BANDELIER NATIONAL PARK

BANDELIER IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE NATIONAL PARKS AND INCLUDES 33,000 ACRES.
THE YEAR MY HUSBAND AND I WERE THERE THEY HAD A FOREST FIRE, YET THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS WERE NOT RUINED. THE PARK PROTECTS AN INTERESTING GROUP OF CAVES AND PUEBLOS WHERE THE PREHISTORIC PUEBLOAN PEOPLE LIVED. THEY FOUND CLOVIS POINTS THROWN WITH ATALATL AND IT DATES TO 12,0000 YEARS AGO. IT WAS PROPELLED BY AN ATALATL. THESE PEOPLE HUNTED LARGE NOW EXTINCT SPECIES OF BISON AND MAMMALS. ARCHAIC PEOPLES HERE MOVED LESS THAN THE PALEO INDIANS. THEY WERE ALSO NOMADIC AND ADAPTED TO A CHANGING CLIMATE BY EATING A MORE DIVERSE DIET OF SMALL GAME AND COLLECTING SEEDS, NUTS, AND BERRIES THEY ONLY WOVE BASKETS. AROUND 1150 AD THE PUEBLO PEOPLE BEGAN TO MOVE IN THIS AREA FROM OTHER LOCATIONS.

THE PUEBLOAN PEOPLE LIVED HERE FROM 1150 TO 1550 AD AND CARVED THEIR PUEBLOS INTO THE VOLCANIC TUFF CAVES AND SOME PUEBLOES WERE BUILT WITH BLOCKS OF VOLCANIC TUFF ON THE GROUND. THE TUFF WAS MORTARED TOGETHER. THEY PLANTED CORN, BEANS, AND SQUASH THAT WERE TYPICAL TO THIS AREA AND COLLECTED NATIVE PLANTS. THEY PLACED PICTOGRAPHS AND PETROGLYPHS ON THE WALLS. MOST OF THESE PEOPLE HAD A A LIFESPAN OF 35 YEARS. VERY FEW PEOPLE SURVIVED UNTIL 60 YEARS OF AGE. THIS PARK HAS DIVERSE HABITATS TO SUPPORT - JUNIPER PINON TO PONDEROSA PINE SAVANAH, TOMIXED CONIFER FORESTS TO RIPARIAN AREAS ALONG THE CREEKS. SCIENTISTS MEET TOGETHER TO PROVIDE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND TO DECIDE ON LAND MANAGEMENT.

THEN BY 1550 THE PUEBLOANS MOVED TO THE RIO GRANDE. THEY MAY HAVE BEEN DRAWN TO LARGER ECONOMIES OF THE CITIES OF COCHITI, SAN IDELFONSO, SANTO DOMINGO, SANTA CLARA, SAN FELIPE,AND ZUNI PUEBLOS.

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