Those black streaks happen naturally to sandstone due to water run off. You will see it all the time in Utah and Arizona along sandstone cliffs. I don't believe any of the Mule Canyon ruins have been hit with any fires.
How do we know this is Anasazi culture and not Fremont? I believe both cultures coexisted (and probably overlapped), and they probably all vanished around the same time (600-700 years ago) due to a cooling and drying world at that time. The Chaco Canyon culture in NM also vanished around that time, and for the same reasons. The cultures that now exist in the 4-corners region are all relatively recent arrivals. Excellent drone video too...well done.
Thanks for your insight. Up until now I hadn’t heard of the Fremont Culture even though we have been in that area exploring a lot. I’ve done a little reading and from what I could find there are a few differences between the Anasazi & Fremont cultures. The Fremont mastered working with leather products and often made moccasins instead of the yucca sandals the Anasazi seemed to have. The Fremont primarily built pit houses as their primary structures and used a different technique for building their granaries in cliff shelters. Also evidence suggest but is not conclusive that the Fremont were much more nomadic then the Anasazi. They do seem to have overlapping timelines in the area and some theories suggest they may have raided the crops of the Anasazi while the Anasazi people would be holed up in their cliff shelters. Very interesting reading thanks for ideas! Glad you enjoyed the video!
@@itsthesnomads Good job. I agree...now that you have found all of this additional information...that the culture you flew your drone over is most likely Anasazi. I just thought that because the Fremont culture was so close by that they too would have lived in stone cliff dwellings...but it appears that they did not. I'm not sure if the general public can just wander through the Fremont cultural region, but if you can it's quite spectacular too. In some cases you can happen across an entire village that appears to have been vacated in about 2 minutes (i.e. with food still in various states of preparation, and other artifacts just left lying around as if the owners had to flee in a hurry...never to return).
That sounds really awesome. We appreciate the info and next time we are out in Utah we will have to see if we can explore some of the Fremont cultural areas. All the ruins we have come across have usually been picked over pretty strongly by archeologists. And some like you saw in this video would be almost impossible to enter without a large ladder or some serious climbing equipment those ruins might have still had pottery in complete forms. In Chaco Canyon the large great houses were actually sealed up as if the people knew they were leaving but they wanted close off all access to their buildings. It’s all very intriguing thanks for your thought inspiring comments. What did these villages look like, did they ever start building up with stone or did they strictly use pit houses? Also did the Fremont build Kiva’s as well? I’m curious about the possible similarities between the cultures.
@@itsthesnomads Awesome. I will look forward to your next drone images as those are quite spectacular (as you're able to access areas that are almost impossible to visit, while at the same time, you're not disturbing great archaeology).
What time of year was this visit? I think I have a better chance of getting the family approval to go to Utah if I could do it during ski season and do a few days of skiing in the northern part of the state and a few days of hiking and ruin exploration in the southern part of the state.
We did this trip in January or February I do believe. Blanding Utah is main town to use as a base camp in the region for propane, groceries, and water fill up. The whole area around Blanding is a mix of BLM and National Forest great for car/ truck camping. It depends on how wet the season has been for road conditions but there are a ton a cool old ruins to explore some easy and others a true canyon adventure. The ruins in the video don’t really have an established trail to get to them once you make it past the House on fire but that adds to the fun of you ask us. Also we would highly highly recommend Goblin Valley for a family that place is so much fun. You can climb around all the sandstone formations and there’s always something new to explore. Best of luck with your trip planning!
My understanding is that the Anasazi were facing climate change, lack of normal rainfall and threats either internally or externally from other tribes. Some speculation that native tribes from Mexico had explored north and attacked the Anasazi. There are some indications that due to food shortages some Anasazi may have turned to cannibalism. The spiral marking could indicate migration. I also have seen the spiral used in conjunction with a solstice indicator where a shadow was caste at the center of the spiral on a summer or winter solstice. If you get a chance look for markings that could chart solar or Lunar events.
Thanks for your insight Daniel! I have also read about the possibility of Cannibalism and attack from other tribes. It would make sense given that mindset as to why the Anasazi would start to make these highly defendable cliff dwelling structures. I’ve also read the spiral marking can sometimes represent the spiritual center of a home or village and usually would be a source of water as well as indicating movement of tribes and clans. We will keep our eyes out for indications of solar or lunar events with the markings. We are once again in the 4 Corners region and have been exploring many of these ancient sites. More videos on them soon!
@@itsthesnomads I was doing some thinking today about the cliff dwelling and locations near small streams. Here is something to think about, first I think we can agree these people were not stupid, second we can also agree they had a keen ability to observe nature , birds, wildlife, nature, trees, the night sky etc etc. it occurred to me today, they must have traveled and hunted in areas that had beavers or locally seen them at work. does that stand to reason? I think so. Next what do beavers do? They build dams and waterways for egress to their flooded areas. Think about that for a moment, you are short of water, and you know two things beavers build dams, the dams hold large amounts of water back. What do you need alot of? water, how could you get it? Well one options is build dams like beavers or capture multiple beavers and cut them loose in your backyard. Beavers work 24X7 and the one thing they care most about is their dams. Now in truth they need willows or similar for food and building but let’s say those are around or you at least start the dam work efforts. Beavers are a key stone species, if you have beavers good news it draws deer,elk, mountain goats,bear, fox, coyote,eagles, fish,turtles,waterfowl, more insects to feed fish etc and on and on PLUS it replenishes ground water and saturation of soils which in turn holds multiples of grasses, plant species etc etc. think about that, your a pretty savvy observant Native American, the beaver is literally the great provider of all things including building materials like reeds, berries,nut trees,trees on and on. What would you do? If it was me, I would build a dam with rocks and anything I could get my hands on like a Beaver and flood my section of the neighborhood and/or I would build some cage crates, and get my buddies and go find a few beaver families catch them and haul them back to my neighborhood and tell all my buddies not to eat them, the beaver is your brother and if you eat him we will all die at least until there were so many beavers it became a huge problem. So given that thought experiment I can’t see any Anasazi dying of thirst, now of course man made dams would need maintenance and rebuilding after storms etc. but beaver dams can survive pretty well and repairs are the Beavers daily job. They used to need explosives to get rid of beaver dams they were so well constructed. Ok enough typing. Think about that for a while and this was well before the fur trade and people canoeing up and down every tributary looking to trap beaver so no competition from French and American fur trappers looking to fill orders for hats. Something does not totally add up to me now, they would know about dams, irrigation, beavers etc ……they were smart, clearly not lazy, they had access to the solution they most needed.
Hi Daniel, I’m sorry I didn’t get back to this sooner I don’t seem to get notifications on replies to replies. In follow up to your first comment. We found a location in Chaco Canyon that was exactly as you described the spiral marking that coincides with the solstice. It was called the Sun Dagger on top of Fajada Butte. Unfortunately they close this area to the public out of fear for erosion but it is a solstice indicator. There were also special windows that aligned with the solstice. The Aztec ruins in New Mexico have a wall that is perfectly in line with the summer solstice. It’s amazing the precision these ancient builders had. Now as for your other thoughts I find them very interesting and would agree that must have known about beavers if not directly then through trade with other tribes. We have found evidence of areas where the Anasazi did indeed build what archeologists call check dams. They build them out of rocks and mud and would use them to create watering holes especially in spots where the water flows off cliffs and pools. I’d love to believe they caught a bunch of beavers and had them run amuck but to my knowledge they haven’t ever found beaver remains or any kind of clothing made from beavers in these ruins. Also it doesn’t really seem that they depict beavers on any pictographs or petroglyphs. Now I’m not saying that rules beavers out and I love the idea it makes good sense and its fun to think about. Thanks for your thought provoking ideas!
