The ancient pueblo at Aztec Ruins National Monument may have been built as a later rival to Chaco Canyon, or it may have been a destination for the migrating Chaco elite escaping Chaco's heavy drought in the 1100s.
My interest in Aztec was more practical. My fiancee was seeing it for the first time, and had to approve it as the site for our wedding. We also needed to meet with NPS rangers to make our case for a special use permit.
I was lucky - my fiancee loved the place, the NPS approved the permit, and I photographed the Ruin and Great Kiva <http://www.activelightphotography.com/New_Mexico_travel/Anasazi_Ruins/Aztec_Ruins_National_Monument_west_ruin2/> with better equipment than I'd had on my last visit in 2003. Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/nt96brIt's pretty well established that the Hopi are descendants of the Anasazi. Three Hopi elders were in the kiva when we were. They were polite, and talked about the continued ceremonial use of Ancestral Puebloan sites, and the proposed development they were trying to stop on sacred land at the San Francisco Peaks.
When we mentioned we were planning our wedding there, one of them said, "So you're getting married in our kiva. When is that happening?" The wedding will take place during regular hours for the Monument, so I won't be surprised if they show up...
All comments welcome. -- Mark Bohrer Active Light Photography www.activelightphotography.com Any Activity. Any Location. Your Story.
