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Monument Valley

 Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon are for all foreigners the quintessence of the Indian Country. This idea is a product of TV and the movies. There exist many more exiting places and some are more beautiful. Monument Valley one can see by driving through, the remote parts are on Indian land and cannot be reached easily — and the tribes are not friendly, or charge horrendous prices for such tours.

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 The second time we drove through Monument Valley was in 1968. We had been forced to camp wild on a thorn-covered hill. After this bad night we had breakfast in view of the famous rocks, when from nowhere a Navajo squaw arrived with her horse.  

  She inspected our breakfast table with skepticism, but she did not understand or speak English. By putting a blanket on the ground and patting it with the flat hand we invited her to join us— and she did sit down and drank some coffee with us. Christine from Munich, who helped Barbara take care of little Cornelius and Susanne (her white hat is seen in back) were as full of doubts as the Indian woman.  

Betatakin

Betatakin Canyon is one of the secrets which few people know. It lies in Navajo National Monument near Black Mesa north of route 160 between Tuba City and Kayenta. (45 miles west of Monument Valley). Deep in the wildly beautiful canyon is a cliff ruin worth a visit. 

 A ranger (the man with the hat) takes people to the ruins twice a day. Usually he is a Navajo himself, and he gave us not only archeological explanations but also told Navajo stories connected with the place.

 This cliff dwelling was built in 1250, but was already abandoned 50 years later.

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Early morning in Betatakin.  We camped in the small but adequate campground near the visitor's center.

 A rock formation near Tuba City on the way to Grand Canyon South.

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Cornelius and Susanne selling cakes on a rock table in 1968.

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Mesa Verde National Park

 The high plateau of Mesa Verde overlooking the plains southeast of Cortez, Colorado. The western foothills of the Rockies border the area inhabited by Indians tribes on the east. Mesa Verde has been occupied by the Anstazi - the "Old People" as early as 400 AD, it bloomed between 600 and 1300 AD, and was abandoned after 1300 possibly due to a prolongued draught. It is not only the most extensive Indian complex in North America (there are more than 700 sites in the Park) but also the oldest. It was only discovered at the end of the 19^th century and in 1906 became one of the first National Parks.

Susanne and Cornelius at Spruce Tree House in 1968. It lies directly behind the excellent visitors' center and is the only cliff dwelling which one can visit without a guide.  

 The largest ruin is Cliff Palace, which one can only access on ladders. In the 13^th century, threatened by hostile tribes (possibly the same who canibalized the Chaco Canyon Indians) the Pueblo Indians moved into these fortresses in the canyon's walls. The place was eventually abandoned in a hurry, a number of mumified corpses were found in the waste dumps of the dwellings.

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Canyon de Chelly National Monument

 Spider-Woman Rock from the southern rim. Canyon de Chelly in Arizona is now inhabited by Navajo Indians and the names of its rock formations are connected to old Indian tales, which Barbara knows by heart. On a map it looks like a three-fingered hand or the claw of a bird. One road skirts part of its southern rim another most of the northern edge. Because the dirt road in the canyon follows the river and is fraught with quicksand, it is not advisable to drive into it (from its mouth near Chinle Village) but one can take a one-day ride on a truck from Chinle. We did that with our four children in 1968, it was quite an experience.

 The cayon from the south rim. There are many rock caves in the curious, wind-blown formations in the canyon which look like they could have been inhabited, but only three or four have Indian ruins.  

 The old army six-wheeler which takes you into the canyon (1968).

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One of several "stalacmites" in the canyon.

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 The junction of the two rivers and Spider Rock in the distance.

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 a herd of sheep of the Navajos who live in the canyon. Beware of the small sheep dogs, they are vicious.

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 Spider Rock under a perfect sky.

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A cliff dwelling at the far end of the northern arm...

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...and another small ruin in the rock wall of the sourthern part.  

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This part of the largest ruin - White House - attracts the attention of the visitors becaus of the swastica left of the tower. I suspect it is not very old, because swasticas are rare in Indian rock paintings. 

 These petroglyphs are more in line, sun and moon and a cow, with other such drawings - but also they may not be prehistoric.  

White House Ruin, the largest in the canyon can also be reached by an arduous climb down from the south rim.... 

Chaco Canyon Culture National Park, New Mexico   

Chaco Canyon consists of a large number of Anasazi settlements, which together are of great historical and anthropological interest. I have never been there and these photographs are culled from the internet, but Barbara has visited it with her tour groups twice. It can only be reached on dirt roads, which become bottomless after the rains and in Winter. There is a campground but the nearest motel worth its name is in Farmington, 60 miles to the north.  

 Pueblo Bonito is the largest and most interesting complex in Chaco Canyon. Its architecture suggests that it was connected, at least in its late phase, to the Aztec Indian tribes of the Casa Grande Culture thousand kilometers south in northern Mexico. Remains of ancient roads have been discovered that connected Chaco Canyon with other non-Pueblo Indian places to the south. The historical interpretation of the Chaco cultures is still very much in flux. The latest discovery, a few years ago, was a sensation. Bio-chemical analyses of human feces found in a fire place have yielded uncontroversial evidence of human canibalism! (see attached New Yorker article). One theory offered by the archeologists is that a Southern tribe migrated into the canyon and dominated its Anasazi Pueblo tribes in the 12-13^th century AD, slowly slaughtered the indigenous population for ritual purposes. — They actually consumed the corpses, human proteins were found in their feces. (which must have been part of the ritual).... In the Southwest nobody speaks openly about this discovery.... Maybe these immigrants were the reason for the ultimate demise of the Chaco Culure and other Pueblo cultures elsewhere in the larger area....

Two more photographs of the houses and the many ceremonial kivas — the religious meeting places of the Pueblo Indians to this very day — of Pueblo Bonito.