BANDOLIER  NATIONAL MONUMENT

This is Bandolier National Monument--- pre-Columbian ruins, constructed by the Anasazi. That's not what they called themselves; that's what the Hopi later referred to them as. It means "Old Ones" in their language. This picture does no justice to the magnitude of scale here. These cliffs are several hundered feet tall. You can see where a room was carved out of the rock face at the lower right center of the photo. There were literally thousands of dwellings in these cliffs.

Entrances to several apartments can be seen in the view above.

Below is a close-up of one of the entrances, with a replica ladder demonstrating how access was obtained.

Shown here is a view of the remains of a high-rise apartment building. Several hundred people lived in this section.

What an accomplishment.

It was apparent to my untrained eye that the inhabitants chose this place to live not only for its striking beauty, but for its defensive advantages. Given the state of military capabilities of the time and area, this would have been a nearly impregnable fortress.

All text and photographs1997, Randal P. Dean
E-mail me at
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