Site · United States
Hovenweep
Ancestral Puebloan, 1200–1300 CE
Hovenweep protects six clusters of thirteenth-century Ancestral Puebloan towers and pueblos on the Utah–Colorado line, built at canyon heads around springs. The towers are square, D-shaped and round, some aligned to solstice sunrise, and were abandoned around 1300 with the wider migration out of the Four Corners. It is a quiet counterpart to Mesa Verde with the same pottery and architecture.
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State / province | Utah |
| Dates | 1200–1300 CE |
| Status | National Monument |
| Managed by | National Park Service |
| Access | Open year-round with a visitor center at Square Tower and trails to the canyon-rim tower groups; outlying units are reached by unpaved roads. |
| Coordinates | 37.386, -109.075 (public site) |
What was found
Excavation and survey recorded multi-storey masonry towers, kivas, check dams and reservoirs, with Mesa Verde black-on-white and corrugated pottery, stone tools and turkey bone. Tree-ring dates place the towers in the 1200s.
Rules
Nothing may be collected, disturbed or removed; the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (1979), the National Park Service Organic Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act apply, with federal criminal penalties. This article is for study and context only and is not a collecting locality.
Elsewhere
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Hovenweep" (Site). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/sites/hovenweep. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-hovenweep,
title = {Hovenweep},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/sites/hovenweep}},
year = {2026},
note = {Site article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.