HOVENWEEP

HOVENWEEP -

Home of the Ancients Puebloans, the Anasazi, in America's south-west. Hovenweep was established a National Monument in 1923, This site consists of six villages on the Colorado Plateau. The inhabitants of Hovenweep were affiliated with the cliff-dwellers of Mesa Verde.

Originally hunter/gatherers, these early Americans became agricultural as they settled, built their villages, created irrigation systems and grew crops for their subsistence. Research indicates that there were over 130 small villages within this region. The structures of Hovenweep and Mesa Verde exhibit tremendous construction and masonry skills in the stone structures found in the four-corners region, structures that remain relatively stable after almost a century.

It is thought that a 23-year draught was the primary cause for the inhabitants of Hovenweep and Mesa Verde to abandon their villages, leaving their dwellings uninhabited for a number of centuries before being discovered by white explorers and ranchers.

Hovenweep and Mesa Verde were at the pinnacle of the Ancient Puebloan civilization between 1050 A.D. through 1350 A.D. Though there is evidence of mankind inhabiting this region early as B.C.300.Tthe transformation from hunter/gatherer to farmer/rancher is believed to have begun circa 900 AD.

The University of Utah's Lifelong Learning is hosting lectures on Hovenweep on April 27, 2023, and on the Anasazi in June and July 2023. I will complete a new photo-shoot of Hovenweep in March 2023. Photos from that shoot will be added to this site and will be included in these lectures.

MORE PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED