Inside a Kiva at Salmon Ruins, Chaco Great House Outlier in New Mexico in the American Southwest

2 miles west of Bloomfield in #NewMexico in #TheAmericanSouthwest is the Chacoan Great House Outlier of Salmon Ruins with a tower kiva, burned corn & bodies, and 1.5 million recovered artifacts. From the Visitor Center, a short but steep path leads you down to the Heritage Park & the Ruins themselves. The trail winds you around the great walls, down into a tower kiva, & through the room blocks & smaller kivas of the site. The tower kiva & the Great Kiva are truly spectacular. At the Heritage Park located opposite the ruins, you can also see an Old Homestead, Navajo Hogans, Ute Wikiups, an Ancient One’s pithouse, a Pueblo I era ruin recreation, an old Trading Post, & more. The Great Kiva has been backfilled but you can see, especially if you’re familiar with Aztec Ruins, the sheer size that the structure once was. Mesoamerican Chocolate and Macaw Birds were found at the site.The ruins, 45 miles north of Chaco, was chosen because of the San Juan River & its importance on the Chaco Meridian, that straight line from Paquime to Chaco to Aztec & beyond. In the 1100s, this site was being expanded upon greatly. That coincides with the growing of Chaco. There are also 28 other Great Houses nearby, which is a surprisingly low number for this type of Chacoan Outlier community. In reality, 4 rooms built in the 1060s were the beginning of construction at the pueblo when the people transitioned from pit houses to above ground unit pueblos as the people came together. At the time of its construction, it was actually the largest Chacoan Great House Outlier. It’s possible 200-300 people lived at the site that contained over 200 rooms & many three story structures. Interestingly, Kokopelli figures have been found at the site, making a rather early appearance for the trickster caricature. It was abandoned after the Anasazi Civil War but reoccupied by Mesa Verdeans who added construction & their flourishes to the Great House Pueblo. They too abandoned it after a fire of burned corn in the 1280s. In that fire, 20 children & a few adults remains were cremated. There is debate about wether they were already dead or if they were still alive when the fire consumed them. Afterwards, the survivors would end up travelling east towards the Rio Grande Valley. The ruins then sat in silence until the 1970s. It is known as Salmon (Sal-mon with the L) Ruins because of George Salmon of the 1890s. Interestingly, he married a woman from the Old Spanish New Mexican stock. Thankfully, the Salmon family helped preserve the ruins that would prove a very interesting site.