The vast and towering red sandstone canyon walls dwarfed the many roomed pueblo of the ancient Anasazi ruins. Evidence of handholds and ancient ladders were gone. Petroglyphs and walls remained. And so did human remains and artifacts of a past time.
As I stood there looking up from far below my mind wandered through the unapproachable rooms. Wild turkeys would have been running about eating insects and ready to sound the alarm at the approach of predators. A mother was grinding corn with her children playing around her. The father was just back from a successful hunting trip, smoking with the men, and talking about the good fortune that would provide for all the families in the pueblo.
For over a thousand years life was good for them. Archaeologists speculate that climate change was the reason for them leaving. There is overwhelming evidence that the exodus continued in waves for hundreds of years. If you would like to know more about this subject I highly recommend reading, "House of Rain," by Craig Childs. It is not only informative but quite fun in an "Indiana Jones" kind of way.
Cliff Dwelling Southwestern cliff dwelling, of an ancient prehistoric pueblo of the Anasazi in the American southwest nestled into a towering red rock cliff. Canyon de Chelly, Arizona
