· exploring · national monument · park · Aztec Ruins NM
We visited Aztec Ruins National Monument in Aztec, New Mexico.
Pueblo people describe this site as part of their migration journey. Today you can follow their ancient passageways to a distant time. Explore a 900-year old ancestral Pueblo Great House of over 400 masonry rooms. Look up and see original timbers holding up the roof. Search for the fingerprints of ancient workers in the mortar. Listen for an echo of ritual drums in the reconstructed Great Kiva.
(Quoting from the NPS website.)
A very nice picnic area:
Where we enjoyed a picnic lunch:
The visitor center:
Flowering Prickly Pear cactus:
Exploring the ruins, with the help of an audio guide:
A reconstructed great kiva:
The reconstructed kiva in the background, and ruins of a smaller one in the foreground:
Unlike many sites, one can go into this:
Demonstrating how low the doorways are:
Into fairly intact rooms:
Original ceilings:
On guard:
Chatting with a volunteer:
An impressive place, fascinating to explore.