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Sunday, June 6, 2004
Ruins in Civilization
By James Abarr
For the Journal
For the Journal
Photographs by Richard Pipes
Of the Journal
BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT— On Santa Fe's northwestern horizon, a broad and rugged plateau rises above the west bank of the Rio Grande.
It's a vast region born in the fire of a cataclysmic volcanic eruption in the dim geologic past that laid down a thick sheet of lava and ash many miles long. Through the following centuries, rain, wind and melting snow wore away the land in a never-ending process that sculpted what today is the Pajarito (Little Bird) Plateau. It's an area of historic and geologic significance that stretches eastward from the rim of the Jemez Mountains to the Rio Grande.
Amid the plateau's lush forests and deep canyons, bisected by high, fingerlike mesas, are countless remains of an Indian civilization that occupied the great plateau for about 400 years. Today, the ruins of their pueblos, talus houses, cliff homes and small scattered settlements are preserved in the splendor of Bandelier National Monument.
An ancient people
It's uncertain where the ancient settlers of the Pajarito came from. Archaeologists theorize they were likely descendants of nomadic hunting bands which roamed the region more than 1,000 years ago.
Beginning in about A.D. 1150, bands of the Anasazi moved into the deep canyons and onto the forested mesas to settle. At first, they lived in small settlements of perhaps one or two extended families, but as the population grew, fed by refugees from the dying pueblo centers of the Four Corners area, they came together in larger communities and their dwellings changed.
In the soft volcanic rock of the canyon walls, they carved cliff homes of many rooms. Along the base of canyon walls, they built talus houses, or small pueblo dwellings fronting rooms carved into the cliffs.
On the floor of Frijoles Canyon, the focal point of today's national monument, they built the showpiece of their culture— the multi-storied pueblo of Tyuonyi.
From the rich volcanic soil of the canyon floors and along mesa rims, they coaxed crops of corn, beans and squash. In the deep forests, they hunted deer, elk and wild turkeys. They supplemented their food supply by trapping small game and gathering edible plants.
To ease their daily struggle for existence, they developed a complex religion centered on the rhythms of nature and the Earth, the giver of all life. Their prayers and ceremonies sought the blessings of an array of protective deities— Sun Father, Moon Mother and Awanyu, the plumed serpent, lord of the water.
In the sacred kivas, they sought the protection of their gods in secret rituals as they contemplated the mighty unseen power around them.
However, the gods proved fickle, and time ran out for the ancient people of the Pajarito. By about 1550, they had abandoned the great plateau. In their wake, they left an idyllic region dotted with the countless signs of their passing.
A society fades
Archaeologists believe a series of factors combined to make life untenable for the Pajaritans— extended drought, over-population, depleted soils from centuries of farming and a general depletion of resources.
Today, the people of Cochiti and San Ildefonso pueblos, on the southern edge of the plateau, are their descendants.
In 1880, Adolph Bandelier, a Swiss-born archaeologist and ethnologist under the auspices of the Archaeological Institute of America, was the first scientist to closely study the Pajarito Plateau. With Indian guides from Cochiti, he spent several years tramping the canyons and mesas. He carefully examined many of the ruins in a land he described as "the grandest thing I ever saw."
In later years, Bandelier made the region the setting for his ethnohistoric novel, "The Delightmakers," depicting Indian life in pre-Spanish times.
In 1916, when the national monument was created, it was named in honor of Bandelier and his pioneering work.
Although the monument encompasses 40 square miles of forests, steep-walled mesas and plunging canyons, its focal point is Frijoles Canyon. This two-mile-long slash in the volcanic tuff, carved over centuries by El Rito de Los Frijoles (Bean Creek), holds Bandelier's best known and most accessible ruins.
Major attractions
A short distance up the canyon from the Visitor Center is the large pueblo of Tyuonyi. This circular community, once standing two stories high, graces the floor of the canyon and once contained more than 300 rooms.
Tree-ring samples from roof beams place the period of greatest occupancy between 1383 and 1466, a time of much building in the canyon.
On the talus slope of the north wall of the canyon, just above Tyuonyi, is Sun House. This is a community of cave rooms fronted by masonry houses built of volcanic tuff blocks. Sun House, excavated and restored, takes its name from the sun symbols carved into the cliffs. Archaeologists estimate it was occupied throughout the 1400s.
Farther up canyon is impressive Long House, a combination of cave and masonry dwellings 800 feet long. Standing against the 150-foot-high north wall of the canyon, the unique dwelling is a series of cave units, cave kivas and storage areas incorporated into a community of 300 rooms.
A mile up Frijoles Canyon from the Visitor Center is the Ceremonial Cave. Under the shelter of a rock overhang, 150 feet above the canyon floor, the impressive cave, reached by a series of ladders, contains masonry dwellings and a restored kiva.
Hundreds of reminders of the Pajaritan culture lie outside Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier's rugged back country and are accessible only by foot trails.
Two of the best-known sites are the Stone Lions and the Painted Cave. The Stone Lions, believed to be a religious shrine devoted to the hunt, are lifesize effigies of two crouching mountain lions carved in the soft bedrock and surrounded by a stone enclosure.
In Capulin Canyon, 12 miles by trail south of the Visitor Center, is Painted Cave, an ancient gallery of Indian art covering the walls of an opening in the cliffs.
These are merely highlights of a complex and historic land that wears a cloak of mystery weaved by the ghosts of a vanished civilization.
In 1900, Dr. Edgar L. Hewitt, a pioneer New Mexico archaeologist who gave the Pajarito Plateau its name, was one who fell under the spell of the region when he wrote:
"If you want to feel the power and pathos of time, roll up in your blankets on any one of 100 mesas, or in any one of 100 canyons of the abandoned land of the Pajaritans.
"The stars that sparkle down on you watched the cataclysm that rent the nearby mountains some million years ago; saw the mesas rise out of the chaos; saw vegetation again creep over the ashen landscape; forests slowly wrap the mountainsides in green ... saw cliff and cave shaped by wind and rain, and at last, saw human life drift quietly in, then flow into the river we call time."
If you go
WHAT: Bandelier National Monument, administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; telephone: Visitor Center, (505) 672-3861, Ext. 517; group reservations: (505) 672-3861, Ext. 534.
WHERE: 45 miles northwest of Santa Fe via U.S. 285-84 north to Pojoaque and west via N.M. 502 and N.M. 4 to the entrance.
FEES: $10 a car.
HOURS: Memorial Day to Labor Day, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Remainder of year, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Closed Christmas, New Year's and Thanksgiving.
PARKING: Because of space limitations, trailers are not allowed in Frijoles Canyon. They must be left at Juniper Campground near monument entrance off N.M. 4. Auto parking in main lot at Visitor Center is limited. Visitors may encounter a wait of up to one hour in summer months and on holidays.
CAMPING: Juniper Campground is available at $10 a day. Group camping is provided at Ponderosa Campground at $35 a day.
If you go
FACILITIES:
Visitor Center provides information, guidebooks and orientation slide show. Museum presents exhibits on centuries of Pueblo culture. A book store, gift shop and snack bar also are available.
An easy paved trail, beginning at the Visitor Center, provides access to the nearby Pueblo of Tyuonyi, Sun House, Long House and other archaeological sites in Frijoles Canyon.
Permits are required for access to the 70 miles of trails into Bandelier's rugged backcountry and wilderness areas. They are available at the Visitor Center at no charge.
Picnic area is provided near the Visitor Center.