Photo(s) of the Week

This week’s photo of the week is a little different as I finish up my series of posts on Petrified Forest National Park. I’m always in awe when visiting places and seeing remnants of communities that existed thousands of years ago. This place is no different.

This is Puerco Pueblo, a prehistoric settlement built of shaped sandstone blocks by ancestral Puebloan people. It was inhabited between A.D. 1250 and 1380. It is believed to have had a population of 200 people. Large and small communities existed up and down the Rio Puerco and Little Colorado River. Archeologists have excavated only about a third of the site. For contemporary indigenous groups, sites like Puerco Pueblo are part of their heritage and oral traditions. Descendants return to pray, leave offerings, and interact with departed ancestors.

This site also contains several petryglphs. Although their exact meaning is not known, they are believed to be messages to other travelers and markings of clans that may have occupied the region.

I hope you have enjoyed this series on Petrified Forest National Park. My goal is to visit all our national parks at least once. If you have any questions, please go ahead and contact me. As you can tell, I love getting my nerd on about nature and wildlife.