MYSTERY DESIGNS ON THE DESERT FLOOR
Jemez River drainage, New Mexico
To the aerial observer, the contrast between these dark volcanic
stones and the lighter ground beneath catches the eye, and their
geometric arrangements are a dead giveaway to human activity.
At the foot of the Jemez Caldera in central New Mexico, an ancient
volcanic crater of immense size, there are several square miles
of these mysterious rock designs decorating the sandy desert hills.
Archaeologists believe that some prehistoric people, as yet unidentified,
were dry-farming these slopes, but cannot say what the rows of
volcanic stones were for, except that they may have been some
sort of water control feature. They remind me of the painted designs
on fragments of the ancient pottery found in the area.
To get an idea of the scale, see the photo
showing a person standing near desert trees of this type in "The
Secret of Aerial Archaeology" elsewhere on this website.