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El Morro National Monument stands 200 feet
above the valley floor, a massive sandstone bluff with a dependable
desert waterhole hidden at its base. El Morro (or Inscription Rock)
was an important landmark for travelers and a popular campsite. Petroglyphs
were carved into the rock by Ancestral Puebloans living on top of the
bluff as early as 700 years ago. Spanish explorers camped here in the
late 1500’s, and while they rested there and filled their water-skins
from the pool, many carved their signatures, along with dates and other
messages, next to the Native American petroglyphs. Later, Americans
passed by El Morro on their western expansion and added their own inscriptions.
Today, El Morro National Monument preserves more than 2,000 inscriptions
and petroglyphs, as well as the Ancestral Puebloan ruins.
The Inscription Trail is a .5 mile loop past 700 years of some of the
world’s most fascinating graphitti; it is paved and wheelchair
accessible (with assistance). The Mesa Top Trail takes about 1 ½
hours to complete and leads to the Ancestral Puebloan ruin called Atsinna,
the “place of writings on rock”. From around 1275 to 1350
AD approximately 1500 people lived in this strategically placed, 875
room pueblo. |
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