Yucca House National Monument
| Yucca House National Monument | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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Unexcavated mound at Yucca House National Monument
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| Location | Montezuma County, Colorado, USA |
| Nearest city | Cortez, Colorado |
| Coordinates | 37°15′1″N 108°41′11″W / 37.25028°N 108.68639°WCoordinates: 37°15′1″N 108°41′11″W / 37.25028°N 108.68639°W |
| Area | 33.87 acres (13.71 ha) |
| Created | December 19, 1919 |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Yucca House National Monument |
Yucca House National Monument is a United States National Monument located in Montezuma County, Colorado between the towns of Towaoc (headquarters of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe) and Cortez, Colorado. Yucca House is a large, unexcavated Ancestral Puebloan archaeological site.
Yucca House National Monument is located in the Montezuma Valley at the foot of Sleeping Ute Mountain, called "mountain with lots of yucca growing on it" by the Ute people, and inspiration for the name of the national monument.
The site is one of many Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) village sites located in the Montezuma Valley occupied between AD 1100 and 1300 by 13,000 people.
Two unexcavated settlement areas covered in vegetation include:
Nearby were the ancient pueblo village of Mud Springs at the head of McElmo Canyon and Navajo Springs, was the original site of the Ute Mountain Indian Agency south of Sleeping Ute Mountain in the early 1900s.
Like other nearby Ancient Pueblo peoples, the Yucca House pueblo dwellers abandoned their homes, but because a major excavation has not been completed it is not known when, or if there is a relationship between these people and those of nearby pueblo settlements.
The following archaeological studies were conducted:
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the site a National Monument on December 19, 1919, after the donation of 9.5 acres (38,000 m2) of land on July 2, 1919 by a private landowner. An additional 24 acres was donated by Hallie Ismay in the late 1990s. It was one of many research national monuments designated during that era to preserve the ruins, plants and animals in the Yucca House area. Hallie Ismay, benefactor of the additional land in the 1990s, was an unofficial steward of the Yucca House site for 62 years.
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Wikipedia