Archeological digs, new discoveries about ancient cultures and hidden treasures in pueblo ruins are regular occurrences in the Four Corners of America’s southwest. The cool, sunny days of autumn are just the right time to investigate this ancient world of Pueblo peoples who roamed this isolated region 1000 years ago.
Start your exploration in wonderful national parks and monuments that are found along roads less traveled. In addition to the better-known wonders of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico and Mesa Verde in Colorado, plan to visit the cozy and accessible Aztec National Monument in northwest New Mexico, or Hovenweep’s mysterious prehistoric villages on the sparsely populated Colorado/Utah border.
There are more hands-on, in-depth experiences found at Crow Canyon outside of Cortez, Colorado or Salmon Ruins just of east of Farmington, N.M. Staff at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center provide many archaeological and cultural tours though out the Southwest. They offer varied programs at the Center where you can stay overnight in dormitory-like accommodations. This November the Center offers a tour to ancient Hohokam villages in Arizona, advanced settlements which had ball courts, platform mounds, and irrigation canals. Most months of the year you can join research work at a pueblo site near the Crow Canyon campus. http://www.crowcanyon.org/
Salmon Ruins and Heritage Park, near Farmington, N.M. is located at the site of a community that lived in three-story pueblos beside the San Juan River from the 11th to the 13th century. This group was directly connected with the center of the Pueblo culture at Chaco Canyon, 45 miles south. Today Salmon Ruins houses an archaeological group researching the life of these ancient people. It also has a museum and a research library of nearly 5,000 volumes, many of them rare and out-of-print, specializing in Southwest archaeology and history. Staff offers professionally-guided tours of Chaco Canyon and other custom tours of the region in a four-wheel drive vehicle. Simply call ahead for tour reservations. http://www.salmonruins.com/
Wandering the back roads of the Four Corners in search of the stories of these centuries-old Pueblo cultures is an exciting quest. Good maps and a GPS are handy, a love for adventure, fundamental.
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