| OCR Text |
Show We:sak'yaya Onnane and Anasazi Roads Prehistoric Anasazi roads in the American Southwest are part of a larger archaeological phenomena found in North and South America. Unfortunately, there is a serious dearth of information on native roads and trails in all of North America. Although there is a certain amount of literature on the Indian trails in the Eastern United States, neither of the two major works on the subject reports "a single reference to any archaeological work either done on or reporting the existence of Indian trails." Most eastern Indian trails were wide enough for Indians to walk single file, though not all of them. California trails often had ruts two feet deep from continued travel by the Indians. The trails were visible long after use. They usually went in straight lines, "without detouring for mountains in the way." In fact, trails often went to the highest points of the mountains. Considerable evidence of the use of active shrines along the trails was noted by 198 researchers in California. Most sherds dated from the period A.D. 900-1300. The same sorts of things could be said about the permanent trails in Arizona and northern Colorado as of the California trails. The "widths of trails ranged from about 30 cm upward and rarely exceeded .5 m." Cairns and sherd concentrations (apparently from pots broken while being carried) were found along the trails. Along one route it was reported that the trail "was cut through desert pavement of larger rocks; as the rocks were pushed aside, a slight ridge was 198. Robertson, Benjamin P., "Other New World Roads and Trails," in Kincaid, Chris Chaco Roads Project, Phase h A Reappraisal of Prehistoric Roads in the San Juan Basin, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Albuquerque, 1983, pp. 2-1-2-7. - 133 - |
