Hovenweep National Monument

The name Hovenweep is a Ute Indian word meaning "deserted valley", which it now is. This area of puebloan ruins is way out in the middle of nowhere, miles from anything but farmland. The trip was through rollling fields of crops growing and other crops being harvested, not to mention some really rough cattle guards - rough enough to require warning signs.

During the 2 mile hike to see the ruins, I went down into the canyon to the other side and around the rim where I could view numerous buildings that had made up the village.

The ruins of this area are mostly built around the rim of a canyon, with some inside the canyon. For some reason, these people built towers, both square and round, with multiple stories. These towers have multiple little square openings, smaller than windows, as if they were lookouts for invaders. It is not really known what these openings were used for, but they do look over a large empty stretch of land on each side.

 

The square tower is about two stories and was constructed down in the canyon.  It has the same small holes, but if they were used for lookouts for enemies, they wouldn't see much inside the canyon.

 

Other structures include larger openings, obviously windows and doors.

The twin towers have one flat wall, the rest of the structures are round shaped. There were 16 rooms in the two towers and they are known to be the most carefully constructed structures in the area that includes many pueblos.

 

It is amazing how many of these areas are still standing and I'm sure that some ruins that were on the neighboring farmland have been cleared away during the centuries after the puebloan people left.