In the Shadow of the Rocks - Archaeology of the Chimney Rock District in Sputhern Colorado

138 Pages Indexed. Light wear to front cover. No other defects noted and the interior text pages are near flawless. In 1970, 3,160 acres of the Pagosa district of the San Juan National Forest were set aside as the Chimney Rock Archeological Area, making it the largest high-mountain archaeological zone in the national forest system. It is situated within the boundaries of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation and is a special precinct to these Native Americans. Also in 1970, a 960-acre block of land containing the greatest concentration of prehistoric remains in the national forest system was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Subsequently, an intensive National Park Service/University of New Mexico research project in Chaco Canyon National Monument underscored the connection of the major Chimney Rock site to a pan-San Juan Basin Chacoan system, and legislation was put before Congress to add the Chimney Rock Archeological Area to the Chaco Archeological Protection Site System. These various designations are part of long-term programs to protect the antiquities and make them available to the public through development of visitor facilities and understandable through interpretive materials. The southern base of the pinnacles of Companion and Chimney rocks has the added value of being an aerie of peregrine falcons. These birds of prey typically nest at the top of high talus slopes having ledges with gravel or soil into which depressions for eggs can be scraped. The protection of this endangered species and its habitat is a second mission incorporated into the area's management. This publication necessarily goes beyond the territory immediately surrounding Chimney Rock in order to establish the cultural back- ground from which the local expression evolved and to carry interpretation through to modem historic occupations. Two thousand years of human history are represented.…