| An horno (Spanish, meaning "oven") such as this one at Acoma's Sky City pueblo in New Mexico is still used by the Acoma people to bake loaves of bread, especially for use during ceremonies. (Photo by C. Tripp). |
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| A look up several hundred feet at some of the Acoma Sky City pueblo's cliff edge dwellings, most of which have been in use for many centuries. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| The central plaza at Aztec National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico. Aztec is of special interest due to its mixture of Chacoan and Mesa Verdean architectural styles. Its dwellings were occupied until the 1100s CE by peoples linked to Chaco Canyon and later into the 1300s CE by Ancestral Puebloans who left Mesa Verde. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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Professor Chuck Tripp takes a break at the Pueblo Bonito (Spanish, meaning "pretty village") overlook at New Mexico's Chaco Canyon National Historical Park. Pueblo Bonito was Chaco Canyon's largest "great house" (town), was first occupied during the 900s CE and was abandoned during the mid-1100s CE. (Photo by R. Urquidi)
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| An early morning look at Chaco Canyon's Fajada (Spanish, meaning "belted" or "banded" in reference to its different colored horizontal rock layers) Butte from the park campgrounds. Working together, astronomers and archaeologists have documented the existence of a "rock clock" near the top of the butte that was used by Ancestral Puebloans to track both solar and lunar movements and cycles. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| May Term 2006 trekkers (left to right) Zaq Evans, Chuck Tripp, Alex Taran, Michelle Sprouse, Alivia Huffman and Robert Urquidi stand underneath a pictograph panel at Chaco Canyon that includes a quarter moon, a handprint and a star image that many commentators think represents the Crab Nebula supernova, first seen on earth during July, 1054 CE. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| Professor Chuck Tripp surveys the view from the upper ruins at Chimney Rock Archaeological Area, Colorado. The dwellings at Chimney Rock, occupied initially during the 900s CE and abandoned around 1120 CE, constituted the most northeasterly Chaco-style settlement. (Photo by D. Humphries) |
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| A park ranger conducts a guided tour at Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Cliff Palace was abandoned by Ancestral Pueblo Indian peoples during the 1290s CE after being occupied for around 75 years. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| An overlook view of Square Tower House, a cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park abandoned some time during the late 1200s CE. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| A cozy Kiva (a Hopi word for the underground ceremonial chambers in the foreground) plaza at Mesa Verde's Balcony House. Balcony House, abandoned during the late 1200s CE, was a small cliff dwelling built in such a way as to make it extremely difficult for anyone to breach its defenses. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| A petroglyph (rock carvings/etchings) panel that includes the likeness of a bird catching a snack and kachina dancer faces, among other images, located at Puerco ruins close to the Puerco River in the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. The site was occupied by Ancestral Pueblo peoples until some time during the 1300s CE. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| An oval shaped ball field located at Wupatki National Monument in Arizona demonstrates influences on Ancestral Puebloans from northern and central Mexico. Wupatki was abandoned during the 1300s CE. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| Ladders used to enter Kivas at the Acoma Sky City pueblo have pointed sidepieces that reach for the sky and act as symbolic arrows designed to penetrate clouds to release their rain waters, all very important in the dry New Mexico climate. Except for a brief 20 year period, Acoma Sky City has been occupied continuously since the 1100s CE. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| A look 1,000 feet down at Ancestral Puebloan dwellings on the floor of Canyon De Chelly National Monument, Arizona. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| The 2006 May Term trekkers pause during their climb up a slot canyon on the Pueblo Alto (Spanish, meaning "high village") trail to the top of Chaco Canyon's north wall. In the foreground, Alivia Huffman and Zaq Evans, followed by (moving down the slot) Robert Urquidi, Michelle Sprouse, Lara Abuzeid, Shannon McClean and Alex Taran. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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| A Chacoan petroglyph panel that includes depictions of hands, clockwise and counter clockwise spirals, people, probable migration path symbols, at least one sun symbol and the like. (Photo by C. Tripp) |
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An ancient stone staircase (located in the photo's center) pecked into Chaco Canyon's south wall. (Photo by C. Tripp)
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Chimney Rock and its "companion" rock in the background, looking northeast from the upper ruins toward Colorado's San Juan Mountains. Some researchers have concluded that the two rock spires together constituted an astronomical observatory through which the ancient Puebloans followed movements and cycles of the sun and moon. (Photo by C. Tripp)
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