Chimney Rock Archaeological Area

While in Pagosa Springs we decided to visit this site of ancient Indian ruins. You meet the guide at the bottom of the mountain and then follow the guide up to the upper area in your car. Once you get to the parking area you begin a wonderful tour. The site is considered an outlier of the Chacoan Culture. Chaco Canyon is about 90 miles due south and the stonework and layout are similar.

No one really knows why the ancient indians would build up so high as this site so everything is speculation.

This is known as the "Great Kiva". It was a meeting place and while most kivas had a roof over them made of logs and adobe and they entered it through a hole in the roof this one seems to not have had one. Some think it was for religious ceremonies that they gathered in these Kivas but we had a Navajo visitor from Taos Pueblo with us and he said that kivas were and are used for all types of gatherings.









Here Barbara tries out the indian way of grinding corn. She decided that it was better to use an electric grinder! Most of the ancient Indians would end up without any teeth left after the age of 35 or so because of the residual stone particles in their corn meal from this type of grinding.








This perfectly round hold in a solid rock baffles the archaeologists. It is only about 4 inchs deep and there are no other items close to it.

If you stand behind it and look towards Chimney Rock you are in a perfect location to observe the solar and lunar activity.

I will post another post about this visit as the system only allows a few photos per post.