This page contains images from two of the Anasazi
(Ancestral Pueblo Indian) sites in the Four Corners area
(Northern NM and Arizona, Southern Utah and Colorado),
Montezuma’s Castle and Tuzigoot Sinagua Indian Pueblos,
the Salinas Pueblo Missions and the modern Taos Pueblo.

I split the material on ancient Indian sites into two pages to reduce the download time (the Anasazi Ancestral Pueblo Indian Sites page has the rest of the images). There is an extensive separate page on the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and another separate page detailing Chaco Culture Pueblo Site. Several images from Taos Pueblo that are not shown on this page are on the Southwest Scenics page.

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Images on this page are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection page.

Images can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Aztec Ruins & Hovenweep
Canyon de Chelly & AZ Sinagua Sites
New Mexico Pueblos & Bandelier

Aztec Ruins

Aztec Ruins was misnamed by early white settlers who thought that
Aztec people from Mexico created the pueblo (the name stuck even after
it was determined that ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi) had built the extensive
structures found here. Aztec Ruins is in northwest NM, north of the town of Aztec
not far from Farmington. It consists of several Great Houses, three above ground
kivas surrounded by three concentric walls, and a Great Kiva that was restored by
the archaeologists who excavated the area in the early 1900s. It was abandoned in
the early 1300s, when the people migrated southeast to join the other Puebloans that
had migrated to the Rio Grande River Valley and Little Colorado River Valley during
the 50 year drought which brought down many Anasazi Indian sites in the 1100s.

Aztec Ruins X9671

Aztec Ruins shows a strong influence from Chaco Canyon, the major ancestral Puebloan
site in northern NM. It may have been an outlying community of Chaco, or it may have been
a major center itself after Chaco Canyon’s cultural influence faded in the late 12th century.

Aztec Ruins X9662

A view through one of the interior doorways. This was an unbelievably difficult shot
requiring a 17.5 second exposure and a careful guess as to how much to let the daylight
at the end of the building oversaturate to allow for the best exposure of the interior with the
least amount of distraction by the radically overexposed exterior doorway. It came out fine.

I probably should have taken several shots for safety, but it was hard enough to
get people to wait for the 20 seconds it took to set up and then take the shot.
You’d think I made them wait for half an hour or longer. You know how it is.

The timbers you can see are the original timbers from the 11th to 12th c.

Aztec Ruins X9663

This is the West Ruin. Not far from
this Pueblo is the unexcavated East Ruin.

Aztec Ruins X9664

Beyond the wall you can see two of the kivas
that were used for ritual Anasazi ceremonies.

Aztec Ruins X9665

The ruins look remarkably like the ruins of Pueblo Bonito and other Great Houses at Chaco Culture.
Archaeologists believe that Aztec Ruins was constructed as a satellite community of the Chacoan
Anasazi to take advantage of the fertile soil and ease of irrigation of the Animas Valley area.

In the 1200s, the Mesa Verde Anasazi arrived and built additional rooms and remodeled
some of the older ones using the architectural techniques they had developed. They
added some kivas inside the large rectangular rooms and subdivided others.
They also built (and left) different sorts of pottery than the Chacoans.

Aztec Ruins X9666

One of the typical T-shaped doorways that opened out onto the plaza.
These exterior rooms were probably added in the early 1200s when the Mesa Verde
people occupied the area and added their style of architecture to the existing Chacoan style.
The Mesa Verde people abandoned the site during and after the drought of 1276-1299.

Aztec Ruins X9669

An exterior doorway with original timbers.

Aztec Ruins X9670

Note the inverted arc of masonry atop the door.

Aztec Ruins Reconstructed Kiva X9661

The Great Kiva was reconstructed in 1934 by Earl Morris, a local archeologist who had been
directing the excavation of Aztec Ruins for the American Museum of Natural History since 1916.
It is the oldest, largest reconstructed Great Kiva in North America, and is over 41 feet in diameter.

Aztec Ruins Reconstructed Kiva X9674

5 second exposure of the interior.
 

Aztec Ruins Reconstructed Kiva X9676

This 3 second exposure was a little dark.
 

While some of the reconstruction was necessarily done by guesswork,
this is probably a very good display of what the interior of a Great Kiva looked like.

Aztec Ruins Reconstructed Kiva X9681

This 20 second shot shows the construction of the circular ceiling and the central section.
 You can imagine how dark it was in there from the need for a 20 second exposure.

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de Shay) is a unique National Park formed entirely
within the Navajo Nation. The name derives from a Spanish corruption of the Navajo word
Tseyi, meaning “inside the rock” or “rock canyon”. It contains ruins from the ancient Anasazi
(ancestral Pueblo Indians) and early Navajo. Navajo inhabitants still live and farm within the valley.

On this page I have mostly placed images of the Anasazi Ruins of Canyon de Chelly.
Except for three shots, most of the scenic images are on the Southwest Scenics page.

The detail shots of the ruins are also somewhat unusual in that they were taken from the rim.
For the most part, these were taken with a 500mm lens, not the typical lens to use for scenery.
Exceptions are the 135mm shot of Spider Rock Ruins, and a 70mm shot of White House Ruins.

Canyon de Chelly X10038

I arrived in Canyon de Chelly late in the afternoon after shooting all day at Monument Valley.
We decided to stop here and at least see the canyon from the rim, as it was too late to go in.
I am very glad we decided to stop, even though we didn’t make our destination until quite late.

This is a 35mm shot down the canyon, showing some of the beautiful scenery.
Most of the scenic shots are located on the Southwest Scenics page.

Canyon de Chelly First Ruins X9996

The first ruin you see, thus the name.
Occupied by Anasazi from c. 1050 to 1300.
It has 22 rooms and a kiva on a narrow ledge.

Canyon de Chelly Junction Ruins X9994

Junction ruins is just to the right of First Ruin.
It has 10 rooms and a Kiva and was occupied
at the same time, during the Great Pueblo Period.

Canyon de Chelly Junction Ruins X10001
 

Canyon de Chelly Junction Ruins X10003
 

Some of the grain storehouses perched on ledges near the cliff dwellings.

Canyon de Chelly Dekaa Kiva X10020

Dekaa Kiva is a lone ceremonial structure accessible only by toeholds.
It stands alone on a ledge well above the canyon floor.

Canyon de Chelly White House Ruins X10009

This image, taken at 17mm (and cropped) shows White House Ruins
in the context of the canyon in which it resides. Like the other ruins in the canyon,
it was built by the Anasazi around 1100 AD. It is called White House because
of the plaster the builders used to coat the walls at the back of the ruins.

The uncropped image is on the Southwest Scenics page.

Canyon de Chelly White House Ruins X10034

The 80-room White House Ruins, constructed both on the canyon floor and on
the ledge alcove 50 feet above. Detail shots are below. The streaks on the wall of
the canyon (desert varnish) are caused by seeping water leaching iron out of the rock.

This image was shot with the lens set to 70 mm to show some surrounding scenery.

Canyon de Chelly White House Ruins X10025M

This large (M-sized, 1068 x 1608) image allows examination of detail.
Like other detail images of the ruins, it was shot with a 500mm lens (1/180 @ f/5.6).

Canyon de Chelly
lower White House Ruins X10026

A 1500 x 1200 detail shot of the lower ruins.
Note the petroglyphs on the wall above the ruins.

Canyon de Chelly
upper White House Ruins X10014

A 1489 x 1080 detail shot of the upper ruins.
Note the 19th c. graffiti cut into the plaster walls.

Canyon de Chelly Spider Rock X10061 M

One of the three scenic images on this page,
I felt it was required to support the next image.
This shot was taken with the lens set to 35mm.

Spider Rock is a sandstone spire rising 800 feet over the canyon floor.
This is a larger (M-sized, 1068 x 1675) image to allow examination of detail.
For instance, look at the lower right side of the base of the spire. Anasazi
ruins are built on an outcropping, and more are on the shelf to the right.

The larger spire is the lair of Spider Grandmother, or Spider Woman.
In legends of the Dine (Navajo people), she created stars by throwing a
dew-covered web into the sky. The dew became the stars. She also taught
the Dine how to weave baskets, and would take bad Dine children up to her
lair and eat them. It seems that there are always boogiemen for bad children.

Other shots of Spider Rock are with the Canyon de Chelly scenics on the Southwest Scenics page.

Canyon de Chelly Spider Rock Anasazi Ruins X10056

Detail of the Anasazi dwellings at the base of Spider Rock
and the kiva on the shelf beyond, taken with a 135mm lens.

Montezuma’s Castle

The Montezuma’s Castle area was settled by the Sinagua (Western Anasazi) people as early
as 700 AD. It was inhabited until 1425 and was the last known habitation of the Sinagua people.
The interior has been closed to the public since the 1950s to preserve its existing condition.

.

Montezuma’s Castle X0095

Montezuma’s Castle X0093

Montezuma’s Castle was misnamed when it was
discovered by European Americans in 1860. At
the time, there was a fascination with the Aztecs
(also resulting in the misnaming of Aztec Ruins)
and this site was named for the Aztec Emperor
Montezuma II due to the belief that his people
constructed it. The Castle is a 5 story, 20 room
stone and mortar dwelling that housed 50 people.

Tuzigoot

Tuzigoot was also a Sinagua (Western Anasazi site) 20 miles from Montezuma’s Castle
in the Verde Valley about 1.5 hours north of Phoenix, AZ. It was built in the 12th century AD.
Tuzigoot is Apache for “crooked water”, derived from Peck’s Lake, a cutoff Verde River meander.
It was excavated between 1933 and 1935 by the University of Arizona (with  WPA funding), and
was prepared for public display with additional federal funds in 1935-36. At the same time, a
Pueblo-Revival Museum and Visitor’s Center was built and populated with found artifacts.

Tuzigoot Sinagua Pueblo X0210

Archaeologists think that the population expansion here, and the building of
additional rooms that resulted, were due to influx of people from outlying regions
who were escaping a drought. At one time, the settlement was home to 250 people.
The room at the top of the settlement, seen at the top left, is complete and roofed.

Tuzigoot Sinagua Pueblo X0211

The Visitor’s Center contains a large number of
artifacts found at the site during the excavations.

Tuzigoot Sinagua Pueblo X0214

The Mutate stone inside this room was
used for grinding corn into a corn meal.

Tuzigoot Sinagua Pueblo X0218

The surrounding territory including the town of
Cottonwood. Mingus Mountain is in the distance.

Tuzigoot Sinagua Pueblo X0220

The view from the top of the pueblo.
A Mutate grinding stone is on the right.

Images on this page are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection page.

Images can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Aztec Ruins & Hovenweep
Canyon de Chelly & AZ Sinagua Sites
New Mexico Pueblos & Bandelier

Salinas Pueblo

Near the Rio Grande in New Mexico, not far from Bosque del Apache.
Early Pueblo Indians had been living in the area for thousands of years when
the Spanish arrived with their missionaries in the early 17th century and found
the Indians the perfect subjects for their efforts. Pueblo Missions were built at
Gran Quivira, Quarai, and Abó (seen below). The entire area was abandoned
by the 1670s, due to a devastating drought, a typical cycle in the Southwest.

I’m going to provide some information on the Missions, and salt it liberally
with extensive information on the Pueblo people in the Salinas Valley area.

Salinas Pueblo X9440

The Mission and Monastery of San Gregorio de Abó was built 1629-30 of red sandstone.

Nomadic Indians arrived in the Salinas Valley as long as 20,000 years ago. They
were followed by Anasazi and Mogollon cultures with roots going back 7000 years.

The Anasazi and Mogollon cultures merged in the Salinas Valley to produce the
later societies of Abó, Quarai and Gran Quivira. Tompira and Tiwa-speaking Pueblo
people migrated into the area from the Rio Grande and spurred the growth of settlements.
By the 10th c., large Mogollon villages existed, and by the late 12th c. the migration of the
Anasazi people leaving the drought on the Colorado Plateau assimilated the Mogollon.

Salinas Pueblo X9442
 

Salinas Pueblo X9446
 

Two detail shots of the Mission at Abó.

The Salinas Valley became a major trade center and was one of the most populous
parts of the Pueblo world, with the stone and adobe homes of the Anasazi forming the
Pueblo architecture that was encountered by the Spanish in the 17th century. Anasazi
culture was dominant by 1300, although it was not quite as developed as it was in the
northern settlements. They had developed weaving, basket-making and pottery to a
fine art (which impressed the Spaniards when they arrived). The Salinas people
had borrowed black-on-white pottery techniques from the Rio Grande Pueblos.

Salinas Pueblo X9448

Detail of the left side rear of the Mission Church at Abó.

The Spaniards were drawn north by tales of the rich land of Quivira. Coronado’s
1540 expedition failed to find it, and in 1598 a permanent colony was established in
New Mexico by Juan de Onate. He also failed to find the wealth he desired, and tried
to extract a tribute from the Indians, which damaged the relationship. Then, the Pope
told the Spanish to Christianize the natives of the New World. The King of Spain
decided to maintain the colony at his expense mainly as a missionary effort.

Salinas Pueblo X9449

Interior details.

Note the kiva in the midst of a church in the
image below. Obviously, the Franciscans were
trying to maintain their hold on the people by
allowing them to practice their traditions.

Salinas Pueblo X9452c

Salinas Pueblo X9453

While the Spaniards did introduce wheat, fruit trees, cattle and sheep, goats and
other things that enhanced life, their slave raids on the Apache (with Pueblo Indians
along for support) caused the Apache to relinquish their trading status with the Pueblos
and start raiding instead. The Pueblos were also hit with drought and famine in 1660-70
that killed hundreds of people. In the 1670s, the Pueblos were abandoned, the people all
left to live with relatives elsewhere, and finally in 1680 the Spanish were forcibly expelled
from New Mexico by a revolt of the Pueblos north of Salinas, including Taos Pueblo.

Salinas Pueblo X9454

A wider view of the center of the Abó Mission church showing the kiva.

The Piro and Tompiro survivors of the Salinas Pueblos moved to the El Paso area
and were absorbed by communities there, becoming the only group among the
Pueblo Indians to lose their language and homeland during the historic period.

Salinas Pueblo X9458

The Franciscan Mission Church at the Pueblo of Quarai.
This is the best preserved and most complete of the Salinas ruins.

The holes in the wall between the window and door (on the right)
are floor joist sockets for the porch extending along the front.
On the inside they held the floor joists for the choir loft.

Misión de la Purísima Concepción de Cuarac was constructed of red sandstone
between 1629 and 1674, when the area was abandoned. It served as the
ecclesiastic headquarters for the Spanish Inquisition in New Mexico.

Quarai Pueblo was inhabited by Tiwa-speaking Puebloans, who
 numbered between 400-600 people in the 1600s when the Spanish
arrived to take their pledge of allegiance to the Spanish Crown.

Salinas Pueblo X9462

The view of the nave, the transept and the
apse. The large holes are roof beam sockets.

The floor is flagstone covering the entire
100 feet of length of the church interior.

Salinas Pueblo X9464

This image offers a good look at the red
sandstone walls and the flagstone floor.

Salinas Pueblo X9466
 

Salinas Pueblo X9468
 

Three more exterior views of the Quarai Mission. At left, a shot down the length of the nave
taken from in front of the Sacristy entrance. At right a frontal view of the main door of the church,
and below, a view of the church from the opposite side, where you can see the transept and apse
area was designed with a higher roof than the nave, allowing a clerestory window across the
entire width of the nave which brightly illuminated altars placed in the transept and apse.

The Mission was built like a fortress and acted as a buffer between
the Pueblo and the Apache Plains Indians, who tended to raid the
Pueblos (as detailed earlier), due to the Puebloans involvement
in the numerous Spanish slave raids on the Apache villages.

Salinas Pueblo X9470

A Spanish garrison reoccupied the valley between 1751-54, and in 1800 the mission and
pueblo were reoccupied by new Spanish settlers who used the foundation and walls of
the old structures. Some of the Mission buildings were in use as late as the 1880s.

Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo is an ancient pueblo of the Taos (Northern Tiwa) speaking Pueblo people.
Dating from the 900s, it is just north of the town of Taos, NM and is home to about 1900 people.
Most of the people have homes outside the Pueblo, but 150 still live within the ancient structure.
Its major features are the two multistoried adobe complexes separated by Red Willow Creek.

Taos Pueblo was one of the main centers of trade between Rio Grande Pueblos and the
Plains Indians. Trade Fairs were held every season and were institutionalized by the Spaniards.
It was the center of the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 that drove the Spanish out of New Mexico until 1692.

Taos Pueblo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Taos Pueblo HS6517

North House (Hlauuma)

North House, one of the most photographed and painted buildings in the Western Hemisphere.
This is the largest multistoried Pueblo structure in existence. Its adobe walls are several feet thick
and the homes are generally two rooms, one for cooking, eating and storage and the other for
general living and sleeping. Electricity, running water and indoor plumbing are prohibited.
Fresh water is acquired from Red Willow Creek, which never freezes completely.

Taos Pueblo HS6578
 

Taos Pueblo HS6589
 

Some of the rooms in the Pueblo have been turned into shops run by the artists,
 clothing makers, jewelers, potters, and other creative folks who live at the Pueblo.

Taos Pueblo HS6520

Most archaeologists believe that the Taos people and others along the Rio Grande
migrated away from the Four Corners areas (such as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde)
when the 50 year drought in the 1200s caused the Anasazi to abandon their dwellings.

Taos North House detail HS6521, 6575

Detail crops from the southwest (left) and northwest of the West facade of North House
 showing some of the details of the adobe construction (wall shaping, drainage, roof joists, etc.).

Taos Pueblo HS6547

Taos Pueblo HS6559

Taos Pueblo HS6563

Taos Pueblo HS6574

This is the South House (Hlaukwima). It was built at about the same time as the North House.

Taos Pueblo HS6594

One of the most interesting of the separate houses at the Pueblo.

The turquoise and blue surrounding window and door frames
are intended to guard the dwelling against the entry of witches or evil.

Taos Pueblo HS6598

Taos Pueblo HS6634

Taos Pueblo HS6641

Taos Pueblo Ladder HS6625

Taos Pueblo HS6556

A view towards the East of the North House from across Red Willow Creek.

Red Willow Creek (also called Rio Pueblo) flows through the middle of the Pueblo.
It provides the only source of drinking water in the Taos Pueblo (indoor plumbing is prohibited).

Many images of Taos Pueblo that are not on this page are displayed on the Southwest Scenics page.

Images on this page are in three different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection page.

Images can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Aztec Ruins & Hovenweep
Canyon de Chelly & AZ Sinagua Sites
New Mexico Pueblos & Bandelier

Click the display composite above to visit the Southwest Scenics page

Click the display composite above to visit the Anasazi Ancestral Pueblo Indian Sites page

Click the display composite above to visit the Chaco Culture page

Click the display composite above to visit the Monument Valley page