Edge of the Cedars Pueblo in Winter

The pueblo ruins site at Edge of the Cedars State Park in Blanding in southeast Utah is easy to access in winter despite heavy snow.

This is a site that appears to have had three lives. The first occupation lasted from 825 to 950 and the second from 1050 to 1125. In the early 1200s there was some remodeling with the site thought to be vacant during the intervals in between.

Then as now there were advantages to this location including the fine views of the nearby Abajo Mountains. The Edge refers to the biological boundary between the sagebrush fields and the Pinon Pine and Juniper forests. The trail here is short and visitors have to pass though the museum to get to the ruins site.

The excavated sections of the site show part of the Great House. About 17 rooms and two kivas are visible. There is an unexcavated Great Kiva on the south side, appearing as a circular depression.

The abutment joints of walls show that the site was remodeled over a period of time. The stones used in building the site are a mix of flat tabular sandstone that had to be carried a long distance and more local chunky rocks. In the chunky layers, small chinking stones were used.

The west kiva has been reconstructed and can be entered by climbing down a short ladder. During the winter, with deep snow on the ground, these deeper structures would have offered shelter from the cold. The fireplace and air circulation features aren’t found in the regular room blocks.

This pueblo site is exposed to the elements while many of the other sites to visit in the Cedar Mesa region are sheltered in alcoves. Other open sites in the area are the Mule Canyon site west along Utah Scenic By Way 95, and the Bluff Great House site near the town of Bluff.

There is also a sculpture near the ruins site that replicates some of the archaeoastronomy sites in the southwest. In some locations, spears of light hit spirals or other symbols on the significant days of the solar year. One site that I know of in the region is the panel near the Holly Ruins Group in Hovenweep National Monument. Chaco Canyon is also a site where ancient sky gazers were active.