PICTURE 1 - Hovenweep Castle The Hovenweep builders apparently were closely related to the Mesa Verde group, but for whatever reason, had their own ideas. Several Hovenweep communities are located thoughout the monument, typically locating at the 'head' or top of a small canyon having a small spring. The geology here has a hard sandstone layer, with a weaker clay-ish layer below. This solved three problems: a good building base on top, canyons for weather protection, and a spring to boot (underlying clay).


PICTURE 2 - Square Tower If the 'Castle' impressed you, the 'tower' is even better. Most of the still-standing-buildings are built on solid sandstone, and the tower has a delicate (true) curve to the walls as they rise. How'd they do that?? At the base is the typical 'anasazi' T-door. For what? In the background is 'Hovenweep House'.


PICTURE 3 - Twin Towers Oh, but it gets much better. By the way, all of these pictures are from a short circular trail near the visitor center. Here, two buildings were placed to closely conform to the sandstone rocks below them. Again, you'll notice the single door. I assume one of the Hovenweep guys was an engineer, and warned them that major cracking would occur if they 'crossed' over the two rocks. And indeed, on the otherside of the canyon, the Hovenweep crew ignored his warning. They used a strong limb bridging the rock-break. It rotted (after 300 years?), and the building crumbled. Duh.


PICTURE 4 - Twin Towers II This is another view. Notice the curvature of the left building, as it curves around the supporting rock. Below in the canyon, is another building that conforms to a badly eroded rock, with two 'floors'!


PICTURE 5 - Stronghold House This shot is directly across the canyon from the previous two shots. You can see the thick sandstone below the two towers. On this side, two buildings 'hang' out away from the cliff, with limited entry and small windows. Obviously, the archeologists surmised they were defensive, and indeed, if the Hovenweepers could get there fast enough (and bring water), they'd be pretty safe. You have to assume the communities had good communication.


PICTURE 6 - Monument Valley Living in Sedona, MV is on the way back, and maybe a fun shot of the Mittens? If you followed along our Utah 'geology' trail, the rock here is BELOW the big cliffs at Zion (here, DeChelly sandstone with Moencopi 'caps'). It sits over a softer Organ Rock shale, which is the source of MV's eventual demise. But, that'll be a LONG time from now. Time for plenty more western movies!


PICTURE 7 - Agaltha Rock This is just north of Kayenta, and for most northbound visitors, the entry feature to Monument Valley. It's what is called a 'volcanic neck', where a wanna-be volcano pushed its hot lava upward but didn't manage to create a big volcano. Then, all the softer rocks around it eroded away, leaving the wimpy wanna-be! Actually, it's possible the volcano eroded away as well, though that's a little stretch. As you cross the Navajo reservation to the east, going south, you'll see several of these.

This last picture is interesting. The Navajo Nation is a great people, and probably the one I most admire. But alchohol seems to be a difficult weakness. Note the solitary bottle on the ground. As you drive up from Tuba City in the early morning, the layer of glass is its own geological layer!