The journey to Bandelier took us past Camel Rock again but I felt the photo I have is good enough. Again it is a very scenic journey.
Our first stop was White Rock from where there is a view of the River Grande which carved its way through creating White Rock Canyon. Jim remembers us being there when we were in New Mexici before. I have absolutely no recollection!
Surprisingly a waterfall!
At the White Rock Visitor Centre we discovered that we could get the free shuttle to Bandelier National Monument and we were just in time! It is a 25 minute journey and we were delivered at the centre where we had a quick snack, watched the lovely video about the area and set off on the main loop trail.
Evidence of human activity in what is now Bandelier National Monument dates back more than 10,000 years. The early prople migrated in and out of the area following the movement of game animals. They did not build permanent structures. Over time they became more sedentary building homes of wood and mud. Early structures, pit houses, were built largely underground. Above ground stone dwellings, like the ones we saw on the trail, gradually replaced pit houses.
The people who settled in Frijoles Canyon are known as the Ancestral Pueblo people. These people were known as the Anasazi, an outdated term wuth a Navajo origin and roughly translated as "ancient enemies". As ancestral pueblo people travelled across the Pajarito Plateau they must have moved in and out of Frijoles Canyon. The Pajarito Plateau was formed by 2 violent eruptions of the Jemez Volcano, more than a million years ago. The pink rock of the Canyon wall looks like sandstone but it is actually volcanic ash that compacted over time into a soft crumbly rock called tuff. Tuff is very easily eroded and over time takes on the appearance of a Swiss cheese. Ancestral Pueblo people used tools to enlarge some of the small natural openings to form homes.
This is an underground structure called a kiva which was an important part of the ceremonial cycle and culture. It was a centre of the community for religion, education and decision - making. When in use it would have been covered by a roof made of wood and earth. You would have entered the kiva through an opening in the roof.
This is Frijoles Creek (little river of beans), a permanent stream very important to the Ancestral Pueblo people.
These walls belong to the village of Tyuonyi (pronounce Qu-weh-nee) , one of several large pueblos located in Bandelier. Homes could be one to two storeys high, contained about 400 rooms and housed around 100 people. Access was through a single ground-level opening.
Example of tuff.
Homes were accessed by ladders. Jim decided that he wanted to go home.
Now he's starting to arse about. What's unusual about that?
Showing off! What's unusual about that!
From up on the cliff, looking down on the village of Tyuonyi.
I am tenderly swearing! This will not do what I want it to do!There is a petroglyph if you look closely - the one above this one.A black zigzag line that could represent the feathered serpent Awanyu.
Japanese - see the head in the opening to the left. It was very funny to watch them!
Above and below 2 petroglyphs. These are pictogram or logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking or carving. Once considered rock art, it is becoming apparent that these drawings had much deeper and significant meanings to the people who carved them.
Pictogram revealed when a layer was chipped off.
4 pictures up blueberries lacking in plumpness because lacking in moisture.
This is where the loop trail divides. Unbalanced people like us return on the nature trail to the visitors' centre and those less unbalanced continue on a further half mile to Alcove House. The shade of the nature trail was very much appreciated because temperatures were in the 30s.
We had to cross the creek several times over planks like these. However, if we fell off in our unbalanced state we would only have got our feet wet.
There are also birds in this area but Jim failed in his duty to take a photo!
A natural bridge over the creek probably the kind the pueblo would have used.
Back to the car by shuttle and we drove the road to the Valles Caldera, a 22km wide caldera in the Jemez Mountains. We stopped at the largest grass valley - Valle Grande.
And from there we made our way home, passing through Los Alamos where Jim had to show picture id and explain what brought us all the way from Ireland. Why do people react so much when we say we are from Ireland? I feel a bit like an alien!
No comments:
Post a Comment