The next day, as the group headed north, they would stumble across what looked to be inhabited ruins.<br/><br/>Broken rock walls offer scant shade from the burning desert sun, but cloth sheets painted with triangles and yellow and blue stripes stretch between the crumbling walls, affording some shelter. Here and there, the walls remain intact enough to suggest the frame of a building, but the ruins otherwise appear ravaged by time. Still, the ruins show some signs of habitation. Wooden barrels topped with white marble lids stand in a shady area next to a wall. On the outskirts of the ruins, wooden racks hold stretched and drying animal hides. The hum of conversation drifts on the dry breeze.