The Agra Fort (Qila Agra) is a historical fort in the city of Agra, and also known as Agra's Red Fort.
Mughal emperor Humayun was crowned at this fort. It was later renovated by the Mughal emperor Akbar from 1565 and the present-day structure was completed in 1573.
It served as the main residence of the rulers of the Mughal dynasty until 1638, when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi. It was also known as the "Lal-Qila" or "Qila-i-Akbari". Before being captured by the British, the last Indian rulers to have occupied it were the Marathas.
In 1983, the Agra fort was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its importance during the Mughal Dynasty. It is about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 mi) northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal.
The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city. It was later renovated by Shah Jahan.
Only about 30% of the site is accessible for visitors since it’s still used by the Indian army. What is accessible is a real...
Mesa Verde National Park is a national park of the United States and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, and the only World Heritage Site in Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan ancestral sites in the United States.
Established by Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, the park occupies 52,485 acres near the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.
With more than 5,000 sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, it is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States.
Mesa Verde (Spanish for "green table", or more specifically "green table mountain" ) is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace, one of the largest cliff dwellings in North America.
In addition to the cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde boasts a number of mesa-top ruins. Examples open to public access include the Far View Complex and Cedar Tree Tower on Chapin Mesa, and Badger House Community, on Wetherill Mesa.
The site is a must see for ...
PAINTED HAND PUEBLO
Built in the AD 1200s, Painted Hand Pueblo was a small village of about 20 rooms that still include faint rock paintings and petroglyphs.
The designs of the ancient images have special meaning to Tribal descendants.
In 2014, the Painted Hand Pueblo was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument encompasses more than 170,000 acres of high
desert. Part of the Bureau of Land Management's National Conservation Lands, the monument is
managed to protect its rich landscapes and cultural and natural resources.
The monument contains the highest recorded density of prehistoric and historic sites in North America.
Thousands of archaeological sites have been recorded in the monument, and thousands more await documentation and study. Sites with standing walls are more obvious, while other sites are rubble mounds or depressions in the earth.
This site is often overlooked by the more popular Mesa Verde and Hovenweep but still worth a visit....
Ancestral Puebloans farmed corn, beans, and squash; supplemented their diet with small game; and made tools from stones and animal bones. The average height of an Ancestral Puebloan was about 5'1" (156 cm) for females and 5'3" (163 cm) for males. The average life span was 30 years.
Ancestral Puebloan villages have stone masonry, underground structures, round rooms, rectangular rooms, towers and plazas. These villages sometimes include natural cliffs and rock shelters. Descendants of the people who lived long ago in the San Juan region still maintain ties to the area and live in modern villages in New Mexico and Arizona.
SAND CANYON PUEBLO
About AD 1250, families came together around the head of Sand Canyon to build a large and compact village. A thick, one-storytall, U-shaped wall surrounded hundreds of square rooms, round kivas, and community structures including a plaza, a large D-shaped structure, and a great kiva.
The village seems designed for defense-perhaps due to regional strife over dwindling ...
