PICTURE 1 - Animas River Valley Aztec has several layers of occupation, but each took advantage of the lush plant life from the water originating from high above Durango Colorado. Most of what you see here is Chacoan from the south, with sections from the Anasazi further north.


PICTURE 2 - Pueblo Walls The section here displays multi-colored blocks that the early builders used to meet their artistic bent. The lower windows are from the first floor, with additional floors above. If you have visited Zuni, you'd see a similar concept for the living quarters.


PICTURE 3 - Interior Room Now, we're inside one of the rooms on the first floor. It's uniformly dark from room to room, with inter-connecting doors between rooms. The temperature is quite comfortable even for a hot day. The window here looks out into a small 'courtyard' or section between room-blocks. Note the wear on the rock base (probably from tourists!).


PICTURE 4 - Open Section This is another view, showing the walls rising up multiple stories. Notice the nice brickwork. Interior walls would typically be overlaid to smooth over the cracks and then painted most often a dark earthy red.


PICTURE 5 - Interior of a Kiva Now, we're inside the large ruins. In the background, the sections rise 3-4 stories. The kiva here is a smaller one and illustrates how it was roofed (notice the three logs overlapping each other. Continuing the overlapping, the roof would be convex, with dirt overlaying the top.


PICTURE 6 - Reconstructed Great Kiva Aztec is unique in having a reconstructed Great Kiva. It's quite large, having two stories and requiring at least four large roof supports. You'd have to assume, when ceremonies were in progress, it must have been quite impressive, especially if it was in the evening with the fires reflecting from the windows.


PICTURE 7 - Great Kiva Entry At this point, we've entered the Great Kiva, pictured above. We're looking down to the main level. Across on the other side you can see a mirror image of stairs (compare to the old picture above). Note the large roof supports required. The oblong boxs to the left and right are foot drums. Windows connect the main area to smaller rooms on the upper level, very similar to small balconies.


PICTURE 8 - Great Kiva Floor Level Now, we're sitting along the edge at floor level. Imagine the ceremony in progress, with smoke filling the room and the big foot drums pounding, pounding, pounding. You have dressed for your part in the ceremony, as have the rest of your clan. Excitement is in the air. I'd assume just the noice could be heard all the way down to the river!