Welcome to Hovenweep National Monument

Welcome to Hovenweep National Monument, “Hovenweep,” it is a Paiute and Ute word meaning “deserted valley.” It was the name given this extraordinary place by pioneer photographer William H. Jackson, who visited here in 1874. It’s an apt description. As you scan the vast and lonely expanse surrounding you, it’s hard to imagine that these solitary canyons once echoed with the cries of laughter an hundreds of men, woman and children. , Established as a National Monument in 1923, Hovenweep preserves what archeologists consider to the finest examples of ancestral Puebloan masonry found anywhere. Whether multi-story towers standing alone along canyon rims, or ingeniously engineered structures perched on massive boulders and ledges within the canyons, these ruins evoke feelings of wonder at the motivations and resourcefulness of their builders.