HOVENWEEP ANCESTRAL PUEBLOAN VILLAGES
Copyright © 2024 Raymond Cannefax
    Hovenweep, home of the Ancestral Puebloans, the Anasazi, is in America's four-corners region.  The six villages on the Cajon Mesa of the Colorado Plateau have amazing architecture similar to that of Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings. Hovenweep's inhabitants were closely affiliated with cliff-dwellers of Mesa Verde. Hovenweep became a National Monument in 1923.    
    Originally hunter/gatherers, the Anasazi became a sedentary culture, created villages and irrigation systems that allowed them to grow crops for subsistence.  Research indicates more than 380 individual dwellings and small villages exist within a 50-mile radius of Hovenweep's primary village existed since 700 A.D.  Hovenweep's stone structures employed tremendous engineering and masonry skills in the construction of pueblos up to 5-stories tall, that have remained considerably stable for almost one-thousand years.  
    It is believed that a 23-year draught was the primary cause for the inhabitants of Hovenweep and Mesa Verde abandoning their villages and moving south, leaving their homes uninhabited for hundreds of years before their ruins were discovered by explorers, missionaries and ranchers in the1800's.  Cortez was perhaps the first outsider.
  Hovenweep and Mesa Verde were at the pinnacle of the Ancestral Puebloan civilization between 850 AD through 1320 AD, though there is evidence of mankind inhabiting this region as early as 24,000 years ago. The transformation from hunter/gatherer to a more sedentary agricultural lifestyle is believed to have begun circa 500 AD with the construction of smaller dwellings, The large Chaco Pueblos were abandoned as early as 850 AD.  
   The University of Utah's Lifelong Learning offers a course on Hovenweep and the Anasazi inhabitants of the four-corners region in March and June of 2024.  The course will include an emphasis on the Ancestral Puebloan culture, along with discussion on their disappearance.  Come join us.
MORE PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED 

Cajon Village structures & pictographs.  Cave dwellings were possible grain storage facilities. Some of these buildings in Cajon were 2-stories tall.
Photos below are of the Square Tower Village of Hovenweep. Hovenweep's cultural center.
COPYRIGHT - All works protected by Copyright © 2007 - 2024 Raymond Cannefax
Stronghold House
Eroded Boulder House
Hovenweep Castle
Hovenweep House 
Stronghold House
Holly Tower
Stronghold House
Cutthroat Castle
Tilted Tower - Holly Village
Hovenweep Castle 
Hovenweep Castle
Cajon Village
Cajon Village  - 950 CE
Holly House
Isolated Boulder Tower - 
Holly Village
Holly Tower
Holly Tower
Square Tower
Cool Spring House - Cajon Group
Stronghold House
Square Tower
Tower Point
Edward Abbey defined Hovenweep as "a most weird and magical land" where spirts still abound.
On 10/22/24 I will be teaching a course on Hovenweep at the U of U. To enroll, go to: https://continue.utah.edu/lifelong/class/LLPOT_968_Hovenweep_Villages_of_the_Ancients
See you on 10/22/24  at the U of U. To enroll in the Hovenweep course, go to: https://continue.utah.edu/lifelong/class/LLPOT_968_Hovenweep_Villages_of_the_Ancients