Horseshoe and Hackberry Groups - Hovenweep National Monument, Colorado
Posted by: 
94RedRover
N 37° 24.533 W 109° 01.756
12S E 674413 N 4142055
Ancestral Puebloan people occupied this area of southeast Utah/southwest Colorado, from 110 to 1300 AD, in what is now part of the Hovenweep National Monument. The Horseshoe and Hackberry Groups may have had the largest population.
Waymark Code: WM5KDZ
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 01/18/2009
Views: 6
Due to their close proximity, these two groups of ruins share access trails.
There is a one-mile (round trip) walking trail to Hackberry Canyon that takes you past structures in both the Horshoe and Hackberry Groups.
You will come across Horseshoe Tower which sits on a point marking the start of the Horseshoe Site. The Tower overlooks Horseshoe Canyon. Though the tower is at a defensivelly startegic location, there is evidence of the tower being walled off from the mesa top...contradictary to defense.
Continue on Canyon Rim Trail to Horseshoe House. Named so for the four structures arranged in a horseshoe shape. The stone-masonry that forms the outside wall is precisely cut. The intricately pieced together wall is held together with mortar made from clay, sand, and ash, mixed with water from seeps in the canyon below. Amazingly, this mortar still stands. It is not known if specialized masons were brought into this site for the construction, or if this was truly the work of Horshoe Group's inhabitants.
Just east of the Horseshoe structures is the Hackberry Site, overlooking the Hackberry Canyon. Constant and ample water seepage in this canyon may have attributed to Hackberry being the largest popoulation of "villages" in the canyons. Anywhere between 250 to 350 people may have lived here.
Like other groups in the canyons, both Horseshoe and Hackberry have the defining characteristics of the late Puebloen period. These include large multi-story pueblos and towers, located at canyon heads with seeps and springs. Rains were intermittent rains so for the survival of crops, the Puebloans constructed water-control features, with stone dams.
Mystery surrounds the reasoning for the sudden abandonment of the people of this area. Warfare, overpopulation, or even a 23 year-long drought beginning in A.D. 1276 may have been the cause.
Type: Ruin
Fee: 0
Hours:
dawn to dusk
Related URL: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Original photographs showing additional views of the Ruin/Remnant or even just its current condition are encouraged. Please describe your visit, especially if no additional photos are available. Did you like the Ruin or Remnant? What prompted you to see the Ruin or Remnant?