As You Enter Yucca House...
Notice the clusters of large arid mounds surrounded by numerous seep springs indicated by a marshy habitat. The two most conspicuous mounds are the largest portions of Yucca House. The most prominent of all the mounds is called "Upper House" which rises 15 to 20 feet above its foundation and dominates many of the surrounding smaller mounds. The only freestanding wall is a portion of the northeast corner of Yucca House called the "Lower House."
At first glance it appears to be isolated by a hundred yards from the Upper House. Yucca House National Monument was built by the ancestors of today's Pueblos and now exists as a monument to the cooperation and stewardship of the natural, cultural, and historical resources.
Yucca House or Aztec Springs?
Once home to some of the ancestors of today's Pueblo people, Yucca House has been known for centuries by the Utes and Navajos who live in the region. Rich oral traditions tie the native people to the land. The first written documentation of Yucca House was by Professor William H. Holmes in 1877 as part of a United States Geological Survey Report. Holmes was humbled and awed as he described a prolific spring surrounded on three sides by the most immense dwelling located to that date. He sketched and drew a general floorplan based upon fallen walls and the piles of stone. Pioneers and ranchers believed that these homes were built by the Aztec people of Mexico. Understandably at that time, Holmes named the building and the spring "Aztec Springs."
Sleeping Ute Mountain forms a breathtaking backdrop for Yucca House. The Ute people call the peak "wíisi-vu káa-vi" in their native tongue meaning "Mountain full of yucca." Similarily the Tewa Pueblo name for Sleeping Ute is Papin (pa, yucca; pin, mountain). After the establishment of Aztec National Monument in Aztec, New Mexico, this site was renamed "Yucca House."
William Holmes' floorplan of Yucca House when first documented in 1877.
For Future Generations...
In 1919, Henry Van Kleek, a Denver pioneer and the original landowner, donated Yucca House to the federal government, hoping that it would be excavated in the near future. On December 19, 1919, Woodrow Wilson set aside Yucca House and the surrounding acreage to be forever preserved and protected. Despite letters urging the National Park Service to excavate the site, a lack of funding, public interest, and accesibility prevented it from being unearthed. Van Kleek sold the surrounding land to the present-day owners Ray and Hallie Ismay in 1921. Yucca House National Monument has been a protected island isolated on all sides by agricultural land for the last 75 years. Yucca House will persist as an undeveloped archeological reserve until the benefits of research outweigh any potentially destructive methods applied. Many of the larger archaeological sites in the region have disappeared through urban development or have been irreparably damaged by vandalism. If or when excavated, it is believed Yucca House will reveal precious knowledge concerning the northern branch of the Ancestral Puebloan culture.
Yucca plants dot the slopes of Sleeping Ute Mountain
Why Not Excavate?
New research is well on its way with the recent 24-acre donation from the Ismay family. They donated a strip of land to facilitate access to Yucca House National Monument. Hallie Ismay modestly proclaimed, "Yucca House is just like it has always been, at least since I've been here. Of course, we have always tried to look after it." When asked if she would like to see Yucca House excavated, she affirmed a sense of preservation and protection. "I'd love to see what is in there, but to me I believe it would be a waste of time and money to do something like full excavation, especially because they have so many other buildings to show how Ancestral Puebloan life was. They should save this one."
Although Yucca House appears to be nothing more than a massive mound of rock and greasewood, a large pueblo lies beneath this vegetation. Very little is known about the site because a meager amount of research has been conducted to date. In 1964 the only free standing wall on the northeast section was stabilized by Mesa Verde's stabilization crew under the supervision of Al Lancaster. Artifacts recoverd from similar sites in the Four Corners region suggest a Pueblo III (1100-1300) period occupation. The Ancestral Puebloan people thrived for nearly seven centuries before they began to leave. Drought, climatic shifts, deforestation, nitrogen depletion of soils, social factors, and over-population all could have contributed to the move southward. The people living on the Colorado Plateau migrated out of the area by 1300. These people adapted to different landscapes and lifestyles, eventually becaming the contemporary Pueblos along the Rio Grande River, in north central New Mexico, and in northern Arizona. The legacy left behind at Yucca House attests to today's enduring Puebloan people and their rich cultural tradition.
Yucca House as a Home...
Yucca House is still a home today. Rattlesnakes, foxes, cottontails, bobcats, mule deer, voles, raptors, ravens, and songbirds frequently use the site because of the abundant water. Look carefully for the cattails and reeds. They indicate a wetter area than the surrounding dry, sandy soil filled with sagebrush, cactus and greasewood. Like any home across the Southwest, the Ancestral Puebloan people built their dwellings around the springs using the water for drinking, making mud mortar, and irrigating crops. Ancestral Puebloan livelihood depended upon their water source.
Visualize
Yucca House as a village surrounded by farmland, watered by the life-giving
spring. Look east and imagine the rising sun as its sustaining rays strike rows
of corn, beans, and squash. See the people tilling out weeds with pointed sticks,
hoping for the next round of showers for an abundance of food come harvest.
Envision walking a half mile in yucca sandals to gather stones from distant
natural outcroppings. Were these fossil-rich rocks special to them? Sweat rolled
off their bodies as they shaped rough hewn rock with river stones into individual
building bricks. Working with neighbors, laughter accompanied grunts of effort
as they constructed their wooden roofs. Chants may have been whispered to the
sacred wind as they finished painting their walls with bands of pigmented plaster.
In circular subterranean chambers, ceremonial rooms called kivas, imagine elders
sharing stories of "when the world was soft/beginning." Picture a time of feasting
and dancing as wild game was brought home. Imagine the aroma of roasted turkey,
dried corn, and Utah Juniper smoke as it burned in fire hearths across the village.
For generations the Puebloan ancestors lived in harmony with the land, the plants
and wildlife, and with each other.
Ancestral Puebloans harvesting yucca plants and preparing their fields for planting
Regulations: The Federal Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 prohibit the appropriation, injury, destruction, or removal of any object of antiquity or the excavation, injury, or destruction of any architectural site on federal land. Feeding, capturing, or teasing wildlife and picking, cutting, or damaging any wildflower, shrub, or tree also is prohibited. Pets are not allowed in Yucca House National Monument. Be careful with fire. One careless match or cigarette can wipe out the growth of a lifetime. Firearms are prohibited. They must be broken down or otherwise packed away while in the monument. Motor vehicles are allowed only on roadways, pullouts, or parking areas. Report all accidents or injuries to a Park Ranger at Mesa Verde National Park. Camping is prohibited at Yucca House National Monument. To protect fragile archeological sites, report any damaging behavior immediately to a Park Ranger. Do not litter. Please pack out what you take in.
Administration: For information write: Superintendent, Mesa Verde National Park, Yucca House National Monument, PO Box 8, Mesa Verde NP, CO 81330, call (970)529-4465, or internet address: www.nps.gov/meve/
To Access: The road to Yucca House is along a private road. To access the site, drive eight and a half miles south of Cortez from the US 160 and 666 juncture. Turn west on County Road B. Drive 1.25 miles and turn north on the private drive. Please be courteous of the private landowners and close all gates behind you as you enter to prevent livestock from escaping. There are no services available, such as gasoline, food, water, or lodging. The closest gasoline and grocery facilities are in Cortez, CO.
Warning: Rattlesnakes, bull-snakes, and garter-snakes are common in the area.
Remember that you have entered their home. Please do not molest or injure these necessary predators