Bandelier National Monument, New MexicoWing, Kittridge A.
History
Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
Wing, Kittridge A.
Bandelier National Monument (N.M.)
STONE LIONS. Other noteworthy remains of the monument area lie outside
Frijoles Canyon, accessible only by foot or horse trail across the mesas
to the south. Perhaps the most frequently visited of these antiquities
is the shrine of the Stone Lions, 10 miles from monument headquarters.
Here on the mesa-top near an extensive ruin are two life-size crouching
mountain lion effigies carved side by side out of the soft bedrock. This
work of sculpture must have been accomplished many centuries ago, for
long weathering and erosion have left small semblance of a true
likeness. The shrine here is known to modern Indians, being visited
occasionally by hunters who leave prayer offerings for success in their
hunt. A second pair of stone lions was carved on a mesa-top several
miles to the south, outside the monument boundary. These two pairs of
life-size stone effigies are unique in the Southwest.
[Illustration: _The restored kiva in Ceremonial Cave. The ranger and
party are standing on the roof of the circular chamber._]
PAINTED CAVE. A final feature of particular interest in the back
country of the monument is the Painted Cave. This art gallery in the
cliffs decorates a canyon wall some 12 miles from headquarters. Once a
large population inhabited this canyon of Capulin Creek, but most of the
evidences of habitation have vanished except for the extensive
pictographs on the weatherproof back wall of the Painted Cave. The arch
of the cave is shallow but wide, so that a smooth area over 50 feet long
was available to the artists; several dozen drawings in a variety of
reds and blacks adorn this surface. It is probable that many generations
of artists used the cave, since space finally ran out and later drawings
are superimposed on their faded predecessors. Moreover, evidence of
historic, or post-Spanish, artistry is here—a sketch of a conquistador
on horseback, another of a mission church complete with cross.
[Illustration: _The shrine of the Stone Lions: Twin effigies of
mountain lions in a walled enclosure._]
[Illustration: _Painted Cave._]
[Illustration: _Trail worn into the rock, near Tsankawi Ruin._]
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