July 2005 – Mesa Verde, CO.
Home of the Aztec Indians of Colorado

Penny rekindles her archeological fires!

Penny has a masters degree in Biological Anthropology from Cambridge University in England. Her deep love of culture and history pretty much guarantees that I will get my own, private guided tour of about any society which has left ruins! Here Penny is looking at the stone work in the Aztec’s homes in Mesa Verde. As you can see above, the natives lived under ledges along the cliffs in the canyons of the Mese Verde area. The architecture, although over 1,000 years old, was VERY impressive! It makes you realize that we really haven’t evolved much in many ways!

Ancient Aztec Art

11:00 AM

Penny looks inside one of the Aztec dwellings and comes to the realization that these people couldn’t have been very large because this was on of their entry doors. When Penny looked up and to the right, she saw this beautiful Aztec wall painting, which I photographed so we could share the experience with you and others.

Sacred Water Hole

The park ranger informed us that this water hole was one of the only sources of water for some distance
and that the local Indians worshiped this water as sacred. To this very day, Aztec Indians come to collect
this water for healing purposes, and to continue their worship of this special water source. The water seeps into this spot slowly from the rocks and although the supply is not large in volume, it has apparently been
consistent for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Earth, Home, Spirit

The Kiva

Looking at the larger photo on your left, you can see round pits called “Kivas”. These were covered with a thatch roof of sorts when the Indians lived in them. In the bottom is a hole that may have been used for a fire to keep warm. In each Kiva, just in front of the fire pit, there was a small hole (see bottom photo). The Aztecs believed that the human spirit came up out of the earth through these holes that were made in all kivas to facilitate growth and development of the tribe; new human spirits given to them by Mother Earth. It was impressed with how evolved their spiritual philosophy and astrology was!