FURTHER AFIELD: 'Aztec Ruins', New Mexico

'Aztec Ruins' National Monument

Aztec Ruins, built and used over a 200-year period, is the largest ancestral Pueblo community in the Animas River valley. Early settlers mistakenly thought that people from the Aztec Empire in Mexico created these striking buildings. They named the site “Aztec,” a misnomer that persisted even after it became clear that the builders were the ancestors of many Southwestern tribes.