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the top. In reality, access was by climbing a ladder in a narrow fissure. Evidence of holes carved into the sandstone on either side of the fissure can be seen, located in the horseshoe shaped bowl at the southern end. The early inhabitants had a precipitous climb up the fissure, but it assured their safety. Into these holes were placed stout lengths of wood, the 'rungs' of the ladder. Today, this is still the only means of climbing access to the top of the mesa. Their fields, and the springs that were their water source, were in the valley. In the summer, the entire village would descend into the valley to tend the crops. One afternoon a severe thunderstorm washed away the "stone ladder", leaving only sheer rock faces all the way around the butte. Legend has it that three old women and a young boy had been left in the village, but they could not get down, nor could anyone else get back to the village. A giant thunderbird swooped down and scooped up the four and carried them to the valley floor. The Acoma people abandoned
Enchanted Mesa and moved to White Rock Mesa, now called Acoma. In 1897, Professor
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98:. Acoma tradition says that Enchanted Mesa was the home of the Acoma people until a severe storm and landslide destroyed the only approach. There are no longer any ruins on the flat top. The butte is 430 ft (130 m) high, 1,250 ft (380 m) long and only 400 ft (120 m) ft wide, at its widest. The elevation at the top is 6,643 ft (2,025 m).
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was visiting Acoma he listened to the old Indian governor, Martín Valle, who told the story of how the Acoma people used to live on
Enchanted Mesa. Their access to the top was on the southern side where a large piece of the butte was said to have spalled off and formed a ramp, a "stone ladder", up to
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climbed
Enchanted Mesa to disprove the existence of ruins. His team used a cannon to shoot a rope over the end of the butte and using a pulley pulled himself up in a marine life-saving chair. Libbey and a newspaperman climbed to the top, spent two to three hours exploring, and returned
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did not take Libbey's word for it. On a later 1897 expedition he reported evidence of occupation. Although the main ruins had been washed over the edge by centuries of thunderstorms, he found plenty of arrow points, stone tools, beads and pottery fragments lodged in crevices.
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over
Enchanted Mesa. Over the next several days, other officers reported "a red light, faster than any aircraft". A helicopter was dispatched to the top with the governor of the pueblo and a police officer, but no direct evidence of a UFO was found.
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empty-handed. Libbey announced that he had seen no ruins or artifacts, saying "Romantic Indian legend can never stand the acid test of scientific investigation." Self-educated archaeologist
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250:. reprinted in 1952 by University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 43–44.
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340:(3rd edition) New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, New Mexico, page 156,
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78:, New Mexico, United States, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of the
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On 18 November 1974, an Acoma police officer indicated that he had seen a
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Traditional narratives of indigenous peoples of the
Americas
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Christiansen, Paige W. and
Kottlowski, Frank Edward (1972)
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Baldridge, Gary (25 November 1974) "Spooky Search for UFO"
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Indian artifacts found on the
Enchanted Mesa, June 22, 1898
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Hodge, Frederick Webb (October 1897) "Enchanted Mesa"
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University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, p.391,
222:"Trail dust: The Enchanted Mesa: myth or true tale?"
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Photograph of
Enchanted Mesa taken from Aa'ku – 1899
338:Mosaic of New Mexico's scenery, rocks, and history
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362:New Mexico: A new guide to the colorful state
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126:Lummis-Jordan party on top of Enchanted Mesa
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403:Locations in Native American mythology
393:Landforms of Cibola County, New Mexico
173:The massive cliffs are formed by the
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413:Archaeological sites in New Mexico
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271:"The Verification of a Tradition"
177:and the butte is topped by the
360:(1984) "Tour 6: Acoma Pueblo"
306:National Geographic (Magazine)
269:Hodge, Frederick Webb (1897).
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291:10.1525/aa.1897.10.9.02a00020
220:Simmons, Marc (20 May 2006).
388:Buttes of the United States
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226:The Santa Fe New Mexican
278:American Anthropologist
248:The Land of Poco Tiempo
308:8(9): pp.273–284
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197:Enchanted Mesa is a
154:Frederick Webb Hodge
149:Princeton University
63:Enchanted Mesa today
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398:Mesas of New Mexico
322:Albuquerque Tribune
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244:Lummis, Charles F.
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36:107°33′05″W
382:Categories
33:34°55′11″N
346:16720481
246:(1895).
169:Geology
102:History
96:Keresan
92:Kadzima
88:Katzimo
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358:et al.
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274:(PDF)
199:butte
185:Notes
147:from
72:butte
366:ISBN
342:OCLC
252:OCLC
203:mesa
286:doi
162:UFO
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