Monday walk…El Morro National Monument

Sometimes detours take us to the best places. As Tolkien famously and aptly penned:

Not all those who wander are lost.

Regular readers may remember that the first day of my October trip to Illinois last year started with a detour taking me on a wander through the western part of New Mexico on two-lane highways. Once I recovered from the trauma of having the sun rise directly in the middle of the highway, which I tried to block by rising up in my seat as far as possible and holding the cover of a CD below the useless sun visor, I relished the lack of traffic and reveled in the scenery. Those of you who know me will understand my joy when I finally came upon snow, a light coating I admit, but enough to make my heart swell.

Then I saw this jutting up. What could it be? Seeing one of the pullouts that have signs that say “Historical marker,” I hit the brakes and pulled over, something I normally don’t do when I’m on a long trip because it takes time that I don’t have. (We like to call the “hysterical markers.”) I love history, but I usually have miles to go before I sleep.

I was hooked. This sort of thing is exactly my cup of tea (and you know how much I love tea.) I immediately resolved to adjust my return trip overnight stops so that I could spend time exploring El Morro and also stop at Zuni Pueblo.

Although you can make it from Phoenix to Naperville in two long days, my agenda called for 2 1/2, a leisurely drive of just over 1700 miles. Overnighting in Albequerque the second night, I arrived at El Morro early on a brisk morning where snow still lurked in the shaded areas. There were several walking options but I chose the shorter one, concentrating on the inscriptions, so I had time to get home before rush hour.

So here we are, ready to walk. Just be sure you have a coat because it’s cold.

The rocks loom above as we approach along the well-kept path. I learned later that the pueblo remains mentioned on the sign are at the top and that you can walk to the top. Something for another trip. But the size of the monument and the absolute quiet of the park filled me with delight. To be enveloped in history cloaked in the grandeur of nature is perfection.

The moon still stood over the cliffs.

“Go slowly, my lovely moon, go slowly.”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

When you think of western migration, you’ll probably at some point think of the gold rush. However, gold isn’t the real treasure in the West and Southwest, water is. You can go your entire life without gold but only somewhere between a few hours and a week or so, without water, depending on a variety of factors. This pool of water would have been the draw for living near or stopping on trips through this part of New Mexico. I can’t imagine it was fun hauling water from here to the pueblos on the top of the rocks but it would have to be done. I could just get my water bottle.

Of course what makes these rocks unique are the over 2,000 signatures, dates, messages, and petroglyphs made by a variety of visitors: ancestral Puebloans, Spanish, and Americans.

The oldest legible inscription at El Morro, left by Juan de Oñate, the first Spanish governor of the colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, is dated April 16, 1605. Among the Anglo-American emigrants who left their names there in 1858 were several members of the Rose-Baley Party, including Leonard Rose and John Udell.^[4] Nearby petroglyphs and carvings made by the Ancestral Puebloans were inscribed centuries before Europeans arrived. In 1906, U.S. federal law prohibited further carving on the cliffs. ~Wikipedia

It reminded me of the autograph books we had when I was in high school, although I doubt any of these people wrote the often-used: “2 good 2 be 4 gotten,” or if they did, it was either in Spanish or petroglyphs, neither of which I can read.

I’ll have mercy on you and not show you all the photos I took of the carvings but let me whet your appetite with these two photos. The park provides a free guide that points out the main signatures and gives lots of information. I’m happy to report that there doesn’t seem to be any modern graffiti, which surprised me but in a good way. I’m thankful the President Theodore Roosevelt designated this as a national monument so that we could see it intact today. It’s also free, so if you’re ever in the area of Albuquerque or Grants, New Mexico, consider stopping. The walk to the top is supposed to take about an hour or I believe you can walk all the way around the base. I simply enjoyed my meander through the centuries in this awe-inspiring spot.

Jo’s Monday Walk…2.13.23

Puerco Pueblo

When most people hear/read the word “pueblo”, I’m sure they imagine the more famous pueblos of New Mexico. This pueblo is different, perfect for those with a fear of heights or who don’t care to climb ladders. 🙂 If this were built where we live now, it would be called a “multi-family building” AKA apartment building. From the park website:

A series of droughts in the 1200s, during the Pueblo IV period, led ancestral Puebloan people to move away from small, scattered hamlets and instead build large pueblo communities. The Village on the Rio Puerco (or Puerco Pueblo, for short) is a 100+ room pueblo site located near the Puerco River, a major drainage that bisects the park. The river would have been a reliable source of water for crops. Farming of corn, beans, and squash took place on the floodplains and terraces along the river. The river also made a natural travel corridor, meaning travelers and traders frequented Puerco Pueblo, carrying new ideas as well as goods.

To most pueblo people, a kiva was a large circular underground room used for religious/spiritual ceremonies and rites as well as for meetings.

Again from the website:

At its largest size, around 1300, Puerco Pueblo may have been home to about 200 people. The one-story high village of hand-shaped sandstone blocks was built around a rectangular plaza. The rooms were living quarters and storage, but most activity, like cooking and craftmaking, took place in the plaza. There were also several underground rooms, called kivas, where ceremonial practices took place. There were no doors or windows in the plaster-covered exterior walls of the pueblo. Entry into the village was by ladders over the wall and across the log, brush, and mud roofs of the room blocks.

Ok, they had ladders but nothing like the ones in the New Mexican pueblos or the cliff dwellings.

The sun at the summer solstice hit the marker for a short span of time. Marking the changing of the seasons was important as knowing when to plant and when the rains might come was vital to staying alive in the desert.

Finally we come to my husband’s favorite part: the petroglyphs. Think of petroglyphs as early precursors of scratch boarding, as the top layer of rock was scratched off to reveal the lighter rock beneath it.

Unable to adapt to the climate change of the late 1300s, the inhabitants of Puerco Pueblo systematically abandoned the pueblo in search of a more suitable area. It was all but empty by 1380. Only the sandstone bricks, potsherds, stone tools, petroglyphs, and other artifacts and features remain to tell the tale of these ancient people.

Where will we be next? I guess you’ll just have to come back and see, but be sure to wear your hiking books or good athletic shoes. It’s cool so you might get away without bringing water but be sure to have some in the car. We’ll be taking a break for Six-Word Saturday and One Word Sunday but then I’ll actually have a Monday walk for Jo, although she might be taking a break. We’ll find out.

History

for One Word Sunday: history

Thursday doors…doors to the past

Norm, our host at Thursday Doors, is doing a retrospective of his 2019 doors and asked us to do so as well. I’d planned to, but I’m too short of time with family coming home, practice for our Christmas service, etc. So I’m “cheating” a bit by taking you back to the Penn Museum, but not with literal doors. I have a few shots that are doors to the past in Central America and a civilization not many know much about.

This metate (grinding stone) and mano (roller) from Honduras is one of my favorite items in the museum. Its beauty and grace for a simple, daily task of grinding corn and other foods attract me. The large size indicates the high status of the owners/users.

All that glitters

All that glitters is, in this case, gold. During our Thanksgiving visit to our daughter’s in Philadelphia, we spent time at the Penn Museum, a jewel of a museum. If I lived in Philadelphia, I’d have a membership so that I could take time in each gallery individually and then go home and read more about that era. I love history and this museum brings it alive. Let’s look at just a few items from the ancient city of Ur.

Ur, modern Tall al-Muqayyar or Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq, important city of ancient southern Mesopotamia (Sumer), situated about 140 miles (225 km) southeast of the site of Babylon and about 10 miles (16 km) west of the present bed of the Euphrates River. In antiquity the river ran much closer to the city; the change in its course has left the ruins in a desert that once was irrigated and fertile land. The first serious excavations at Ur were made after World War I by H.R. Hall of the British Museum, and as a result a joint expedition was formed by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania that carried on the excavations under Leonard Woolley’s directorship from 1922 until 1934.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Queen Puabi obviously rocked the jewelry! But who was she? The Penn Museum site tells us:

The forensic examination of her remains, undertaken by London’s Natural History Museum, indicates that she was roughly 40 years old when she died. She stood just under five feet tall. Her name and title are known from the short inscription on one of three cylinder seals found on her person. The two cuneiform signs that compose her name were initially read as “Shub-ad” in Sumerian. Today, we think they should be read in Akkadian as “Pu-abi” (or, more correctly, “Pu-abum,” meaning “word of the Father”). Her title is “eresh” (sometimes mistakenly read as “nin”), and means “queen.”

You can read more by clicking here.

The hidden key

For Wednesday’s Photo Challenge, I mentioned a funny story about the photo of a church.  My s-i-l was driving my husband and me around the roads of rural France, seeing sights and generally having fun.  We were walking through a small village, when my s-i-l said, “Look. This is the first Lutheran church in  France!”

As we’re Lutheran, of course we thought we should go in and see it (besides the fact that it was very old.)  But the door was locked and there were no people to be seen anywhere.  After walking around the outside, we headed for the car.  Suddenly a man came out from the building across the street and asked if we wanted to see the church.  He took us into the entryway and told us that the key was hidden behind a painting.  He moved the painting to the side, gave us the key, and asked us to put the key back when we were done!  His kindness and trust had us smiling and shaking our heads.

The unusual thing about this church was the wood-burning stove partway down on the left side.  I can imagine that side of the church had the most parishioners sitting there in winter!!

George Washington slept here.

You say you’ve heard that before?  ‘Tis true.  I cannot tell a lie.  (You say you’ve heard that before as well?) You did know he had to sleep somewhere, right?  A number of somewheres!  Well, this is one of the somewheres!

During the time the Continental Army bivouacked at Valley Forge, most of the men slept in wooden huts that they’d made laboriously by hand (and axe.)  I always had the impression that they nearly froze in tents, but during our recent trip to Valley Forge, I found out that wasn’t true, at least the tent part.  Many of them probably felt as though they were freezing, dressed inadequately and without, in many cases, proper shoes or boots, and for much too long, food supplies were inadequate.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Resilient…Queen Puabi

Perhaps the Queen herself isn’t that resilient (after all, if she were alive, she’d be over 4,600 years old), but her jewelry certainly is!  The University of Penn Museum displays this magnificent jewelry from the first Dynasty of Ur, about 2600 BC.  We don’t know for sure that Puabi was a queen, but she certainly was of high status, and when wearing all this, she’d be ready to party in the new year!

Thursday Doors…Naper Settlement

Not far from our house is Naper Settlement.

“Naper Settlement is an outdoor 19th century living history museum that serves northeastern Illinois as a unique educational and cultural resource. The village tells the story of how life changed throughout the 19th century for the people of northern Illinois in towns such as Naperville.

During this era, Naper’s Settlement was transformed from a pioneer outpost in 1831 to a bustling turn-of-the century community. Through its costumed interpreters and 30 historic buildings located on the 12-acre grounds, history is brought to life with educational and hands-on activities for 150,000 visitors each year.”

Wrapping up Midas

About the end of the 7th century BC, Phyrgia was conquered by the Lydians and after them, the Persians captured Gordion.  The massive walls and gates built by the Phyrgians were overcome by a giant earthen siege ramp pushed against one fort, which provided a launching place for arrows and firebrands.  No one knows where Midas himself is buried.

Today the excavation of Gordion continues. Most of the over-250 acres and burial mounds remain to be explored, even though excavation has gone on for more than 60 years.  Who knows what other treasures will be discovered as work continues?

Jug

Cauldron detail; siren and demon attachments