900 -1200 ye old cliff dwellings in the cliffs high above Workman creek, Sierra Ancha mts, eastern Arizona.
You can still feel the presence of the ancient ones. And if you look closely at the interior walls you can still see the fingerprints of the people who packed caliche on the walls like plaster.
A fascinating place! That's an ingenious way to build dry-stone walls, too, with layers of large, flat stretchers alternating with much smaller stones.
@ArishMell These places have always fascinated me and the number of them and the state of preservation they are in naturally is jaw dropping. The shear difficulty to reach some of these places is intimidating at times even with modern hiking and climbing gear. It gives you a new respect for how hardy the inhabitants had to be and the challenges and effort it took to survive and thrive in this harsh unforgiving landscape.
@meggie I agree with you, fascinating indeed. Unfortunately most of the places I visit have little if any recorded history so you have to sit back and try to imagine what it took to build there dwellings, haul water and gather, grow and hunt the food they ate. And most of all what would motivate them to build in such hard to reach places.
