, Jimmy Buffet, Margaritaville type slogans, which managed to make us feel as though we were in a beach resort.
The thunderstorm that rolled in whilst we were eating, made it feel even more like a Caribbean holiday!
I heard on the radio that we are actually in what is known as the Four Corners area, where the borders of the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet. For the last 400 years, prior to the arrival of the American settlers, south west Colorado was the roaming area of the Ute Native Americans, and before that, the ancestral Puebloan people. In their heyday, around a thousand years ago, it is reckoned there were more “Ancient ones” settled here, than today’s population of the same area.
I learned all the above facts, not from the radio, rather during our tour of Chimney Rock National Monument. Now there is a misnomer if ever there was one! For one thing, there are two rock pinnacles, and another, the idea of a chimney conveys absolutely nothing about this unique archeological site, consisting of a Chacoan Great House Pueblo, a large uncovered Kiva (communal meeting house), and several pit houses, (houses formed from a dug out base and covered with side walls of sandstones filled with adobe mud, and a roof made of sticks and mortar). They had various functions – work houses, storage facilities, as well as family dwellings. What a fascinating day of learning about a civilization so alien to ours, only one thousand years apart. http://www.chimneyrockco.org
The Ancient Puebloans that settled atop and around the mesas (a flat topped hill or mountains) in the Four Corners area from around 950 AD, were farmers who raised maize (or corn), squash and beans in the valleys surrounding them. The population in the Chimney Rock area exploded within the next hundred years, both by natural expansion but also because of migration of the Chaco culture from Chaco Canyon some 90 miles south in New Mexico. It probably did not expand further, as this area was the most northern area capable of a growing season for corn or maize.
These ancient farmers supplemented their diet with other food sources like pinyon tree nuts, roots, seeds and berries, as well as hunting for wild game. They did not have the bow and arrow, only a lance-like spear and snares. They domesticated dogs and turkeys. Clothing came from animal fur and skins sewn with turkey bone needles. Yucca leaves provided fibers for makings sandals and mats, ropes and snares. Blankets were made by tying downy turkey feathers around yucca fibres. I will never look at a yucca plant in the same way ever again!
Chimney Rock is the most isolated and remote community tied to Chaco culture, as well as the highest in elevation. Modern Puebloan cultures consider Chimney Rock a place of spiritual significance. And, for me, it is understandable why. Firstly, there are two faces clearly discernible in the rock formations. That would definitely make me believe there was something special about this place. Two “Gods” looking down on the village – that must have been significant indeed.
However, it seems these ancient ones were much wiser than my naïve interpretation, and I, gave them credit for! I was put in my place as the guide explained how the irregular horizon provided by the San Juan Mountains to the north is a perfect backdrop for establishing a solar calendar. Priests observing the movement of the sun from south to north and back again to the south could accurately predict important times of the year such as the equinoxes and solstices. These events were probably critical in scheduling festivals and activities involved in planting and harvesting crops, and this information could easily have been communicated to other parts of the Chacoan world. The architectural design of the pueblo buildings at the very top, nearest the two pinnacles, are of a markedly different style than the pit houses of the surrounding area, built in two stages around 1080. With two kivas, and about 40 rooms, built in the Chaco style, it may have been specifically constructed and used for special festivities.
Nowadays, Ute, Navajo, Zuni and modern Peublo tribes inhabit the Four Corners on reservations that amount to a tiny fraction of the whole area they once lived on. During our visit to the Southern Ute Cultural Centre and Museum in Ignacio, we learned that the erstwhile nomadic Utes thought the concept of land ownership was purely one belonging to the invading settlers. They soon had to adopt the concept of land ownership, however, as they were forced onto reservations and had to become farmers to provide for their families, whilst their children were isolated and raised in English speaking boarding schools, in an attempt to assimilate them into the American culture, which was obviously so much more civilized. Unfortunately this western influence meant their history and identities were slowly taken away from them.
As I read about the tribe’s attempt to bring back the Ute language and instill in their children a sense of their history and culture, I was reminded of the Scot’s struggles to retain their own culture under the oppressive English during the 17th century. It seems that all encroaching or invading tribes, the world over, use the same assimilation methodology once the initial genocide attempts are over.
I am glad that the reason for the demise of the once thriving villages of Chimney Rock was not based on violence.
Further photos available here
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