Bandelier National Monument is 48 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It has some of the most magnificent landscapes in Northern Mexico. The ancient Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings as shown in the photos below make it an interesting journey into the past.

(Mouse over the images to reveal roll-over photos).

A huge volcano that was active hundreds of thousands of years ago left ash deposits hundreds of feet thick. The ash deposits solidified into soft rock, which was easily cut by the action of the flowing water into steep canyons . The cliff faces developed many natural caves, which the natives used as shelter.

The Pueblo culture originated in the Four Corners Area (where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado Meet). The natives called "Tsankawi" occupied the Bandelier area for nearly 500 years.

They found that the soft rock could be easily dug out into larger caves, some of which were linked together into large apartments with several rooms.

Eventually, the community constructed a circular village of adobe buildings down below the cliffs. It's estimated that several hundred people lived here in the 1400's. The village is called Tyuonyi, on the floor of the Frijoles Canyon. This was a communal pueblo built around 700 years ago by the early inhabitants of Frijoles Canyon along the base of the cliff. It is believed that the pueblo was likely to be a multi-story structure.

This Pueblo settlement was abandoned in the 1500's. The reason is uncertain. Perhaps the population grew beyond the ability of the land to support their hunting and farming lifestyle. Or perhaps the arrival of Spanish explorers in the early 1500's caused some sort of crisis. There is a native community about 10 miles away who trace their ancestry through legends and stories to the people who once lived in this area.