Ancient Engineering Marvels!

What do Bandelier National Monument, the Aztec Ruins, and Mesa Verde National Park all have in common … that is, other than the fact that we’ve visited each in the past week? Amazing feats of engineering!

We visited Bandelier in north central New Mexico on April 26^th. A bright blue sky dotted with wispy clouds greeted us as we left the parking lot and headed for the trail. The first astonishing display of the ancestral Puebloan engineering was the grid gardens, so named because the structure comprises dozens of squares with approximately 2 ft adobe walls, yet all joined together in an immense circle. These garden square spaces were used for growing corns, beans, and squash which were the three primary staples of the Puebloan diet. Here’s a picture taken from a higher point so you can see the idea of the circle of the garden grids.

Next, we experienced the famous Bandelier cave dwellings, some of which we reached by climbing up a ladder. These caves are made of tuff, a softer rock that birds pecked forming holes. The Puebloan would then carve deeper, making significant rooms inside the protection of the caves. Some of the caves had petroglyphs on the outside which you can see on the picture below.

We traveled onto the Aztec Ruins the next day on our way towards Utah. Interestingly, these ruins were so named by the Spanish, believing the inhabitants to have been Aztec. They were in fact ancestral Pueblo tribes. We walked through tiny doorways between rooms adjacent to rooms and more rooms.

Also at these ruins, we saw both the outside remains and an intact interior of a Great Kiva which is a circular gathering space dug into the ground. The roof comprised huge timber beams. A stone fire pit afforded a ceremonial centerpiece. In ancient times, it would have been used for ceremonial gatherings, political discussions, and other social events.

Today, we traversed the fifteen-mile road of Mesa Verde National Park to view the famous Cliff House and other dwellings. It’s hard to imagine the effort required to build these remarkable structures. We visited pit homes on our tour as well. We also enjoyed a fabulous short hike in Mesa Verde along the Knife’s Edge trail.

Through visiting each of these sites, we’ve learned a great deal about the ancestral Puebloan peoples, formerly called the Anasazi. Their engineering prowess, fortitude, and adaptability to the desert and mesa landscape were inspiring to behold!

Now we continue on to Utah!