HOVENWEEP, UTAH

THIS NATIONAL MONUMENT PROTECTS 6 PREHISTORIC PUEBLO ERA VILLAGES SPREAD OVER 21 MILE EXPANSE OF MESA TOPS ALONG UTAH BORDER WITH COLORADO. MY HUSBAND AND I USED TO TOUR HERE DURING OUR GRADUATE YEARS.

HUMAN HABITATION HERE DATES TO 10,000 YEARS AGO WHEN PALEO INDIANS HUNTED AND GATHERED HERE. ABOUT 900 AD THEY SETTLED HERE YEAR ROUND AND STARTED PLANTING AND HARVESTING CROPS. THEY ATE PLENTY OF PINON NUTS. BY 1200 YEARS AGO. THE HOVENWEEP AREA WAS OCCUPIED BY 2500 PEOPLE. THE TOWERS WERE BUILT BY PUEBLOANS WHO WERE FARMERS FROM 500 TO 1300 AD. THEY MADE POTTERY SIMILAR TO THAT FOUND AT MESA VERDE. THE FARMERS CREATED TERRACES TO HOLD STORM RUNOFF, WITH CHECK DAMS THAT RETAIN TOPSOIL. THERE ARE CEREMONIAL STRUCTURES STRUCTURES, CIRCULAR TOWERS AND KIVAS. THE SANDSTONE BUILDINGS ARE VERY METICULOUSLY BUILT. SOME OF THE BUILDINGS ARE VERY METICULOUSLY BUILT. SOME OF THE BUILDINGS MAY HAVE BEEN CELESTIAL OBSERVATIONS.

APPARENTLY THEY LEFT AFTER AD 1200 DUE TO DROUGHT, RESOURCE DEPLETION AND POSSIBLY WARFARE. THEY MIGRATED SOUTH TO THE RIO GRANDE IN NEW MEXICO AND THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN IN ARIZONA. THE ZUNI AND HOPI ARE DESCENDANTS OF THIS CULTURE.

A MORMON WAS THE FIRST ANGLO TO FIRST FIND THESE STRUCTURES IN 1854. HOVENWEEP MEANS DESERTED VALLEY. IN 1923 PRESIDENT HARDING PROCLAIMED IT A NATIONAL MONUMENT.

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