Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Chimney Rock

Prior to picking up the puppies last week, I drove down to Durango, Colorado for the annual meeting of the Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists where I was presenting a paper. On the way down I took this picture of Chimney Rock, in Archuleta County.

There is an important prehistoric Puebloan site on top of this spectacular mesa and the area is set aside by the San Juan National Forest as the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area. This site is believed to be the northeastern-most outlier of the highly-developed Chacoan Culture. Apparently there are all sorts of astronomical observations that can be made using the twin spires as sighting posts. Our old friends Mike and Kathy Gear even set one of their prehistoric novels at this beautiful location.

1 comment:

Moro Rogers said...

Oh, my father-in-law lives right near there! We haven't gone up to see the ruins yet but we ought.