Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the passage of time.

Last Thursday's run was one of those occasions - I ran out into the Tonto National Shrubbery just two miles to Chinaman's Hat, and then hiked up to the top where there are Indian ruins still standing.


                     



When we flew over this hill some months ago, I saw the Indian ruins, but it's a bit different to stand there among the walls, and realize - they walked here, and walked here, and sat here...sorta like REM's "Cuyahoga":

     "This is where they walked
      This is where they swam
      Take a picture here,
      Take a souvenir"

...except that you aren't allowed to take souvenirs - the area is protected under law. Which might very well be reasonable, since this is "public property" if anything else - since it belongs to all of us, it can't really belong to any of us.

It would even be difficult for any particular tribe  to claim it, since it's my understanding that the folks who lived here moved on a thousand or so years ago, and nobody knows where they went. I'm sure that there are archaeologists and anthropologists out there with opinions about that, but I would be surprised if they actually agree; I've just heard that the folks who were here (the Hohokam, which sounds like a video feed from a tiny sleigh) all sorta vanished mysteriously.

I stayed up on top of that little mountain for a good while, just feeling steeped in prehistory, moving from ruin to ruin (I took these pics with my cell phone, so please forgive the quality):

               


You can tell that we're a good bit above the flat ground; it's a pretty severe hike up to the top of this thing. The post you see there in the lower right is the Park Service marker that says "Don't take anything away from this site or we'll hunt you down and shoot you" or somesuch. I didn't.

This spot here was at the summit of the little mountain:

                      

No matter what - in order to build this wall, they had to have carried the rocks uphill. Which leaves one wondering why they did it. This is the view off to the south, with another full-height room built on top of the cliff:

                       

It's impressive, and no mistake.

But I have to admit that I can't help but wonder - WHY BUILD YOUR HOMES FOUR HUNDRED FEET ABOVE THE SURROUNDING COUNTRYSIDE? There's a spring at the base of this hill, and I can just imagine Mrs. Hohokam saying to Mr. Hohokam - "Honey, will you take the goat bladder down to the spring and fill it up with fresh water for me?"

Which is just plain silly. These folks weren't stupid (yes, they were uneducated; but you don't stay alive under these circumstances if you're stupid) so there had to be some reason why they built these walls on top of this mountain.

My Cherokee chromosomes just quiver at the idea; no doubt such situations were the reason that my ancient and revered ancestors didn't stop in Arizona, but kept right on going across the country until they got to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Of course, the cynical might think that these were fortifications; obviously, such a person has never watched any Disney cartoons, or he would know that the American Indians lived in peace and harmony with each other and with nature. We would never have dreamed of fighting each other until you Palefaces showed up and taught us how to do so.

(yes, that was sarcasm : )