Paul and Corinne's Southwest Adventure

Salmon Ruins. This was built by a small group of people from the Chaco Canyon culture (Anasazi), who inhabited what was once a three-story pueblo from about 1000 A.D. until about 1200 A.D. After they abandoned it for unknown reasons, a much smaller band of people squatted there for 50 years or so. In a testament to the constancy of human nature, it appears that many rooms originally designed and used for other purposes by the Chacoans were repurposed by the later inhabitants for use as trash storage. Trash, of course, after hundreds of years, becomes archeological artifacts.

One interesting thing I learned from the printed museum guide is the clever way that juniper rings can be used to date prehistoric structures in this area to year-specific spans. By studying rings on living juniper trees, one can date back several decades. Then by comparing overlapping ring patterns on older lumber, one can date back a century or more, and so on. Find enough very old lumber (not hard to do with dense, sturdy juniper wood and a very dry climate, and you can tell, for instance, that the original structure was built between 1088 and 1090. For more photos and information, see here.