White House Ruins

by Debby Pueschel

Title

White House Ruins

Artist

Debby Pueschel

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

One of the oldest Anasazi dwellings open to the public are the White House Ruins, a group of stone houses deep in the canyon at the bottom of a 500-foot cliff. These ruins were occupied from about 1060 to 1275 A.D. and are among the oldest existing dwellings to be found in North America.
White House ruins inside Canyon de Chelly, pronounced Tséyiʼ, which means “canyon” or 'in the rock' in the Navajo language, is a stunning ruin of the Anasazi people, the ancestors of the Navajo people. Built inside cave sandstones, these dwellings were used for families or commnities of the Anasazi. More than likely, the reason for the dwellings high in the sandstone cliffs, was one for protection from enemies. Ropes and ladders were used to get in and out of these dwellings. For safety, the ladders and ropes were pulled up at night for total protection.
This one is called White House because of the white colored plaster/paint that was used on the house.
Petroglyphs which seem to be higher or lower than the ruins, are due to the fact that, over the centuries, the canyon floor has dropped due to the washes running through the canyons and causing erosion to occur. The ruins above the canyon ruins, are generally believed to be those of the Anasazi people, and those which are most recent, or below the ruins, are that of the Hopi and Navajo peoples. Regardless of the groups who actually did the drawings, all of the petroglyphs are amazing features of the canyon tours.

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Uploaded

July 15th, 2019

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