Rock Art and Room Service: Apartment Living, Ancient Style

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Step back in time with me as we explore the ancient wonders of Tsankawi at Bandelier National Monument. This remarkable archaeological site offers a rare window into the lives of ancestral Puebloan people who made these cliffside dwellings their home centuries ago.

Walking through what was once a bustling central plaza, I discovered pottery fragments scattered across rocks—tangible connections to those who lived here long before us. As tradition dictates, these artifacts remain undisturbed where they were found, preserving both archaeological integrity and respecting native beliefs that removing such items means taking ancestral spirits with you.

The cave dwellings themselves tell fascinating stories of ingenuity and adaptation. Natural cavities in the cliff face were skillfully enlarged and enhanced with smoke-blackened ceilings and plaster walls for insulation and strength. Imagine climbing ladders as your daily commute, moving between different levels of these vertical neighborhoods! From inside these ancient homes, perfect viewing portals frame distant landscapes, including snow-capped mountains—the same views enjoyed by residents hundreds of years ago.

Perhaps most moving are the petroglyphs etched into stone surfaces throughout the site. Spirals, directional markers, human figures, and handprints speak across time, though their exact meanings remain mysterious. When my hand perfectly matched an ancient handprint carved into rock, I felt an intimate connection spanning centuries—two humans touching across time.

Whether you're fascinated by archaeology, indigenous culture, or simply appreciate breathtaking landscapes with rich histories, Senkawi offers something truly special. Join me on this journey through time, and remember to respect and protect these precious sites so future generations can experience the same wonder. Have you visited any ancient dwellings? I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments below!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody.
This is Craig, natural Medic,and I am at Senkawi, which is
part of Bandelier NationalMonument.
I might not have beenpronouncing that correctly, but
that's what I was told localpronunciation is.
If you know a differentpronunciation, let me know.
And checking out these firstset of petroglyphs right here
Very cool.
They are kind of in a placewhere they can get a lot of

(00:21):
weathering so they look a littlerough and not as distinct as
some of the other ones you mayhave seen in other videos, but
pretty cool.
So we're gonna go check outthis loop trail here and see the
rest of this site.
Hope you'll join me.
So this is the pueblo that wasup here.
This is the central plaza area.
They have closed it off due tolooting and things like that,

(00:47):
even though it's still protectedas a natural park.
You can see right here on theserocks there's some fragments of
pottery here.
Those were already here when Igot here.
Pretty much, if you find stufflike this, leave it where it
lies is kind of the general idea.
It's okay to look at it andhandle it, but don don't just
pick it up and move it into thisplace or put it in your pocket.

(01:07):
Traditionally, the nativepeople say that if you do that,
you're taking the spirits oftheir ancestors with you and you
could be cursed.
All right.
So coming down the ladder herefrom the Pueblo area, you can
see a number of caves.
Eric was just telling me thatthere's little pock marks where
they used to put poles up andhave a shade structure, I

(01:30):
imagine with animal skins ordebris, to block the wind or the
Sun, so they could take shelter.
Pretty neat.
Hey, if you're enjoying thisvideo, give it a thumbs up.
Remember that parks are herefor you in the future, so
protect them.
Thanks, imagine this being yourdaily commute, going up the

(01:50):
ladder here.
That could have been your lifeseveral hundred years ago.
You can see some footpaths thathave since broken off at the
bottom, but some go up where theladder top is no escalator.
Here we're going down becausethere's the ladder up here and

(02:12):
there's shelters right here.
These are similar cave sheltersto what you would see in the
main park If it would be quite abit cooler in there.
Did they carve these out or werethey like that?
I think they most of the timewould find a good hole.
There's a lot of bubbles in thetop.
Then they would carve it out toenlarge it, make shelves and
things.
So there was a basic kind ofstructure and then the native
people would carve it open, asEric was saying, to make it a

(02:35):
little bit more homey.
I'm inside one of these cavesand this one's very echoey so
hopefully you can hear me, okay.
But this one has a little kindof alcove over here you can look
into.
It'd be hard to crawl into that.
I don't know if that was maybea storage area for food, a kid's
bedroom, who knows?

(02:55):
Pretty neat.
And of course they smoked outall the ceilings we're
discussing that to add maybesome structural soundness to the
inside of the cave.
And then they used kind of aplaster, kind of like they do
Adobe houses, for strengtheningand also insulation etc.
It appears that there's someglyphs right here.

(03:18):
It's hard to see if they'reauthentic glyphs, I'm not sure,
but there are some handprintsright here and luckily enough
look at that, my hand fits rightin.
If you look out this littleporthole you can see Santa Fe,
baldy with a snow cap and theSanta Fe ski hill still through

(03:40):
the snow.
Pretty crazy.
Kind of more of the same here,but a really cool little set of
almost like apartments of caves,and there's probably I don't
know half a dozen or more cavesright here to check out.

(04:01):
Pretty neat.
Okay, we got some more glyphs,lots of spirals and different
things up there, pretty cool.
So, different angle here.
You got lines there with anarrow, kind of showing

(04:22):
directions, spirals, all kindsof cool things.
Got some really coolpetroglyphs right here.
Alright, makes perfect sense.
The ones that are older havelichen and moss and stuff

(04:42):
growing on them.
Some of these might be a littlequestionable, but there's
interesting little human figuresover here.
Not being critical of thepeople that did this, but they
look kind of like Five-year-oldtype comics.
All of these kind of reminds meof those figures you put on the

(05:04):
back of your car that you bragabout, whatever.
So that's kind of what I wasthinking, but very cool.
Hello, I'm Robin Leach.
This is Lifestyles of the Richand Maybe Not so Famous.
We have a little cave dwellingright here.
Look at this.
They had a patio area.
Beautiful, authentic.
I'm going to go check out theother one.
I'm going.
We have a little cave buildingright here.
Look at this.
They had a patio area.

(05:25):
Beautiful, authentic, rustic.
These little caves are justeverywhere on the side of this
rock.
You can see there's somefootholds right there.
We were just discussing whetherthey made those and then over
time they just become more worn,or they were just by by using
them, who knows?

(05:45):
You've got lots of little cavesall up and down this hillside
here that were occupied at sometime, I would imagine, by
indigenous people.
There's some more up here ontop of this higher ridge, that
kind of circles around here andthere some probably were were
used as housing, some maybe forstorage, some maybe for nothing,

(06:08):
who knows.
But I find it very fascinating.
Well, that pretty much sums upthis video here.
Hope you enjoyed seeing thesites and, if you did, make sure
to give it a thumbs up andthink about subscribing to the
channel for future content.
Until next time, I'll see youon the trail.