23k yr old footprints and 32 more Native American Ruin Sites in the 4 Corners and mid-west.

Описание: Another in depth travel and information guide. In this one we trace the progress of the first Native Americans starting 23,000 years ago with Human Footprints next to Mastodons and saber tooth cats! We then see early pit houses and 21,000 rock carvings. We visit a lava field where tools could be made before heading to Chaco Canyon- center of power from 800-1250, and its magnificent multi-story stone buildings with up to 600 rooms. We'll learn why they were made based on PhD Steve Lekson's research-- hint they are palaces! After Chaco's decline the site in Aztec New Mexico became the power center. There we enter their superbly reconstructed great Kiva- the best in North America! Then we see the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park and Bandelier National Monument which were occupied till about 1300. Then, we go to Acoma Pueblo which is the oldest continually occupied settlement in the US. I meet a native wearing his prized Washington Redskins cap. In the Four Corners we visit Hovenweep in Utah- to see the finest stonework of the age. Then, we head south to Arizona and Canyon de Chelly for hike to Whitehouse Ruin. Around 1300 many 4 Corner sites were abandoned.
Many of you have heard of those sites, I also show you many small sites in remote places that better represent how the average person lived 800 years ago. I take you to small alcoves in Canyonlands NP’s uncrowded Needles district and we’ll hike to the fabulous House on fire.
Perhaps its not a coincidence the population near the Rio Grande grew. Near Albuquerque, we explore an adobe settlement visited, and possibly sacked, by Coronado in 1540. In 1621 the Spanish forced the Pueblo people to build a church at Jemez- its still in fine shape. The Spanish began an unhappy chapter, but things got worse after 1848 when the area was ceded to the USA.
This is not just a southwest story. I also take you Cahokia Mounds State Park in Illinois. It’s laid out like a Mayan city and in the 1200s it had more people than any city in Europe. By 1300 It too had collapsed and was abandoned. Why? Climate change?
To see how they dealt with cold, I take you to North Dakota to see a Mandan and Hidatsa Village of Mud Lodges. Lewis and Clark stayed with them in 1804-05. We see their Fort and see where Sacagawea lived before she journeyed with them to the Pacific.
The age of native dominance ended in the late 1800s when America Built Forts to protect settlers. We go to General Custers Fort and see his house.
Our story concludes in 1891. 40 years after the US built a Fort along an old trade route called the Santa Fe Trail. It seems a fitting place to end our Road trip. We tour the ruins of old Fort Union which ironically are in worse shape than the 800 year old building the Indians built.

00:00 Intro
6:44 3 Rivers
9:20 Valle Grande
10:16 Bandelier Nat. Mon.
14:00 Chaco Canyon
20:26 Aztec Ruins Nat Mon
34:27 Mesa Verde National Park
38:37 Canyon of the Ancients
43:28 Canyon de Chelly
49:59 Petrified Forest National Park
52:54 Wupatki Nat Mon
1:02:49 Wolfman Panel
1:09:35 Canyonlands Needles District
1:11:30 Acoma Pueblo
1:13:08 Petroglyph Nat Mon
1:19:20 Coronado Historic Site
1:21:18 Cahokia Mounds
1:25:33 Mandan Hidatsa village
1:36:31 Sacagawea village
1:36:31 Gen. Custer’s House