Adventures in Rock Art: Colorado National Monument, CO

These pictographs are just high enough above a trail to make them difficult to spot (i.e. yay for unintentional protection!).  Pictographs are pecked directly onto rock, and in this case, directly onto a sandstone cliff face.  The rock art depicts two women and a figure riding a four-legged creature, potentially a horse.  There isn’t any readily available information on this panel, but I’m going to hazard a guess that it is proto-historic or historic Ute rock art based on the history/use of this area of Colorado and the style of the pictographs.  Figures riding horses are not uncommon motifs in Ute rock art.  Horses were introduced to the Ute during the early 1600s by the Spanish, which allowed for the expansion of Ute territory.  If you have more information about this rock art, please let me know.

*Please note: rock art is incredibly fragile.  Do not touch rock art, spray-paint it, or vandalize it in any way.  Not only is it ethically wrong, it is illegal.

For more information on rock art:

Rock Art and Cultures of the Colorado Plateau

https://www.historycolorado.org/ute-indian-museum

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

If you’re traveling in the southwest, Mesa Verde National Park in the Four Corners region is a must-see destination!  Even though most of the cliff dwellings at the park were partially reconstructed long after the Ancestral Puebloans migrated, they are still amazing.  One of the dwellings you can visit is Cliff Palace, which is the largest cliff dwelling in the park.  I loved exploring this amazing site built by the Ancestral Puebloans over 800 years ago.  During the 1200s, the dwelling likely had 100 residents.  Based on archaeological studies, there were likely 150 rooms and 23 kivas; kivas are typically circular, underground or partially subsurface, spaces used for religious purposes.  The Ancestral Puebloans would live in cliff dwellings like Cliff Palace, while farming on the top of the mesas.  By the end of the 1200s AD, however, most of the inhabitants had migrated elsewhere due to a number of factors, such as environmental degradation to overpopulation.

One thing to keep in mind while visiting Mesa Verde is that the Ancestral Puebloans didn’t simply ‘disappear’ or completely abandon the area.  That’s an unfortunate myth surrounding the Ancestral Puebloans.  For one, their descendants include the modern Pueblo tribes of the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna—so the Ancestral Puebloans didn’t vanish, they moved.  And, they migrated to other parts of the Four Corners over a long period of time, hardly all at once.  As with visiting any archaeological site, it is important to remember to visit with respect and care.

For more information:

https://www.nps.gov/meve/learn/historyculture/cliff_palace.htm

https://www.visitmesaverde.com/discover/cliff-dwellings/cliff-palace/

Artful Artifacts of the Archäologische Zone – Jüdisches Museum

Cologne, Germany

When I think “Germany,” the first thing that pops into my head typically isn’t “Roman Ruin.”  I was both shocked and impressed by the scale and preservation of the Praetorium, the Governor’s Palace in Cologne Germany.  The Praetorum was the official residence of the Imperial Governor of Cologne, which was the capital city of Lower Germania.  According to the website (all of the signs were in German [I know enough French to sound terrible], so I have noooo idea what they said), the ruins date back to the birth of Christ and construction ended around the eighth century due to an earthquake.  I could actually see the cracks in the walls of the ruins, indicating a general problem with earthquakes overtime.  Various levels were excavated, and so, I could see the changes in architecture. 

Artifacts hanging in the general location in which they were observed during the excavation.

My favorite part of the exhibit was the artifact display, in which artifacts were hanging according to stratum (check out the picture, it’s nifty).  The overall excavation of the Praetorium came about with renovations—and subsequent excavations—of the Town Hall Square in Cologne.  It would be incredible be a part of these digs!  The finds are numerous and diverse, from ceramics, glass, to marble burial stelae.  I found the stelae to be particularly haunting, as they depict the faces/lives of those buried.  Details may have worn away, but the level of care put into the images is evident.   

Fragments of burial stelae.

For more information:

https://www.museenkoeln.de/archaeologische-zone/default.asp?s=4380

The Mundane

People often ask what is the ‘coolest’ thing I’ve ever found.  I certainly have my favorite artifacts and places, things that completely blew my mind to encounter.  However, when thinking about my day-to-day job and the surveys I conduct, sometimes the coolest things I’ve ever found are the simple remains of day-to-day life.  Now, I don’t expect everyone to get excited about tin cans or an odd flake here and there but there’s something about days and/or months on end of surveys where nothing comes up and then—there it is!  That artifact showing that someone was once there.  These days I mostly encounter historic artifacts and features in the American west.  That means a lot of homesteads, ranches, mining towns, mines, shacks, and dumps.  I’ve come across tin cans dating from the early 1900s (yay, botulism), amethyst and cobalt colored glass, tubes of antiperspirant cream from the 1930s, and entire homesteads with log cabins, barns, and outhouses.  More often than not, the artifacts and structures are all that are left of whoever lived at that location, the story of who lived there and why are long gone.

Calamity Camp Mining Site

Perched on a remote mesa on the Uncompahgre Plateau lies one of the last standing examples of a vanadium-radium-uranium mining camp in Colorado: Calamity Camp.  This historic site, which contains a variety of well-preserved structures, housed the men and their families that mined the area from 1916 to 1980.  I’ve had the opportunity to explore the structures on two occasions, one to monitor the condition of the structures, and one to help establish a protection plan in the event of a wildfire.  Calamity Camp is a unique site, providing a window into the lives of the families who lived in this remote location; it would have been a harsh existence.  No running water, no electricity, etc. into the 1950s!  All that remains are a couple of rock structures, including a bunkhouse, a rock and cedar post barn, outhouses, and wooden cabins, as well as hundreds of historic artifacts.  When visiting places like Calamity Camp, keep in mind that it is illegal to remove any artifacts or harm any structures on public lands.  Furthermore, if you see a sign warning of numerous open mine shafts, keep your distance.

 For more information:

https://www.blm.gov/visit/search-details/627/2

Click to access calamity.pdf

Adventures in Rock Art: Canyon Pintado National Historic District

“Halfway down the canyon toward the south, there is a very high cliff on which we saw crudely painted three shields or chimales and the blade of a lance.  Farther down on the north side we saw another painting which crudely represented two men fighting.  For this reason we called this valley Cañon Pintado,” wrote Fray Escalante on September 9, 1776.  I read these words on an interpretive sign while walking a dusty trail to view some of these painted images.  It’s thought that Father Dominguez and Father Escalante observed a variety of Native American pecked and painted rock art in this canyon as they traveled through the Douglas Creek Valley.  This area is now a popular recreation site, where you can explore prehistoric and historic pictographs and petroglyphs.

This 16,000 acre area is listed as a National Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places as an important historic property in understanding our nation’s past.  The rock art panels represent several time periods and cultures.  There are panels that were created by the Fremont, dating between 800 to 1150 AD; these images include animals, anthropomorphic figures, and geometric symbols.  The Ute created images like bear paws, horses, and hunting scenes between 1200-1881 AD.  Historic rock art includes ranching symbols, buxom ladies, and horses.  As always, when visiting archaeological sites, keep in mind that these places are incredibly fragile and need to be visited with respect.

For More Information:

https://www.blm.gov/visit/canyon-pintado-national-historic-district

http://www.nomadcolorado.com/canyon-pintado-rock-art/

http://www.coloradolifemagazine.com/Canyon-Pintados-Rock-Art/

Potwisha Rock Art

These beautiful pictographs were created by the Monachee (Western Mono) people, particularly by the Potwisha tribe, who inhabited what is now the Potwisha campground Sequoia National Park, California.  The rock art was outlined with chalk back in the 1970s, which was a common practice when recording rock art elements.

*Please note: rock art is incredibly fragile.  Do not touch rock art, spray-paint it, or vandalize it in any way.  Not only is it ethically wrong, it is illegal.

 For More Information:

https://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm

Wolfe Ranch, Arches National Park

While making my way on the Delicate Arch trail at Arches National Park, Utah, I passed by a rough looking wooden cabin, corral, and outbuilding.  Being the history nerd that I am, I wandered over to the interpretive sign to find out what on earth people were doing at this remote location.  A John Wesley Wolfe left Ohio in 1898 with his son to live in a drier climate; they settled at this location with some cattle.  The cabin you can see now is a later construction that Wolfe’s daughter (and her family) made them build, a better dwelling with a wooden floor and windows.  Very fancy.  It’s amazing that six people lived in this building!  Maybe that’s why they all eventually moved back to Ohio . . .According to the Arches National Park website, the Ranch and acreage were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

For more information:

https://www.nps.gov/arch/learn/historyculture/wolfe-ranch.htm

A Star Attraction: The Dionysus Mosaic

Millions of tiny fragments of glass, stone, and ceramic comprise the incredibly intricate and colorful mosaic known as the ‘Dionysus Mosaic.’  The mosaic was once part of a villa on the site of the now Romano-Germanic Museum in Cologne, Germany.  Most sources say that it was created around 220 or 230 A.D.  The mosaic is a major attraction to the museum, and I must say that I can see why.  There are a number of figures, animals, and designs to investigate.  This lovely mosaic is so well-known in this area that when President Clinton visited Germany during his presidency, his hosts had a dinner party on it.  Stew on that, conservators.

For more information:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romano-Germanic_Museum

 

A Layered Cake: Cologne Cathedral

The city of Cologne, Germany has a long and interesting history.  When I visited the city, everywhere I looked there was some reminder of ancient and Medieval cultures.  Much of Cologne was destroyed during WWII, but an impressive amount remains.  And, nothing is quite so impressive in Cologne as the Kolner Dom/Cathedral.  Beyond being an excellent example of Gothic architecture, as well as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a beautiful building.  Construction began in 1248 to house the reliquary of the Three Kings (a giant golden box supposedly containing the bones of the Biblical Magi) but the cathedral remained incomplete until the 19^th century.  Consequently, the Dom has a multilayered history from the ground-up.  The interior of the Dom is everything you could possibly want from a cathedral: beautiful stained glass windows, mosaics, murals, ornate altars, etc.  After exploring every inch of the nave, you can actually hike up one of the towers and lookout on the city (I can’t imagine doing that climb more than once).

Around and underneath the Dom are Roman ruins of various sizes, from a random wall or arch to larger architectural remains.  Just meander over to the parking garage near the Dom and you’ll find a lovely bit of Roman ruins.  Within the Cathedral Treasury, which houses an amazing assortment of ecclesiastical robes and jewels, you can also view the grave goods of two Frankish burials of a woman and a boy.  Ah, a structure to fulfill every need of a history/archaeology nerd.

To learn more:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/292