There is only one narrow entrance, with a knee-level peephole above that is eye-level to anyone approaching from outside –assumedly for scanning approaching visitors...
These are some of the thick walls that guard the entrance area (the rest of the mesa is protected by its steep cliffs)...
A view from inside the fort...
The composite image from multiple drone photos...
On the bottom left of the composite image is the entrance, which is surrounded by thick-walled rooms, which I assume are for guards. One would have to pass this gauntlet to enter the area where the large rectangular building with the stately doorway, which I like to imagine is the royal palace, is located.
Off to the left of the 'guard rooms' are what I assume are the servants' quarters. One big hint that this is where tasty dishes for the royals were created is the incredibly deep mortar, a bowl ground into the bedrock that is used for grinding food in preparation for cooking, which is located in one of those rooms. I wonder how many years of grinding it would take to work a hole so deep...
There are all kinds of odd small structures scattered over the mesa, including some rock-bordered depressions like little fish ponds, of whose purpose I have no idea.
There's also an odd, raised rock area that seems like a massive curved ramp just below the entrance to the one-room 'palace.'
The 'palace' itself is well-constructed, with flat walls and 90 degree corners...
Finally, on the far side of the mesa is a smaller 'palace' –perhaps for the queen? I have no idea, of course, but sadly so little is known about the people who inhabited these ruins that one's imagination is free to go where it pleases...
Good stuff Ken!
ReplyDeleteGracias, Steve.
ReplyDelete