Some places truly are haunted... Located next to a paved highway
and agricultural fields, it lies hidden in plain sight,
protected by a thick growth of cacti, and buried in the debris
of the fallen buildings. 700 years ago, a frightened people
constructed the village on a barren stretch of slickrock along
McElmo Creek in southwest Colorado. It contained at least 16
kivas, 40 surface rooms, and nine towers and probably housed
75-150 people. They occupied the site for no more than 30 years,
and the ending was horrific. This post is part of a series on
the geology of the Colorado Plateau. Although much of my
narrative has involved the story in the rocks and events of
millions or billions of years ago, there are times when the
rocks become part of the human story, and such is the case here.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument was established to
preserve some 6,000 archaeological sites in southwest Colorado,
but geology was instrumental in the development of human
societies in the area. The caprock in the ar