The Anasazi Indians of Bandelier National Monument

There are only a few locations in the world where we can step back in time to a place that was inhabited 10,000 years ago, and see the remains of that rich civilization . Bandelier National Monument outside Santa Fe, New Mexico offers that rare, rich experience within a magnificent setting of caves, cliffs, streams, and wildlife. For both an astounding historical adventure and a fabulous outdoor climbing adventure, head to Bandelier National Monument.

Scientific testing reveals that Bandelier was inhabited as long ago as 8,000 B.C. However, the Anasazi Native American Indians who inhabited the area through 1500 A.D. are the people for whom the area holds such a rich historical treasure. The peak of the Anasazi culture was in 1100 B.C. when the Indians lived in caves formed high in the cliffs of the desert Southwest. Using amazing climbing skills, the men would scramble down to the base of the canyon for hunting and water and then carry the food and water back up the steep cliff walls to the caves where women and children waited.

Today Bandelier National Monument is a treasure for adults and children; historians and outdoor enthusiasts; architects and sportsmen. Through a maze of trails with the help of some installed handrails, visitors can ascend some of the highest caves in the area. Huge rooms where vast families lived hold treasures and secrets. Drawings from a thousand years ago are still visible on the walls. Deer roam through the grasslands, while quiet streams still meander through the canyon. It is truly a step back in time: it is pure. However, it is tangible, and that is what makes it so valuable. Rarely can we put our hands on the same rock or soil that people so many thousands of yeas ago touched. Rarely can we bend down to where a fire cooked a meal centuries ago. Rarely can we reach out and touch a buffalo drawn thousands of years ago on a cliff. It is that tangible history that makes it so very valuable: we literally breathe in the history.

Bandelier can be as physically strenuous as you wish. To go to the top caves takes steely determination without a fear of heights and ladders. For those who wish to see the lower caves and drawings, the walk is easy. The visitor and information center is simple, but informative.

For a step back in time with a rich, rewarding historical perspective, take a visit to Bandelier National Monument and take a long, long walk.