El Morro National Monument

El Morro National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about 200 kilometers west of Albuquerque in the northwest of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The central element of the National Monuments is the Inscription rock ( Inscription Rock ), a gigantic rock formation in the otherwise very flat desert landscape already stands out from all directions from a distance the eye. Of this name also derived: as morro is in Spanish a prominent rock that serves as a reference point, respectively.

This fact and a natural pool of water at its base owes El Morro, that for centuries made ​​all kinds of travelers in its shadow locking or her camp pitched. Giving In an effort to witness to their presence, engraved over the last few centuries, more than 2,000 travelers their name, date, or their stories into the sandstone rock of the Inscription.

The people of the Zuni, the direct descendants of the Anasazi called the rock massif A'ts'ina (place of rock inscriptions ), the Spanish El Morro ( headland ), the Americans finally coined the term Inscription rock. The unifying element of these groups is that they all have engraved traces of their presence ( carvings ) left behind on the edges of the rock.

History

The Inscription Rock in the El Morro National Monument is located on a geographically established for centuries east-west axis through the territory of present-day New Mexico.

About 2,000 years ago, the people of the Anasazi began to settle down, and over time the first settlements were made in this area. The remains of these settlements are still scattered throughout the southwestern United States. Also on the plateau of El Morro National Monument, there are remains of settlements of this culture. Long before Europeans reached the area for the first time, the Native Americans had already begun to make rock carvings ( petroglyphs ) in the area of ​​today's National Monuments.

As the first witness of a European in the El Morro National Monument is considered the inscription of the Spanish Conquistadores Don Juan de Oñate from 1605: Pasó por a [ qu ] í, el adelantado Don J [ua ] n de Oñate del mar del sur de la descubrimiento a 16 de Abril de 1605 ( mutatis mutandis: Here Don Juan de Oñate took on a South Sea expedition on April 16, 1605 over).

But the story of the inscriptions on Inscription rock had only just begun. More than two centuries later, in 1849, James H. Simpson and Richard visited core in the course of an army expedition to this area and the Inscription rock. They were impressed by the already existing inscriptions at that time so that they were spending two full days to sign off on this and archive. Simpson report and core drawings were the first written records of the rock. Soon, was a well known Siedlerweg to California known as El Morro route. Over the next few decades made ​​more frequently American travelers stop at El Morro. These included settlers, researchers, military personnel and an advance party of the Union Pacific Railroad.

A special episode represents the visit of P. Gilmer Breckinridge, Henry C. Wayne and Edward F. Beale from 1859 dar. In the experiment, the problem of lack of water supply to solve on the way between the Mississippi and California, they had on behalf of the U.S. Army in Egypt and Turkey, bought numerous camels. With these they wanted to prove that the use of camels in the southwestern United States had significant advantages over the use of the usual draft animals. As the trail in December this year arrived in Los Angeles, he sparked tumultariges stir. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, but also went this chapter of American history to an end.

The National Monument

On December 8, 1906, the Inscription skirt and a surrounding area of ​​approximately 486 him hectares was declared simultaneously with the Montezuma Castle in Arizona by President Theodore Roosevelt National Monument. Since that time, it is forbidden by federal law to bring inscriptions on rocks within the area. The National Park Service has, however, leave a small rock placed at the entrance of the visitor center, where it is expressly allowed.

Pueblo Atsinna

On the flat surface of Inscription Rock is located the exposed only to a small part of Pueblo Atsinna. The settlement began around 400 as pit houses situated in the vicinity. Around 1250, small settlements were built on the rock, presumably because residents of the region because of deteriorating weather conditions in parts subjected to higher ground, where stronger precipitation was expected. Atsinna arose when the smaller pueblos were abandoned after 1275 in favor of Atsinna. Atsinna consisted of two concentric squares together with more than 500 rooms around a large central courtyard. Since no inputs were available from the outside, you could only reach by ladder into the Pueblo. During archaeological investigations by Richard B. Woodbury in 1950 a complex water supply was found that fed on natural rock wells and artificial reservoirs. Soon after 1300 also Atsinna was abandoned and its residents moved to their former settlements near Zuni.