Hopi Woman at Mesa Verde
We met a couple who, like us, were touring Cliff Palace. I overheard a snippet of conversation that had with the ranger, and realized the man and woman were Hopi descendants of the Anasazi who built and inhabited Cliff Palace and the other cliff dwellings in the Southwest. The woman graciously posed for her photograph, and later, at my invitation, she and her friend joined us for dinner - another one of the serendipitous moments on the trip.
Capture Date: Nov 7, 2009 04:11 PM•Views: 115
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The Anasazi?Capture Date: Nov 7, 2009 03:53 PM•Views: 116No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Rangers Shadow, Mesa VerdeCapture Date: Nov 7, 2009 03:43 PM•Views: 115No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Ranger Tour at Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde
We were on the last tour of the day, on the last tour of the year.
Capture Date: Nov 7, 2009 03:17 PM•Views: 113
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Still Life at Mesa VerdeCapture Date: Nov 4, 2009 09:56 AM•Views: 113No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Kiva Light - Mesa Verde
At Spruce Tree House, it is possible to descend on the ladder into a reconstructed kiva, the religious center of life for the Anasazi. Each extended family in the cliff dwellings in the Southwestern U.S. had their own kiva. Capture Date: Nov 7, 2009 12:21 PM•Views: 123
Pueblo peoples believe their ancestors emerged into the present world via an underground world. According to anthropologists and archeologists, the first Native Americans who became tethered to their land rather than living as hunters and gatherers dug simple shelters in the earth to keep them safer from the sometimes harsh elements of their surroundings. No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
We spent much of a day at Mesa Verde State Park, in the company of my friend from our college days, Elizabeth Bauer. Liz is the former curator of the natural history museum in the park. Capture Date: Nov 7, 2009 03:41 PM•Views: 115
Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling on the North American continent. Abandoned by 1300 AD, its inhabitants built and rebuilt the structures - homes and religious centers (kivas) from about 1190 through 1260 AD. Why the people - the Anasazi - came to live in the cliffs is not understood. Nor do we know why they left their homes, although the best guess is that they left because of overpopulation in the midst of a drought. We do know the Anasazi settled on the lands occupied now by the Hopi Pueblo people in Arizona, and by the people living in the various pueblos along the Rio Grande River in New Mexico. No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Shiprock and Horse
I pulled our van off the highway, intending to park where we could juxtapose a collection of buildings against massive Shiprock. A better scene appeared when we came across a small herd of horses willing to pose for us.
Capture Date: Nov 6, 2009 04:42 PM•Views: 114
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Shiprock and Raven
According to geology, Shiprock is a 12 million year old volcanic plug. The 1700-foot high edifice is sacred to the Navajos; they all it "Tse Bi dahi," the Rock with Wings. The Navajo folk myth explains that Shiprock was once a giant bird that transported ancestral Navajos to their present home in New Mexico. Capture Date: Nov 6, 2009 04:57 PM•Views: 113
Anglos first named the peak "The Needle." United States Geological Survey maps show the name "Ship Rock" dates from the 1870s. The name most Anglos use now, "Shiprock," comes from the peak's resemblance to a 19th-century clipper ship. No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Old Saddle
While admiring a color saddle, one of the Navajo men we met asked if I'd like to see an older one. It seems to fit in well with the general scene. The horse, of course, has been replaced by ubiquitous pick-up trucks on the Navajo Nation.
Capture Date: Nov 6, 2009 03:01 PM•Views: 112
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Father and Child Near Tsaile, ArizonaCapture Date: Nov 6, 2009 03:05 PM•Views: 146No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Mother with Child in Navajo Cradle Board
Our group photographed the Lukachukai Mountains; we were parked a little off the main road. Somewhat amazingly, a Navajo couple pulled off the highway to see if we needed help, and then invited us to photograph around their home, which was a combined ranch and tire repair shop. Capture Date: Nov 6, 2009 02:51 PM•Views: 113
Several members of an extended family made us feel at home, and one of the moms brought out her son, secured to a traditional Navajo cradle board. What an unexpected treat! I've learned, after years of conducting small groups throughout the western U.S., to embrace the serendipitous encounter. The wood from a Navajo cradleboard is reputedly made from the eastern side of a cedar or juniper tree unmarred by lightning. The head loop, bent like a rainbow, is supposed to keep the infant safe, while the backboard represents Mother Earth and Father Sky. Babies are swaddled in cloth and held securely via ties of rawhide. Cradleboards keep infants safe until they are ready to crawl. No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Sheep Near Tsaile, ArizonaCapture Date: Nov 6, 2009 02:29 PM•Views: 114No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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Reservation Dog, Tsaile, ArizonaCapture Date: Nov 6, 2009 01:54 PM•Views: 114No comments yet. All fields are required, fill in the form. Comment successfully added. Comment
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The View into the Window of Our Van
Roof Butte, at 9,823 feet in the Chuska Mountains, and rising above the community of Tsaile on the Navajo reservation, is framed in the window - and in a reflection - of our van.
Capture Date: Nov 6, 2009 02:13 PM•Views: 114
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