WoooHooo!!! The Ring of Fire! And we're here to see it. I have my protective eye wear salem. I just close both eyes real tight and then say ... "what's it doing now honey?"
Hey, I got our pic's of the Gila (pronounced Hee-lah) Wilderness and the Cliff Dwellings uploaded to Photobucket. Here's the link:
http://s1188.photobucket.com/albums/z416/texast1/Gila Wilderness/
There's been no photo manipulation done on any of the pics.
In the Cliff Dwellings, scientists/archaeologists have measured the thickness of the soot accumulation on the roof of the dwellings from the cooking/heating fires and estimate that it would have taken 10,000 years of occupancy to build up to the thickness it at now. The oldest wood found on the site measured - with carbon dating, to around 1200 AD. These people farmed and hunted and several of their fields are still visible. When I was a kid you could still see their irrigation ditches.
The dwellings were not protected until 1965 and before that time people had gone in there and hauled away truckloads of artifacts and essentially destroying the site for archaeologists and our understanding of the dwellings. Of course, during that period the vandals had done their work too.
Today, we have no knowledge of what became of these people nor why they left or exactly when.
In the late 1800's the American soldiers came though the area and burned out much of the dwellings thinking they were being used by the Apache. But the Apache say they never entered the dwellings as they considered them sacred and were actually a little afraid of them.
Many of the wall and ceiling paintings have fallen off and only fragments of them are visible now. I remember seeing many of them when I was young and they were impressive.
The landscapes in many of the pictures are of the Gila Wilderness and when I was young I spent a lot of time on horseback packing back into remote areas with friends. Doc Campbell, who lived on private land in the Wilderness, was legendary for his knowledge of the area and gave us a lot of advice on the places to see and how to get there. Here's a link to some of Doc's history and his influence on the area:
Doc Campbell.—.a Gila Wilderness pioneer:Southern New Mexico Travel and Tourism Information
Doc's home is briefly described in this article and I spent quite a few happy days there talking to him and his wife and family.
TT
