Pouye

Dwellings existed from the 12th century to 1577, when drought forced 1,500 settlers to relocate to the Rio Grande region . According to the oral tradition , the descendants of the inhabitants of Puye are modern residents of Santa Clara Pueblo, located 16 km to the east.

About 740 rooms were cut down in the rock at a height of 60 meters. The rock consists of relatively soft rock ( volcanic tuff ), which could be chopped even with wooden tools. In addition to the cut-out premises, judging by the remains of the foundations, at the base of the rock there were other houses built from a dump of rocky stone. It is assumed that these houses grew gradually and eventually became multi-storey, and the caves in the rocks served only as spare rooms for these houses.

On the surface of the cliff, along with cave dwellings, rows of holes for piles were cut down. These piles served as a support for the roof beams, and also, possibly, the places of fastening of wooden stairs leading to the rocky dwellings . Also found about a dozen paths with knocked out "steps", or rather holes for the fingers and toes (the so-called " Moki tracks ") leading to the top of the cliff. Many of the paths lead to a large “community house” on top of a cliff, partially reconstructed to date.

The rocky dwellings of Puye Ruins are listed as National Historic Monuments in 1966 under the name Puye Ruins ^[1] .

In 2000, the planned burning of trees on the territory of the Bandelier National Monument got out of control, resulting in a fire, known as the Cerro Grande fire , covering 190 km ² , destroying about 250 houses in the city of Los Alamos and devastating Santa Canyon Clara. In 2009, the ruins were reopened to the public ^[2] .

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  Kiva and the ruins on top

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  Rock dwellings

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  Petroglyphs

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  Steps

• Map and short guide showing how to find Puye
• Puye Ruins National Historic Landmarks Program
• Pictures of the cliff dwellings