Three Ruins, Four rock art panels (3
petros, 1
picto). Last Sunday I got out for a Sunday drive through
McElmo Canyon, Yellow Jacket Canyon,
Cajon Mesa and up Montezuma Canyon. I
wanted to revisit a few places I haven't seen in years and hoping to finally notice a new to me site that has been on my radar for years. I found this place (Nancy Patterson Village) and was
summarily run off by a landowner or concerned citizen. Semi-scary.
ON the way down
McElmo, I stopped at a sort of well known rock art panel located at the confluence of
McElmo and
Yellowjacket canyons, underneath Cannonball Mesa. This is very close to the
Ismay Trading Post. There is another panel directly adjacent to the highway about a mile from
Ismay, towards
Cortez, though it has been heavily vandalized.
I'm especially interested in the geography of rock art, less so in the symbols. To me, the location is very important and canyon confluences appear to be powerful places. This large panel appears to have road
symbology. See Jonathan
Till's master's thesis or chapter (with Hurst) in Catherine Cameron's Bluff Great House chapter for more information on roads in SE Utah. The lines, symbols, placement and geography of this site implies marking a formalized route to me.
This is the nicest rock art panel, that I know of in the Canyon of the Ancients. But, I hold out hope for a large
Basketmaker San Juan style panel along some lonely sandstone wall.
Most don't realize that this panel lies within the "Morley Kidder 1917" PIII site, named after early archaeologists. I've seen other bloggers recount "discovering" this ruin at the rock art and even naming it.
I continued west to the
Hovenweep site that I oddly seem to visit the least:
Cajon Mesa Unit. Disparaging print is often published about
Cajon, but I like this site. It's lightly visited, beautiful and more interesting than Horseshoe and
Hackberry (Cutthroat is probably my favorite).
There is a picto, which I didn't photograph, underneath the ledge down by the spring.
A view from the north, restored side of the site, looking across the canyon head spring to the rubble mounds of the south. A nice cliff dwelling is under that rubble and ledge. This is also where the
picto is.
All the
hovenweep units are so photogenic, even in big, washed out Utah skies.
This rock art panel is a few miles up the Montezuma C road, north of
Ismay Trading Post. It's next to the road and is more visible for the bullet holes. In this part of the country, bullet holes often indicate rock art.
Just south of this panel was a south facing cliff dwelling of several rooms. The ruin appeared inaccessible, about 100 feet above the valley floor and 20 feet below the mesa rim.
If I am guessing right, this huge rubble mound is the Nancy Patterson Village (42SA2110), with 260 rooms and 25+ kivas in the late PIII era. I've also read that the PIII village overlays several successive layers of anasazi sites.
The village is located in the wide valley, on a 100' butte or bluff above the confluence of Cross and Montezuma canyons. Based on the number of ruins up each, this was another very important confluence.
The main gravel road up Montezuma Canyon passes close, possibly through, the village. A two track dirt road turns off the main and actually loops right through the site. The rubble mounds stretch over several hundred yards.
Because of the size, location, incredible array of artifacts and pottery, and the overwhelming evidence of looting, the Nancy Patterson village reminds me of Squaw Springs. Both are also in important geographical locations, close to water and possible cross roads.
The village is the bump at the center of the photo, taken from the road below along the wash.
I was able to wander the site for 15 minutes, looking for arrowheads, when I noticed a truck pull up behind me. A Navajo or Ute man waved me over, my heart beating fast:
Me: Hello, I'm interested in archeology and was walking over this site.
Him: Ok. We can see you from our house across the valley
(the house was well over a mile away, but this site is very visible)
Me: Ok
Him: You know, this is private...
Me: I did not know that. The road is not signed and I thought this was public land. I'll clear out of here right now.
Him: Ok, you do that.
And I did.
, but instead floats along on its own absurdity. It’s a bit like empty calories, but speaking as someone who loves a rich dessert, empty calories are a perfectly acceptable part of a balanced literary diet – as long as they’re worth it.
