Montezuma Canyon in San Juan County is one of the most important and fascinating places in the world for enjoying evidence of prehistoric peoples. They think the earliest inhabitants were the Basketmakers (no pottery) and then later cliff dwellers and others. There are lots of ancient dwellings and petroglyphs to photograph and explore in this wonderful canyon.
Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are "pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading." These are a few of the more visable petroglyphs I photographed right along the road:
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I was told that some call this the "spider petrogylph" for obvious reasons. I've never seen any other like this one.
This one shocked us all. We named it "The Angel Moroni!"
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| Ancient Cliff Home |
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| This was probably a storage unit. It is just so well preserved! Next trip, I'm going up to take some shots of the inside of the cliff structure. Don't worry--I tred lightly and don't touch the walls! |
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| Sadly, some of the land dwellings are just barly hanging on before they make the final plunge into Montezuma Creek. I know it is the nature of normal erosion, but it is quite sad to think these will be lost forever. This piece of pottery is just about to go. . . |
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Also just about to roll off into the creek bottom was this perfect throwing rock probably used for hunting.
I thought this was as cool as an arrowhead. How did they get them so round? |
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| This is what I call One-Upmanship! This modern cliff dwelling had all the creature comforts. Still though, no electricity-- but they survive with solar power and generators. |
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There was more wildlife than me and Dana there in the canyon. This buck
and his #1 wife were curious about Dana's dog. |
