| Hovenweep House along the Little Ruin Canyon Trail. Most of the ruins at Hovenweep National Monument have a square, rectangular, or D-shaped design. Some of the remaining structures still rise as much as 20 feet although the exterior mortar that helps hold the walls together has mostly eroded away. Many of the original walls are now just piles of rubble. Hovenweep is a Paiute/Ute word that means deserted valley. The name of Hovenweep was applied to the area by a pioneer photographer, William H. Jackson in 1874 only a few years after the ruins were found and reported by a Mormon expedition. The ruins were surveyed by J. W. Fewkes of the Smithsonian in 1917 to 1918 (J. W. Fewkes is perhaps best known for his investigations at Mesa Verde National Park). With his recommendation, President Warren G. Harding proclaimed the site under the protection of the Nation Park Service under the name of Hovenweep National Monument in 1923 (Fewkes, 1923; NPS, 2006). |
