Hovenweep National Monument
Details: Once home to over 2,500 people, Hovenweep includes six prehistoric villages built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. Explore a variety of structures, including multistory towers perched on canyon rims and balanced on boulders. The construction and attention to detail will leave you marveling at the skill and motivation of the builders.
Hovenweep is part of the Colorado Plateau, a "high desert" region that experiences wide temperature fluctuations, sometimes over 40 degrees in a single day. The temperate (and most popular) seasons are spring (April-May) and fall (mid-September-October), when daytime highs average 60 to 80 F and lows average 30 to 50 F. Summer temperatures often exceed 100 F, making strenuous exercise difficult. Winters are cold, with highs averaging 30 to 50 F, and lows averaging 0 to 20 F.
Directions: Do not use GPS to find your way. There are numerous paved and dirt roads intersecting each other in this remote corner of Utah. The Hovenweep Visitor Center is located 40-45 miles from Cortez, Colorado, and Blanding and Bluff, Utah. Follow driving directions on our webpage.
Cajon Unit
The Cajon Unit’s structures are situated at the head of a small canyon and indicate that 80 to 100 people may have lived here. Under a ledge in the canyon below are several small structures that may have been built to protect and store water from the spring. On the western slope of the canyon stand the remains of a remarkable circular tower that conforms perfectly to the shape of three large, irregular boulders. This round structure on a completely uneven surface demonstrates the skill and determination of the ancestral Puebloans who lived at Hovenweep.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Cutthroat Castle
Cutthroat Castle consists of room blocks and towers that are located on low terraces in the canyon, but not at the canyon head, which makes them unique compared to other Hovenweep sites. The Cutthroat Group also appears to have a large number of kivas relative to other building types. Puebloan kivas are usually built into the earth, and are typically round. An exception is the kiva incorporated into Cutthroat Castle, which rests on top of a boulder.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Eroded Boulder House View
Eroded Boulder House is another unique structure visible in the Square Tower Group canyon. As the name suggests, Eroded Boulder House sits under a huge rock and incorporates the eroded base beneath as part of its roof and walls. A few shaped stones on top of the boulder are evidence of a tower built above. From an opening in the north wall of the structure, Tower Point is visible.
Eroded Boulder House is best seen from across the canyon at this viewpoint. The trail leads around the rim of the canyon near the structure but entering the canyon or getting closer to the structure is not allowed to protect its fragile nature.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, observe proper site etiquette.
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Remain on marked trails.
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Do not enter or touch any structure.
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Do not touch or disturb any artifacts, including pottery sherds, arrow points, or rock art. Once removed from context, the story they tell is gone forever.
Hackberry Unit
Today Hackberry is represented by a few walls and mounds. Archeologists speculate that Hackberry’s community may have held one of the largest populations of all the Hovenweep units during the Pueblo III Period. As many as 250-350 people may have lived here. Hackberry's remaining walls and rubble remind us that the standing structures can only tell us so much of the ancestral Pueblo story.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Holly House
Holly House, located on the west rim of the canyon, is a multi-story building that was probably the largest structure in the community. Standing on the trail looking south, watch for two wooden beams at the top of Holly House. These are original beams from 800 years ago, not placed during modern stabilization by the National Park Service. These beams have helped us understand how and when the structures were built.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Holly Petroglyph Panel
We believe the ancestral Puebloans at Holly used this petroglyph panel to mark the summer solstice. Just below the canyon rim, two large boulders form a narrow opening. On the summer solstice, a beam of light enters the narrow opening and lights up the boulder face. The ancestral Puebloans observed this natural event and added their own marks - spiral and concentric circle petroglyphs on the boulder face. On the summer solstice, and the days before and after, the sun beam bisects the petroglyphs.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Holly Tower
Holly Tower is part of the Holly Unit, located in Keeley Canyon. It is a large multi-story tower built atop a large sandstone boulder in the canyon, instead of the canyon rim. It was built sometime after 1200 AD and it appears it was constructed without outside scaffolding. Each floor was built from the inside, one floor at a time, building upward. Looking at Holly Tower, you can still see the steps and hand-holds that were pecked into the boulder below the entrance.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Horseshoe House
Horseshoe House is a D-shaped building with a secondary round structure inside the middle portion of the building. Since there seems to be no exterior entry in any of the walls, more than likely entry was through a roof-top hatchway.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Horseshoe Tower
Horseshoe Tower is built on a point near the head of the canyon. From this tower, inhabitants could see clearly into Hackberry Canyon. At one time, the tower was walled off from the mesa top, raising questions about the use of such structures for defense.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Hovenweep Castle
Hovenweep Castle consists of two D-Shaped towers perched on the rim near the canyon head. The stone walls, two and three courses thick, show detailed masonry techniques. Growth rings on a wooden beam in one tower indicate that the log was cut in 1277 CE (Common Era), one of the latest dates on any structure in the San Juan region. Castle is a name given by archeologists – no kings or queens lived here. The farmers who did live in the canyon may have used this large structure as a dwelling, a community center, spiritual center, or perhaps all three.
Hovenweep Castle was top levels of a much larger complex that stair-stepped into the canyon, as evidenced by remaining rubble. Access among the levels was either carved hand and footholds in the rock or wooden ladders. The main entrance to Hovenweep Castle appears to be a rectangular doorway on the canyon rim. During the solstices and equinoxes, light enters the castle doorway and marks corners and doorways on the interior.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, observe proper site etiquette.
-
Remain on marked trails.
-
Do not enter or touch any structure.
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Do not touch or disturb any artifacts, including pottery sherds, arrow points, or rock art. Once removed from context, the story they tell is gone forever.
Hovenweep House
Hovenweep House was the center of the Square Tower group. What still stands was built on solid sandstone bedrock. The rest has crumbled to the ground, but a closer look at the rubble reveals its former size and pattern. As with other buildings in this area, the masons took great care with their stonework. Some boulders were pecked on the surface, a technique also seen at nearby MesaVerde. Small, flat rocks were inserted as spalls, or chinks, in the mortar joints. The walls may have been completely covered with thick layers of clay-based plaster.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, observe proper site etiquette.
-
Remain on marked trails.
-
Do not enter or touch any structure.
-
Do not touch or disturb any artifacts, including pottery sherds, arrow points, or rock art. Once removed from context, the story they tell is gone forever.
Rimrock House
Despite its name, Rimrock House may not have been a place where people lived, for it lacks any apparent room divisions. The structure is rectangular in shape and stands two stories high. Many small openings were placed in the walls, at unusual angles. Peepholes for seeing who might be coming for a visit? Observation ports for tracking the sun? Or maybe something as simple as ventilation? Their function remains unknown. In the canyon, you see the remains of Round Tower. It is almost perfectly circular and was probably two stories tall.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Square Tower
The two-story-tall Square Tower stands at the canyon head. Situated on a large sandstone boulder, it was built in a slight spiral shape, perhaps for added strength or for aesthetics. The large hackberry trees growing beside the tower tell of the seep that trickles under the alcove. It was the presence of this precious permanent water source that held the Square Tower settlement together.The tower’s single T-shaped doorway faces southwest, although there is evidence of an earlier doorway facing the spring. A kiva was excavated beside Square Tower. Unlike many tower-kiva associations elsewhere, Square Tower and its kiva were not connected by a tunnel.
We do not know what Square Tower’s purpose was – marking or protecting the spring, conducting ceremonies, or studying the stars? Maybe all or none of the above. Why do you think the ancestral Puebloans who lived here built this tower
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, observe proper site etiquette.
-
Remain on marked trails.
-
Do not enter or touch any structure.
-
Do not touch or disturb any artifacts, including pottery sherds, arrow points, or rock art. Once removed from context, the story they tell is gone forever.
Stronghold House
Stronghold House was named for its fortress-like appearance, though it is not clear whether its architects designed it or any other structures for defense. The builders may simply have been following an aesthetic sense or responding to the challenges of the terrain. What you see is actually the upper story of a large pueblo, which now lies in rubble, built on the slope below. People entered the house by way of hand-and-toe holds chipped into the rock, or possibly by a wooden ladder. Stronghold House has two distinct sections, and the stone blocks are exceptionally well shaped. To your right is Stronghold Tower, built over a crevice in the cliff. At one time, a log bridged the crevice and supported part of the tower. The log rotted away, and most of the tower tumbled to the canyon bottom.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, observe proper site etiquette.
-
Remain on marked trails.
-
Do not enter or touch any structure.
-
Do not touch or disturb any artifacts, including pottery sherds, arrow points, or rock art. Once removed from context, the story they tell is gone forever.
Tilted Tower
Starting on the east side of the canyon you can see Tilted Tower sitting along the canyon rim. Tilted Tower is a multi-story pueblo built atop a large sandstone boulder than shifted sometime after the ancestral Puebloans left the canyon in 1300AD. The upper stories of the tower tumbled into the canyon while the footing remained attached.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Tower Point
The most striking feature of Tower Point itself is the commanding view of the canyon and side canyon, Sleeping Ute Mountain, and surrounding landscape. For that reason, Tower Point is often a must-see for visitors.
In the side canyon, look for alcoves just below the rim. Some are open rock, others have remains of stonework nearby - rooms where people stored crops such as corn, beans, and squash. A surplus harvest was essential to the ancestral Puebloans because they had to get through the inevitable bad years when crops failed. We believe they kept at least 1 years’ surplus crops for every person in the community. These granaries had to be tight and secure against rodents and seeping water.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, observe proper site etiquette.
-
Remain on marked trails.
-
Do not enter or touch any structure.
-
Do not touch or disturb any artifacts, including pottery sherds, arrow points, or rock art. Once removed from context, the story they tell is gone forever.
Twin Towers
Together, Twin Towers had 16 rooms. Their architecture is amazing; the two buildings rise from the native bedrock, their walls almost touching. One is oval, the other horseshoe shaped. Their builders skillfully laid up thick and thin sandstone blocks. Original wooden lintels are still in place in one tower. These towers are among the most carefully constructed buildings in the entire Southwest.
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, please remain on trail and do not enter or touch any structure.
Unit Type House
Unit Type House is the name archaeologists gave to a basic building plan they noticed early on at sites in the Southwest. This one is a perfect example – a few living and storage rooms and one kiva – possibly home to a family or a clan. Most larger pueblos expanded by simply repeating this idea.
The single kiva here is of the Mesa Verde style. Two of the openings in the wall of the room east of the kiva were possibly used to mark summer and winter solstices, information that is extremely useful to farmers. The inner architecture is not visible from trail. Alternate views of Unit Type House may be seen from Eroded Boulder House View, Tower Point, and Rim Rock House (across the canyon).
The unique stone towers and other buildings at Hovenweep are extremely fragile. To help preserve them, observe proper site etiquette.
-
Remain on marked trails.
-
Do not enter or touch any structure.
-
Do not touch or disturb any artifacts, including pottery sherds, arrow points, or rock art. Once removed from context, the story they tell is gone forever.
Campgrounds
Bradfield Recreation Site
Hovenweep Campground