Aztec Ruins National Monument – Aztec NM

City:
Aztec, NM

Site Type:
Archaeology, Parks and Recreation, Archaeology and History, Paths and Trails, Historical Restoration

New Deal Agencies:
Civil Works Administration (CWA), Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, Public Works Administration (PWA)

Started:
1933

Completed:
1934

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The complex in Aztec Ruins National Monument consists of a “three-story structure [with] as many as 500 rooms, includ[ing] a great kiva [subterranean or partially subterranean Puebloan chamber used for religious ceremony] that is more than forty feet across.” The name “Aztec” is a misnomer as the original excavators believed that the structures were from that tribe. In fact, “The pueblo dates from approximately A.D. 1100.”

In the winter of 1933-34, workers for the Civil Works Administration (CWA) built “an entrance road, a parking area, and [did] general clean-up.” Also in 1934, Public Works Administration (PWA) workers rebuilt some of the original structure as workers “dismantled the walls and relaid the masonry” in the kiva.

Source notes

Wayne K. Hinton with Elizabeth A. Green, "With Picks, Shovels & Hope" The CCC and Its Legacy on the Colorado Plateau" (Missoula: Mountain Press, Publishing Company, 2008), 216-217.

Location Info


Aztec Ruins National Monument
Aztec, NM 87410
San Juan County

Coordinates: 36.837209, -108.000093

At this Location:

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