Just the view of the folds and wrinkles in the rock of the cliff face before you even revealed the ruins were worthy of this video. Thanks for bringing us along.
Oh wow ! On page 82 of his book there is an inscription detail that looks like a Templar cross (think of Four Corners) and next to it a Hebrew letter Shin that also looks like a Turkey 🦃 track. You know what is not far from Four Corners?, Hog Canyons that happen to look like a letter Shin from the air. It’s nine hours from Mount Zion in Colorado AND not far from Zion National Park. This Synagogue with the similar looking mikvah was also later in time a Crusader Church. The Turkey actually was the first choice for Americas national bird, and Moatoka / Pocahontas / Rebecca is said to have worn a Turkey Cape. She also had a sister named Cleopatra. She is depicted light skinned, because she was as were other Native Americans. Brother Joel states: “One of the distinguishing features that enables an excavated house to be clearly identified as Jewish is finding a mikvah. This site you’ve documented Brother Jeff may be more significant to archeology and history than we realize. It may prove before Columbus and some Native American tribes were here there was another people that connect back to the Holy Lands, who practiced specifically Jewish customs. Mind blowing considerations. Question would be what time frame they lived.
I think it Is an industrial site. The mortar for the bricks were made in the round holes. Nearby water and brush and sand would make it perfect. They didn't have wheelbarrows.
The concept of some young nerdy kid with internet access and some commercially available electronics having a channel with such interesting content is amazing to me. He's going to be rich and happy when he becomes an old man.
I'm an archeologist (specializing in circumpolar archeology), but I've done some work on the ancient Puebloans, and those look like food storage caches to my eyes. They're probably fairly early on, as the latter ones are usually in higher cliffs, but it's not unknown to see ancient people making use of natural features/pits augmented/roofed with stone etc over the top to keep whatever food was stored there safe. They're generally only preserved in places with a lot of stone/ice and not many people (such caches in prairie soil would likely have been smaller and wouldn't have survived water erosion or the human activity typical in those areas)
looking at the surrounding cliffs, and given this was build on a slope, not an alcove, wouldn´t it be possible they were built to store, harvest rain water, instead of storing food? this is a dry area, it would avoid them having to go downthe cliff to the stream ? it looks efficient for rain water.
@helenepailhous1344 interesting idea! They may well have been cisterns - the Ancestral Puebloans and others living in the area were masters of water management - but it's difficult to tell without being there and doing an excavation. That said, a couple of factors suggest otherwise - namely, that type of rock is typically quite porous, so any sitting water would be likely to drain down through it (unless they had some sort of an impermeable liner - perhaps something like a chukum or cured/waxed animal hide). This may have been possible, but if they did, I'm not seeing evidence of it in the video. Secondly, if the partial walls were once complete, that would have impeded water getting into the depressions - unless there were channels cut into the rock to guide the water (they may have existed, but no longer be visible if they became filled at some point - perhaps due to a drought and/or humans no konger keeping them clear). It's too bad there's not more resources for proper excavations and lab testing - I'm sure there is so much we just can't know just from looking and everyone would benefit from knowing more about how ancient people lived with and in their environments.
Idk, if that were me, I would have used that in the heat as a cooler place to sleep. I would have built the walls up and put a roof on so I could easily stand. Kind of like a deer stand. Not a permanent place, but a place to stop at. I think we tend to overthink things.
They are definitely cisterns, likely from eddies caused by both rainwater and seep springs. The soil composition is not very pourous at all, due to it being mostly clay, which doesn’t drain well. This is why flash floods occur in the Southwest- water accumulates and rises at an alarming rate, which is why it is so dangerous to be in the bottom of a canyon during monsoon season. Ancestral Puebloans were experts at using their resources. They would likely have been used for kilns and food caches when the cisterns emptied. They worked smarter, not harder! By the 13th century, most of the cliff-dwelling Ancestral Puebloans had migrated towards to Rio Grande due to increasing drought.
You felt the Ancestors' Spirits. That's why you felt so emotional and compelled to stay. They know you are there with good intentions and sharing our history. Than you for this again. ❤❤
I thought the exact same thing. You didn't want to leave. You were speechless. You were overcome by emotion, likely a string feeling of attachment. The "spirit world" is unproven but may well exist...a realm outside our dimension?
Cists to store foodstuffs are a common feature of ancestral Puebloan sites. I’m sure that using a natural feature to save lining the cavity with stone would have been a real bonus.
This looks like a weather exposed cyst that had been sealed, its only different because the cyst is vertical instead of horizontal like on a wall built in front of a cavette... it is a cliff dwelling with a vertical cyst.
I'm a senior who barely leaves the house anymore and I can't tell you how much joy your videos bring to me. I'm so glad I discovered your channel. How much formal studying of archeology & anthropology have you done? You seem to know quite a bit but often wonder what it is you're looking at. Taking classes would be so cool & enhance the whole experience. I admire your respectful attitude to the ruins. It would be so tempting to put a pottery shard in your backpack! Do you do these explorations with other people or mostly just alone? I intend to watch everything on your channel. Thanks for this amazing gift!
I wonder what the environment was like a thousand years ago. More trees,different water course, more people?it's a fascinating place. Thanks for taking us along. Stay safe out there.
YES I wonder what was happening in the world of those that either found or created the holes. What was the weather like? how did these folks move about and how nomadic? did they have enough food stores to actually store food or were they just on the hunt all the time? Hmmm I wish Napoleon dynamites time machine worked so we could see.. yet these wagon burners might probably make it tough on us for showing up un announced >>
We check here every day in anticipation of new vids! You are very popular in our house. Thx for the info regarding the drone. Recently we purchased the same. We thought it was the one that you are using. Haven't had time to fly it yet in the winter weather, but we are stoked to learn we got your model Many cool thx for the time and dedication involved, but most of all for sharing with all of us. The vids with your knowledgeable commentary are priceless! BTW, your subs are growing daily...207k. Keep up the strong work, my friend. We are proud of you! 😊
Hey John! Thank you for your comment! I was about ready to go to bed for the night and decided to do a final check on my video and saw your comment. Really appreciate all your support!! I hope you enjoy the drone too! There is hardly a time that I go without it. Let me know if you need any pointers! Thanks again! Hope you all enjoy this video :-) -Jeff
@@TheTrekPlannerHey Jeffrey, thx for the reply and offer of help with our new drone! We don't have many petroglyphs in our area but many old gold camps and ghost towns. History and exploring are our fave pastime. What app do you use for your drone? May I have a link to it? We have a Samsung 9+ and a Samsung 21 ultra but can't find an app that works. Help! 😊 Thx again, my friend.
Jeff, I just found your channel and love it. Your respect and love for nature and the outdoors are a blessing, today's young don't get outside due to the internet and cellphones. I grew up hunting, fishing and doing all 4 seasons of sports. I'm a retired woman now. You have such a respect for ruins and all. Thanks for showing us the world thru your eyes.
And I believe in the times of external stress, such as unwanted visitors in the middle of the night, the ladders could be pulled out of the roof-center and placed on the edge for external access.
You couldn’t leave because this place is sacred. These holes were ceremonial. These people believed in their creation myths that they emerged from the depths of the earth. When they found these perfect holes (the other is the same when you dig down, they too were stunned, and they fit the creation myths perfectly. People did not live here, but for ceremonies. Thank you for taking us there. I am a Medicine Woman and I absolutely can feel the energy there. Very special, there is an energy vortex there.
I haven't seen anything specifically like that either. I'm pretty certain the holes were created by erosion from water falling from the cliff above. My guess would be that they were used as water storage and potentially built up around them to keep debris out of the hole.
Have you ever been to Mesa Verde? They have a ton of circular structures for shelter built into the cliffs. It was a really common cliff-dweller method of building.
@@LRRPFco52 The structures at Mesa Verde are Kivas and were used as a gathering place for ceremonies. The holes in this video aren’t large enough to fit multiple people for ceremonies.
that's what they looked like to me. Unfortunately, he didn't get any good shots of the cliff side right above where those wells were set. I think he may have stepped over yet another hole, that had been filled in with sand by time and weather. I suspect those were found holes, that someone figured out would hold water, and built up walls to catch more water. Not like you're gonna find a spring up that high...or at least not likely.
If that were the case, there would be others like this all over the landscape at other ruins, but there are not. I think even the people back then knew that stagnant water above ground spoils very quickly and get infested with mosquitos etc - there are plenty of springs and creeks nearby where they could get water. They would of course use rainwater that would collect in pools in the next couple of days, but again, at all the ruins all over the SouthWest, there were never any "tanks" for water storage anywhere, most places were near enough rivers, streams, creeks and run offs, and yup, the environment was different back then to what we have now
I discovered your channel yesterday, and spent most of today just binge watching your vids. Just wanted to say thanks so much for uploading your adventures, and all the effort you put into producing them. Its awesome viewing for someone like me in UK, where we dont have anything like the amazing geology and landscapes of southwest US. Have just joined your patreon, cheers!
Unique beautiful place for sure. The cove had a lot of action going on. Not only the geographical area but the ruins of man-made structures. Pretty COOL. Ty Jeff. How exciting to finally finding the spot.
I'm wondering if these could have been an ancient kiln. The sand in the bottom would protect the pots and also retain heat. It may explain the red color on all the mortar and stone. Fired stone usually turns red like that. With the creek near by, there would have always been enough wood to fire it up. Just a thought. Thanks for sharing it with us Jeff!
I was thinking the same thing, but then there would have been more evidence of smoke and fire around there. It didn’t look like anything was blackened with smoke or soot.
That circular (sometimes oval) erosion pattern, is a feature of sandstone formations. Can also occur in sandstone blocks used in buildings. As the stone naturally erodes, any harder (possibly heavier) quartz grains can be used by the wind to abrade the surrounding matrix away. Once a cavity is formed, those trapped grains continuously 'sandblast' the void when the wind blows, making it bigger over time.
Cold storage? Smoker pit? It's absolutely amazing regardless. Wow. As much as it's running through my to jump down in and look closer, you are right. Respect is better than curiosity. Well done. You rock!
Jeff I feel you were correct about the burial tombs. The reason why you felt you couldn't leave is because the spirits were happy to see you and like any spiritual meeting it is hard to say goodbye.❤❤❤😊❤❤❤
Beautiful. Thank you, such an awesome trip. It is a Wonderous place. Thank you for respecting the past, the People's lives and the landscape and for sharing all of it with us💕
"awe" does it for me. It is sensational looking, dramatic and hard to believe that some natural forces created such a backdrop for the structures made carefully for humans. Yes. It is spiritual, too. Honors nature.
Those must be storage or defensive structures? You can't lay down or fit many people in them, so I figure, it must be storage. What a beautiful place. I think I get just as excited as you. Reminds me of Fire Canyon. That's what we called it anyway. The oranges, reds, and yellows, look like fire. Thanks for taking us along. I look forward to your videos on Saturdays. I watch you first thing. I get those feelings too. The feeling of the spirits of the people who were there before.
This is great. Good for you. Very beautiful with the buckwheat flowers in the background. You're a very talented and lifted young man. Keep meeting those spiritual places. I'm glad you respect them.
How do you keep topping each video? Beautiful videography and editing too, btw. Don't be afraid to add more long shots like that one with the red and yellow canyon. I could look at different shots of that all day. Thanks again Brad. So cool to learn from other research(ers). I wonder if one of the learning channels like ones sponsoring RU-vidrs might have more info and people to network with.
This was a very cool find! Could they have been water cisterns, or grain silos? Thank you for taking us with you on your amazing trek! Your photography have inspired me to paint my version of of your canyon! It is beautiful! I love the colors in the rock striations and the water streaking down the all against that brilliant, blue sky!
Thanks again for another amazing video. If I were to guess I would say they were used for water storage. Just a guess but, that's what I thought of while watching. The world may never know. Keep up the amazing work and above all, stay safe out there.
Just off the top of my head, looking at those circular structures, and the sizes of them, I wonder if they are not for water storage, perhaps as the village(s) grew larger they made larger cisterns. They look too deep and large for foodstuffs. I don't think they are Graves, although they might be. However, I don't think the pueblans had that type of funerary practice. They tended to dispose of the bodies of their dead in secret places and those would be pretty easily located. In any case that was a great find. No wonder you're so excited.
My knee jerk thought is smoking or fermenting chambers. The evidence of a small fire area in the one, and the built up (and well sealed) walls suggests maybe smoking meat. But, could have duel purpose. Another possibility is that these are sipapu ... symbolizing portals through which the ancient ancestors first emerged. But, sipapu are typically found which the confines of a kiva ... and don't have walls built up around their edges. So, while they are roughly the same size, nothing else matches up. Cool place either way.
Thank you for another adventure 😊 No matter how the holes came to be, it still was fun to see. I can see how you really love what your doing, and that is special. I love going with you and enjoy it as much as you. Stay safe and know we all care about your well being. Hope your family is doing well. Thank you 😊
Likely a natual water worn feature from aeons ago. The geology of that place is fantastic and very telling of its age and creation over millions of years... layers and layers built up, buried, compressed then raised up only to be worn down again by water. Much later, people took advantage of this and added the wall, possible to create more shade, or to stop water running in from above. Amazing places - thank you for the trip 👍
They look as if they might join up, except that the sand has filled them in so much. As they are still full of sand, that might point to them not being raided. Nice find. It's relatively easy to carbon date samples, just a bit costly. If you share your finds with a universty with that tech, and possibly a Amerindian course, taking back a sample plant sample from the mudwork could help you, and them, with free carbon dating.
Final thoughts Jeff, I grew up in a wealthy enclave that was named for little Cottonwoods, and it was next to Coyote Creek, and an ancient marshland. In England Elm trees were known to grown in moist areas which were considered crossroads, where souls crossed form the land of the living into the underworld. The English executed Sir William Wallace ritually at the Elms, at Smithfield on August 23rd, 1305. Shortly thereafter the English started ritual executing tens of thousands of people at Tyburn. Tyburn was named for a stream and the elms trees that grew in the surrounding terrain. The stram got it's name from the God Tiw, the Celtic god of war and justice. Tyburn's stream was also a boundary which was big juju from England to the Etruscans. At Tyburn people were ritually hung form the triple tree, or burned at the stake whre they could then crossover. Take Care Jeff, that was fun.
I watched a documentary on the hunt for Montezuma's gold in Johnson's Canyon. I recall they found similar holes along a cliff and when excavated, some human remains were found.
The wall appears to be used for blocking rainwater as it runs down the slope. My uneducated guess is there was a cover and they would store food or other necessities. Holes like that are naturally occurring but I can't say this is the case here.
Nice archaeology here, thanks for sharing. Looks like food storage on a cliff dwelling to me. The smaller ones appear to still be sealed. 3D image is pretty crisp too, good work.
Wow Jeff, my first thought was burials also. The place definitely has a sacred feel to it. I don't blame you for not wanting to leave. I was reminded of the buried giants that were found buried in circular holes in rock like this. They were buried in a fetal position. Great footage Jeff, excellent! thanks for taking us along.
The ruines were interesting but wow, that rock face! What’s the geology behind that formation. From red even strata on the right to tumultuous white strata on the left. Is that tumultuous part from water erosion? Then the thick orange and thin white upturned bands beneath. Is that rock folded by geological forces or flat layers turned on their side? Beautiful and fascinating! Great job Jeff! Thank you.
I want to hike out there with a geologist, an archaeologist, an anthropologist and a natural scientist so I can learn alllllll about those formations, the plants and people who might of lived there. What an incredible site!
Love this kind thing. I find neat and rare things too but never at sights like these that can be seen on Google Earth. It's always through devine guidance and intuition, and many times places that people wouldn't never expect
Such a dominant feature in the landscape. Indigenous peoples would have sureley been draw to this place. The “holes” could have been a place of pilgrimage for isolated meditation type purposes. Great vid! Awsome location.
Hey Jeff, thanks for bringing us with you and for recording these sites, preserving them forever for future generations! 😊❤ 13:23 These are definitely cisterns, likely from eddies caused by both rainwater and seep springs. The soil composition is not very pourous at all, due to it being mostly clay, which doesn’t drain well. This is why flash floods occur in the Southwest- water accumulates and rises at an alarming rate, which is why it is so dangerous to be in the bottom of a canyon during monsoon season. Ancestral Puebloans were experts at using their resources. They would likely have been used for kilns and food caches when the cisterns emptied. They worked smarter, not harder! By the 13th century, most of the cliff-dwelling Ancestral Puebloans had migrated towards to Rio Grande due to increasing drought.
Beautiful Area indeed ! Maybe they are for Storage - looks very old to me ? Very Interesting for sure - did You see any Pottery Pieces ? Thank You and many Cheers from Australia !!!!
I'm so glad I found you in "shorts". Thank you for taking me somewhere that I'll never be able to go. It was suspenseful and interesting. As I was watching, I started thinking that maybe you should consider exploring to bring another person along for safety purposes if nothing else. I've now subscribed and am a new follower!
Hand dug. The smaller one that was just started you can still see the rock tools used for digging and some small bits of Earth dug up. Just the fact there are two other holes started shows they aren't natural
These are cooking pots. They put their food and water in it, then drop in hot rocks that they've heated nearby in a wood fire. They had to use special rocks (igneous?) that would not crack or explode when dropped into the water/food mixture that would become their dinner. "Pots" this size are rare, and indicate that they were designed to feed alot of people (I'm not sure how many). I have seen similar in-ground pots (virtually identical in shape, but somewhat smaller in size) in Valley Center, California. I remember the same emotion of not wanting to leave when I came across them. Very special to think that Native American women would cook their dinners here.
The water flow that carved out the side of the cliff could have created the 'kettles' with hard stones rotating in an eddy of water and routing out the softer sandstone. Native people took advantage of the natural depressions for water collection or other uses. Glacial flows in MN and WI have created similar kettles.
i agree, your description makes it easier to picture the water flow, with stones to keep debris and deposits out of the pit, filtering the water. It required a lot of observation of their environment, how creative and ingenious this is.
