Under The Western Sky

She peered in the direction he pointed as he drove slowly along the canyon. “Yes.”

“It’s four or five stories high and has over six hundred rooms and forty kivas, which were ceremonial chambers. The whole settlement was planned and executed in stages. Can you imagine the knowledge in engineering, architecture and masonry required for such an undertaking?”

“All without powered tools,” she added.

“Yes.”

“What happened to the people who lived here?”

“They’re still around. The Pueblos and Hopi have oral histories of migrations from this area. The Navajo, although they aren’t considered Puebloan, also trace some of their clans back to Chaco.”

Julianne stared at the ruins and imagined the bustling community going about its daily business. Although the park wasn’t crowded, she noticed two groups of people being led through the stone rooms by park rangers. One of the rangers spotted them and waved. Tony waved back.

The road became increasingly rutted. She held on to the grip above her head and tightened her seat belt.

“Not long now,” Tony said.

They arrived at the end of the dirt road. He parked under the shade of a tree and waited at the front of the SUV for her to join him. He held the No Admittance tape up while they ducked under it.

After walking up a shallow arroyo they came upon a cliff. It was not as high as the one back at the village but beautiful in its pastel desert colors. She could see the stone buildings partially revealed under the talus that had fallen on the dwellings over a long period of time.

A shiver danced down her spine as she realized they were the only two living people there. The wind whispered through a copse of willows and cottonwoods, sounding like the sibilant groans of ghosts who still occupied the site.

“You hear it, too,” he said.

“What?”

“The voices of the dead.”

The hair stood up on her arms. She rubbed the chill away and stepped out of the shadow of the trees into the sun. “It’s an eerie place.” She spoke in a soft voice.

He nodded. “Come on.”

Taking her hand in his big warm one, he led the way over the rocky debris. She was glad she had on sturdy sneakers. The going was treacherous.

At the archeological dig, string marked depths and boundaries that had been explored. Tony muttered a curse.

“Anyone could walk in here and take anything they wanted,” he said in disgust. “I told the site manager they needed evening and morning surveillance at the very least.”

Around the side of the cliff, out of sight of the main research area, they found another pile of displaced stones. It was obviously the work of thieves, the digging showing signs of being hurried, the culprits uncaring of those items they destroyed in the process. Tony picked up several pieces and fitted them together into a partial vase. His face took on a grim expression.

Julianne laid a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged before carefully wrapping the pieces in the shirt he removed, then he trudged on.

She couldn’t help admiring the portrait he presented against the rugged landscape. He was built like one of the wild mustangs that roamed the West—lean but muscular, streamlined as one should be who raced the wind….

“The local tribes have been advising us on the excavating,” he said after a couple of minutes of silence. “They believe each thing has its time. When that time is finished, whether for a village, tree, animal or person, it should be left to return to the earth. We’re doing a very limited exploration here, then we’ll backfill the ruins and leave them at rest.”

They explored a couple of rooms that had been cleared before he unlocked a nearby trailer that held mostly potsherds and flint tools. There were photos of a few preserved baskets.

“Don’t touch anything,” he warned. “This site predates construction of the great houses,” he explained. “It’s an example of the early villages as clans moved into the canyon. It’s called the Basket-makers III period. The name comes from the Pecos classification of Pueblo cultures.”

“Isn’t it unusual to find so many intact utensils?” she asked, looking the treasures over and resisting the urge to pick them up for a closer study.

“Yes. I think the people abandoned the site due to a significant rock fall. Lots of stuff got buried.”