New Mexico Archeological Gems

New Mexico holds many secrets just waiting to be discovered. While Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos have all gathered their share of tourists through the years, the real secrets are revealed a little further off the grid. A stay in Farmington can provide opportunities to visit incredible archeological ruins that are intact and well-preserved for thousands of years.

Doorways at Chaco Canyon

Northwestern New Mexico, part of the Colorado Plateau in the Four Corners Region, has been home to people for at least 12,000 years. Evidence shows that the Anasazi, ancestors to the Pueblo Indians, lived on the land as early as A.D. 1. Their settlements were connected by an amazing system of roads. Today, visitors can travel to the Chaco Canyon, Aztec ruins, and Salmon ruins.

At the Salmon Ruins Heritage Park, the Salmon Ruins were constructed between 1088 and 1090 A.D. Stones were cut to fit the structure, rather than just stacked. Some stone appears to have been hauled from four miles away. Trees were carried from fifty miles away. The masonry changes through the years to indicate what was available and what was important to the occupants. At the Salmon Ruins, visitors can take a self-guided tour around the actual ruins. In a separate area, there are replicas of buildings including a Wild West Trading Post, a Navajo sweat lodge, hogans, a Jicarilla Apache wickiup, and a Ute tipi.

It is a washboard dirt road drive to Chaco Culture National Historic Park, but well worth it to see the Pueblo Bonito and the great Kiva of Chetro Ketl. The National Park Service has maintained a visitor center here since 1959. The sheer size of the ruins is awe-inspiring, with most of the structures containing more than 200 rooms. The construction itself is also amazing, as everything lines up perfectly and symmetrically. Not to mention the fact that so much of it is still standing so many years later.

A walk through the Aztec Ruins National Monument north of Farmington takes visitors exploring through rooms built centuries ago. At the end of the half-mile walk, a reconstructed Great Kiva allows an experience what it would be like to be in the social and religious center of the community. These ruins are not Aztec, as the name would imply. They are Pueblo, but were mistakenly thought to be Aztec by early settlers and the name stuck.

While these three destinations are great examples of archeology, there is deep history all throughout the Four Corners Region. New Mexico is called the “Land of Enchantment” for a reason. After you leave, it beckons you back.

For more information contact: www.salmonruins.com, www.nps.gov/chcu, www.nps.gov/azru, www.farmingtonnm.org