This Was A Bizarre Discovery 

I am a Paiute/Shoshone Native from California I would like to Thank You for being very Respectful and reminding your followers/ viewers to as well be Respectful. So many of my Ancestors many other tribes old ones sites, burials, art and etc... have been badly picked clean or destroyed such little is left and most of what is left the government makes us get permission to visit these sites. Thank You Awasu (see ya) for no tribes have a word for goodbye.

Found your channel 3 days ago. I have viewed about 15 since then. I am so glad to find someone that respects the history of our ancestors. It matters not be they Anasazi, Spanish, Pueblo, white, or any other peoples. THEY ALL NEED TO BE RESPECTED! It's really too bad that you can't divulge your locations for fear of"treasure"hunters damaging and removing items that don't belong to them. PLEASE leave things as you find them for others to feel the joy.

At 11:21 there is a metal plate with a number. This usually identifies the site a registered historical site. You might find more info on the site through this number. Nice find while exploring - thanks for the video.

Those are not pit houses or ancient dwellings, Navajos built those to keep their sheep in or use them as places for sheep to have their babies. We have a lot of those across our reservation, and a lot are mistaken for ruins.

To live free off the land. To build a home with our bare hands, to overcome adversity and endure hardships. To sit around a campfire with our family and friends. This has always been the dream of humans. The true American dream. This landscape though is tortured. It must have been a serious and dire circumstance that brought them here. Survival at it's most basic level. They were some tough courageous people.

I have ruins on my property. There's a really large settlement about a 20 minute hike from m house. I'm retired now so do a 2 mile hike numerous times weekly. Keep up the great work. 🎉😂

People have been around for a long long time. Thanks for respecting the history .

It would be wonderful for you to take stills of all the different clay sherds you find. The textures, painted patterns etc are so important to record since they just lie on the ground forever with no one able to appreciate them. You could make posters if them and note the posters to each area you visit. I'd buy one. Im sure they would be of great interest to many people.

The NA2739 at 11:15 is an archaeological site designation. That area you're in is chock full of ruins and pottery covering many square miles.

Every time he finds broken pottery, I keep imagining some mom yelling at her kids for breaking it. 😂 “How many times have I told you not to throw rocks in the pit house?” 😂😂😂

This reminds me of our family farm between Bend and Redmond, OR. We children explored all the caves and found arrowheads. The high dessert. Beautiful. 😊💕🇺🇸

Ryan, I have a lot of knowledge of the Verde Valley, South of were you are on this hike. I need to pass this knowledge on before I am too old to remember. I am too old to go out very far, but I can show you where the Camp Verde Meteorite was found, And the area the locals call The Teepees, which is an exposed area of dormant volcano vents and bubble mud pots

A new watcher here by way of Trek Planner. He encouraged his viewers to check your videos out. Signing up was the thing to do!😊

Hi from the UK.Nice to see some of Americas "NON EXISTENT" history coming to light. Keep looking and I'll keep watching, I'm getting too old for all that hiking but still want the thrill of seeing old places. There's something about them that you can feel. Man! You should try crawling into a neolithic long barrow or solstice at Stonehenge. I miss that feeling but it's good to be able to watch someone else experience it.

Having lived in the desert, the temperature can drop quickly once the sun goes down. The black lava can radiate heat in those conditions for a while even without a fire.

It's pretty obvious to me that the high presence of pottery on the ground suggests that the blackened surface of the rock cave was a kiln oven for firing the beautiful ceramics found at the site.

Just found your videos. Enjoying them and the respect that you have for the ancient people that lived here.

It's a federal crime to remove any broken pots you may find, but in the blink of an eye, those same people would kick you off your land and take everything you got because of a find of gold or or any other minerals they find themselves wanting.

I find it quite moving, looking at those broken pieces of pots: makes me think of the hands that shaped, baked, decorated, and then used them. Imagine your own favourite coffee mug being found hundreds of years in the future 😊

@ Desert.Drifter awesome hike! Keep the videos coming & stay safe out there.

It's a shame that this kind of ruin cannot be found in the eastern US. There were many native dwellings there too. The trouble is they were built from wood instead of stone and were built in areas that were forested. They became completely obliterated over the centuries. Some mounds still exist but many were destroyed by farming.

Thanks for your respectful visit I find most informative. The landscape is ancient lava flows, mostly a'a lava,the crunchy kind. The pit houses remind me of similar structures on Haleakala Maui summit. I think they brought the matate with them since it had to be made from a hard rock. Perhaps it housed hunting parties for short time habitat. The orange pottery shard indicates to me that trading was going on as many tribes made and traded with each other. I am also a subscriber to Trek Planner. I am 84, no longer a hiker or backpacker, so am using your videos and Trek Planner's and some others from all around the globe to continue to explore. Thanks a lot. Oakland CA

I've said it before but I sure appreciate the fact you leave these things where you find them for others to enjoy the same thing !! 💯😁👍

Those dry-stacked walls were impressive, and the pottery shard were beautiful. Can't wait for your return there. Thank you!

I lived very close to this spot for a decade, but didn't have a car so never explored it apart from Google Maps and Google Earth. It's fascinating to see this video and get close-ups as to what's there.

11:47 Next to the painted NA __34, to the left, there is a metal tag staked into the wall (02-3758). I'm wondering if this is a cataloged site.

NA 2734 is a range and township survey, so presumably this area has been surveyed my the US Coast and Geodetic Survey.

I never knew... until maybe a year or so ago, that NM and AZ have a LOT of volcanos. Even Shiprock NM is an extinct Volcano. NM also has a very large caldera (Valles Caldera at 35°52'17.62"N, 106°31'53.17"W ).

It reminds me of the neo-lithic settlement Skara Brae , on Ireland's Orkney islands. They were pit houses made of stone and probably at one time covered by sod or skins, it was the best way to build, on an island with no trees, and constant wind right off the ocean. It would have kept them warm and dry, being mostly underground. Also I'm reminded of a neanderthal settlement found in Ukraine, that was built out of mammoth bones, tusks and skins. Of course the skins are long gone but the mammoth bones and tusks remain. People will utilize whatever they can to build a shelter or home, when trees are not readily available. Pit houses are excellent at keeping people covered, and warm in the winter and cool 5:09 😢 in the summer. People in Russia and Ukraine, still to this day build "pit houses" or "dugouts '", made out of logs in the forests of Siberia and other brutally cold places, being just about all the way under the ground, and packed with snow tightly to the log and sod covered roofs, keep the small homes, with "Russian stoves" very insulated and warm during the winter and cool and comfortable in the summer. When looking at these walls of black hardened lava, it's easy to picture pit like houses that, probably had sod or skin covered roofs and have been filled in over time. There would be no better way to house your family in an area with no trees and with almost constant wind. When there are no trees to block the wind it would be hard to keep their homes at a good temperature, and also hard to keep fires contained. The pottery is truly remarkable, such a huge variety. At first i thought maybe were just passing through that area, looking for another, and stayed awhile, but theres so much pottery it looks like people were there for awhile! Neat. I'm new to your channel btw, and I've been binge watching. I just love the sights you take us all to, and I also respect you so much for constantly reminding viewers, that if they are able to figure out the where you visited, to please, not touch, vandalize, or steal any of the remnants left behind by these ancient folks from so long ago. Leave it be for history sake, and for others to be able to enjoy it for another century or hopefully a millenia. Thank you so much for your channel, and all that you teach your viewers!!❤️🌎

i lived in pinetop, AZ for a year, and the malipie (i spelled it phonetically) is all over the ground. it is a very dense volcanic rock. also, very heavy. my sister lives in dolores, CO right now. almost in the shadow of mesa verde. there is SO MUCH pottery sherds that the state cant catalog them all. 100s of 1,000s or even millions of pieces everywhere. my nephew was building his house and dug up the largest metate (sp?) i have ever seen. then when he was laying down pipes for a sprinkler system again w/ the pottery. and the stone points and 'oh shits' and knapped bits were also everywhere. my husband is a flint knapper. he is pretty darned good at it too. thanks for all the info youve given us. wonderful to see those places. ive been up to mesa verde a couple of times. and camped all over the states of UT, AZ, and NM as a kid. i miss it. just not the living there bit. as so. calif. was our base at the time. and i cant imagine ever living out west again. im too old to move again (74). keep it up dear one and stay safe.

Great find! I am so impressed with how respectful you are when exploring ruins. Happy to subscribe for the very reason

I never expected to see lava rock being used to build structures. It's so rough, hurts just looking at it! 😅 Thank you for sharing such an awesome place!

A lot of these half wall structures found in open ranges and mountains like this are hunting blinds.... Natives built a small wall to hide behind until their prey walked close enough to spear or arrow.

Just came upon your videos recently. I'm envious of your proximity to areas that provide such great adventures and appreciate the eloquence with which you describe them.

Just love your videos so far. I watched them all this morning and can't wait for the next one. I think you are touching something in a lot of people that would love to be out there doing the exploring also, but circumstances whatever they are, prevent them from doing so. We can explore vicariously through you. Thank You! Your videos look good , buuuuut they would be great in 4K!

That was totally amazing. All those shards of pottery with different patterns on them, and the formed rock piece you found was definitely used for what you figured. I love these hikes with you, you always find wonderful areas with some historic value, and this one far surpasses videos of yours. I'm a senior citizen with mobility issues and by watching you on these hikes are almost like being there with you. Thanks so much for the ride!

I saw the numbers (and the plate), and the information for the site is definitely recorded somewhere - usually site numbers start with letters for the state (and/or county) and the number is usually assigned by state authorities (at least in the states I'm familiar with). I suspect that you would find a source of water nearby... within reasonable walking distance and maybe even a clay source (although that may be further away). Since we've had climatic changes, the source of water may have been dried up, but the evidence for it would be there. Based on what I saw (I'm an archaeologist), I also think the site may be bigger than just a few houses/structures, and you did catch several just in the little exploration you did in that area. I also noted one rock which suggested to me that there was also the possibility of an obsidian source within reasonable distance (closer examination would have confirmed or disproved my thinking). I'd have been interested if any other lithic artifacts were noted at the site - the metate was a good find and could be a very good source of information about diet (if taken to a lab). We've extracted both plant and animal remains (microscopic) from chert and obsidian artifacts which told us what the diet was like, and a metate would likely have plenty of phytoliths and other microscopic grains based on what was ground in it. Here's a tip for everyone - if you find a site and it's not numbered or there is no information available, recording and reporting the site has been found to be the best way to preserve it. We have had huge problems with looters trying to dig up bones and artifacts to sell on the black market, and at least in the Southeast, recording and even putting up signs and so on tended to protect the site, much more than just keeping it a secret. The more public the site is, the less it's likely to be looted. I've been shown sites that were not well known (or hidden) and which had been looted - it looked like a moonscape and I understand there was evidence that the looters were robbing graves. (One site had signs posted, but since it was hard to get to the site, the looters struck anyway, even right behind the sign. It was heartbreaking to see.) The states have official archaeologists, and even bureaucracies for recording sites and dealing with information, and if you get GPS coordinates, they can quickly find out if the site has been recorded or not. Even a rough idea of how big the site is and some basic characteristics (such as mounds present, etc.) would be highly valuable - general survey type information which would be appreciated. I'd suggest carrying a camera, a GPS unit, and some way of taking and recording a few notes if there was any possibility that you'd find a site like this. (Just avoid disturbing the site as much as possible - even small changes like changing the position of an artifact could eliminate some useful information!)

Digging your content 👍🏻. First time I’ve ever seen these kind of dwellings in volcanic rock. It looked like there were big chunks of terracotta colored pottery next to the broken metate you found. Cool stuff!

@Desert Drifter: I am certain the hand painted numbers are NA 2739 or 2734. They remind me of a federal or military topographical grid coordinate system on a 1:50,000 map. If true, it would identify a specific 1 kilometer grid square on a federally printed map. This coupled with the metal tag @federicolier has spotted would probably reveal a lot of information. Without knowing where you are at, I would contact the National Park Service as a beginning point. Please follow up and let us know what you discover.

I am an archaeologist in Hawaii and all our sites look just like this.

Love your videos ..the presence of broken pottery means it is a disposal area ...when one dies, they would journey north to an area where they break one's pottery so it could never be used again.

very cool. I can't imagine living in this terrain. The sandstone areas of the Puebloans is a bit understandable, but the stones here are jagged and unfriendly. But people lived here. Amazing.

NA39 is the site number for the archaeological site. In the early 20th century, site numbers were occasionally placed on the site in especially confusing countryside. There are hundreds of sites in these lava fields, some pit houses and some above ground pueblos.

You have a great eye for artifacts. I was thinking all that grinding in lava rocks and sandstone... Can you imagine the damage to teeth and gut?

Can't wait for you to come back into the area. Im curious if the near by ice caves have anything to do with the variety of pottery. Could be some sort of trading post?

You are so very fortunate to live in an area of tremendous geological beauty. I live near Ottawa in Canada and there isn't much of anything to explore up here.

Outstanding video- very informative

Great video! Those rock walls are amazing. The size of the stones, and the technique is incredible. I think, they are every bit of 800 years old, judging by the condition of the rocks. You were literally, walking in thick piles, of the crumbled walls. Amazing!

Whenever I found large variations of pottery in an area, I thought it was a gathering place where different tribes got together for trade or had a party.

Love your videos! I live in the Midwest. We find artifacts like stone tools and some pottery from the Mississippian Culture in the farm fields and creeks. There are absolutely no remains of structures of any kind.

Government is pretty picky. We had to jog a fence almost a quarter mile to avoid where they thought an old sheepherder MIGHT have been buried. Nothing marked anywhere. I have no idea how they thought they knew.

Love these discovery hikes. Maybe you could give them an index reference, numbered, or date so I can keep track of those that I have already watched. Gracias

I am half Native so your videos just touch my soul ❤ thank you for showing us this amazing content.

There’s an episode of the QAA podcast that describes the experience of a hiker in Moab climbing to a ridge and seeing a long chain of headlights into the distance as thousands of gawkers, hikers and RU-vidrs descended upon Moab after the discovery of “the monolith” in 2020. The ambiguity of the locations of your hikes shows a lot of respect for the land.

Ive spent alot of time in that same general area on horseback when i was a kid in the 70s. Found so many amazing things. Great vid ! brings back wonderful memories.

We r from the state of Arizona & we found ur channels r very intersesting & we r sooo glued to it. U hv such patients & just awesome to watch more...❣️✨🌹💫🌹✨🌹👍👍👍👍

12:49 I find it very interesting the pottery you find in a cinder environment. There must have been travel and trade to obtain pottery.

Fairly certain I recognize this area. If I'm right, you should check out the petroglyphs NW of there, north of the city to the West. I'll keep the actual names and sites unspoken, though. (That area you're in for this video, if it's the one I'm thinking of, is still hundreds of square miles, but I see the effort you're going to in order to keep them as unspoiled as possible, and I respect that) Some of those rock structures though, could also be old range shelters from cowboys themselves, and not from ancient Amerinds. (The trash scattered around is a clue - pottery for ancients, steel cans for cowboys! 😂)

NA 1739 at time mark 11:46 note the metal marker tag 02-3258, that should be easy to look up.

I have found a similar man-made structure, built out of lava, in the Malpais, in northern NM. There are flakes of worked rock, smoke blackened sandstone, places that must have been used for storage. It is not on any map and I have not been able to get anyone interested in it. Glad to know there are other places like this.

Metal tag on a spike that's pounded into a rock crack @ 11:44.

I've recently subscribed and do enjoy your content. I know you're finding random places to investigate, but I'd really like to hear you give a general area of where you are, just out of curiosity. Keep up the great work..

Just started watching your videos and I love the places you’ve been of the ones I’ve seen. This one is special to me because I’m intimately familiar with Casa Malpais in Springerville, AZ. It is a site built at the edge of a lava flow, entirely of lava. If you are inclined you can tour the site and visit the museum in town. There is a structure similar to the first one in your video on top of the Coyote Hill shield volcano nearby, accessible by dirt road, on public land. So much to explore in that area!

I so enjoy your videos,, and your mannerisms and respect for the places you go. I wonder where the ancients got water in places like these. I visited Canyon of the Ancients years ago and on the hike to the visitors center, a plaque said the people usually didn’t live long lives. Always fascinated by them.

All those different kinds of pottery in that onepit house... That place may have been used over long stretches of time. and by many different families. I love watching archeology blogs. But I sure have taken our American past for granted! Thanks for your service. LOL.

I always start my morning off with one of your videos. Thanks for making them. I'm not an expert but in this video what you may have found is a crossroad site of trade! Judging from the many different styles of pottery there. That is very cool!! It would make sense to have a trade site away from your main home land for safety concerns. The ancient people were wise in many ways.

If you find lots of broken pottery, different kinds, shapes, colors patterns, etc. in a localized area it usually means it is a ceremonial site or formally a burial site. FYI.

Superb adventure, thanks for taking us along 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇺🇸

NA 2734 is a National Archaeological site number. They don't mark sites like this anymore. Sometimes they still tag a site like the metal tag at 11:20 or put up a flippy, but everything is GPS now.

You can pick up a arrowhead. When the law was being considered pres carter objected saying why can’t I pick up a arrowhead. They made that one exception.

Na 2734 on rock is a marker labeling the type of material and rock type . Corrosive or flammable liquid gas from a volcanic eruption. That's what I found while googling. Magmatic CU-NI-PGE au sulfide mineralization. The images of diagrams showing how the magma comes up out the ground and it shows the oceanic crust in the ground and gow that effects the formation of rocks once cooled above surface. Very cool

If you're in certain areas of the state of Idaho, there were skirmishes - battles - fought between the U.S. Cavalry and various Native American tribes in some of the lava fields in that state. There was the Shoshone-Bannock-Paiute tribes' successful battle against the U.S. Cavalry in the Three Forks area - the Owyhee River, the Nez Pierce tribes' battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Idaho's Cottonwood Canon area, and the Shoshone people's occupation of the Craters of the Moon area for thousands of years, according to the National Parks Service information located at the Craters of the Moon National Monument.

I’ve enjoyed a number of exploring & hiking videos based out there where you’ve been drifting. But I’m always left wanting to know more about those lost ones who left only mute stones and sherds to mark their passing. I would love to see a video with the results of your research.

Love your channel. I worked for a state park in the south. We were trained to spot 'burned rock middens' by the sharpness of a rock - when it cracked from the cooking fire.

Arizona! Sunset Crater-Flagstaff! It looks so prehistoric you’d expect dinosaurs!

Wonderful info. You are what I want to be in my next time around. I feel the same as your previous viewer. Getting to old to go myself and happy that you do the trekking. Thanks

Love this! All that black jutting rock is so beautiful. It's fascinating to see all the variety of pottery.

Just dicovered your channel yesterday and loving your videos. Thank you very much for taking the time to share these fantasic discoveries. I would love you to get yourself a small tent therefore no need to race the sun. God bless you brother.

Feels like a ceremonial spot given the variety of pottery possibly offerings

I recently discovered, I am already completely addicted to your videos

It took 1 video for me to subscribe. This is historically awesome

Catching up. Always worth the effort searching these old episodes.

It's good someone is finding these sites & has GPS coordinates & images of some of the pottery. At least there's some record.

Your last site on this video is incredible. At a distance it appears to be a dragon sculpture.

On your video “This Was A Bizarre Discovery”. Just after you show the white colored “graffiti” there appeared a metal tag with writing engraved on it! You made no mention of it in the video? Did you see it? I love your videos and your perspectives on your experiences!!! Thank you for promoting good stewardship of our fragile past, artifacts and natural features!

Thanks again for sharing amazing country.

I think those piles of volcanic rock in a circle (that are not man-made) may be the remains of ancient volcanic vents. I have seen many of those in New Mexico. You might want to look into that. New Mexico had a lot of volcanic activity many thousands of years ago.

This is mind blowing. Looks like these humans lived in perfect harmony with nature.

I watch Jeff's videos. Yours are purty good. When you are out there you might think about where the nearest water is, and where the nearest potential corn field is. These may have been traveler's points of rest.

What a fascinating life you have created for yourself! And what a find that is!! Thanks for sharing the experience with those of us who love these kinds of explorations. As a kid (I'm now nearly 80), I used to accompany my dad, a renowned botanist, on field trips like this to lots of new and uncharted territories. Lucky to have lived my whole life in the Southwestern area. I miss those trips now, but you bring back some grand memories. Thank you!

Beautiful and strange. I think the people who lived there had lots of skinned knees and elbows, and probably knots on their heads.

Goodness - I've been to Craters of The Moon & what an inhospitable place - not saying this is there, but I can't think what would compel people to live in such an environment - it is really curious. I could imagine small game hunting, but the amount of pottery indicates more than transitory visitations - and do we know if this is older than 250-yrs ago, or is it since settler times, indicating people might have moved in when pushed off their traditional lands? Super interesting, I never would have thought to look for ancient artifacts in such a harsh landscape - does give one even more cause to be Impressed by these incredible peoples. Thanks for sharing and educating us.

taking all of us back in time...what a way to travel...

I just came across your channel an hour ago. It was your video before this one that showed up in my recommended feed. Ya get a Sub from me.👍 These places are amazing, especially to imagine it during its time when it was inhabited. I can just picture all the people milling around, going about their day. I think they had it right all along. No hour and a half commute everyday, stuck in gridlock traffic 6 days a week to go work a menial job ya hate for 10 hours a day just so you can afford an apartment your never in, to pack it with a bunch’a sh** ya never use. Hey Andrew, if ya ever find one of those ruins still habitable, let me know…will ya? Lol.

Still exploring your videos And it's realy cool seeing artifacts from so long ago Keep up the great work Fireman 🔥🔥🔥👍

Thanks for all the history

i have never visited the area that you are presently visiting....very interesting.....I immediately thought defensive structures....all of the structures are on very difficult to access ledges, shelves of rock, etc.. ....a high place that would be difficult to access and require some time to reach, a lot of noise from falling rocks, etc....and would give the occupants a warning that they were being invaded....So, why would the occupants of ALL of these cliff dwellings deem it necessary to live in/on such a protected place???..Some time back it was that I glanced through an article re the struggle of the Anasazi or other (?) peoples who lived in this place, a place so difficult to grow anything...dry....excessive heat and cold.....that securing sufficient proteins to be able to live and function was very difficult. So the author of the article suggested that cannibalism had become a necessity for life to continue and to acquire victims, meant raids on other dwellings..In addition, I recall that some of the skeletal remains showed marks of having been carved up with primitive type blades...I do not know ifg this opinion of mine is correct or not....only GOD knows.....but let's hope that I am incorrect in my assumptions....LIFE is difficult in a city, a desert or a jungle.....

SunEarthDays channel put out a video on Medicine WheelBigHorns Mtns. It explains (their reasoning) on Medicine wheel in Wyoming if you're interested. I found this video of yours and can't find the recent one I just watched. Interesting. The circle of rocks that you found, could it be another Stone Henge? Probably not but could be. The Medicine Wheel I saw was also at the top of the tallest mountain . It might have been this one they show in the video. I had just read about it in a book, one of hundreds I read then that have been burned up in 1993 fire. Such interesting videos you publish.

Making a dream a reality. Thank you for inviting us along✨🌟✨

Love the shack photo. You have a real instinct for composition.