Puye Cliffs, New Mexico

The Puye Cliff Dwellings offer a view of centuries of culture so well preserved one can almost hear ancient life clamoring about. In 1540 this dwelling's population was at its height and Puye was the center for a number of villages of the Pajarito Plateau. Today, this settlement, which typifies Pajaritan culture in the placement of its houses and its symbolic decorations, is a series of rooms and caves reached by sturdy ladders and steps which visitors can climb up and down, clambering in and out of the homes. Petroglyphs are evident in many of the rocky cliff walls.