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Sites Bat400 has logged. View this log as a table or view the most recent logs from everyone
Mesa Verde
Date Added: 5th Jun 2012
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 27th Apr 2012. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3
Mesa Verde - Cliff Palace submitted by DrewParsons on 18th Oct 2008. Mesa Verde - The Cliff Palace. September 2005
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Log Text: Once you are in the Park there are many ancient sites you can visit on your own and without additional fees. Everyone wants to see the spectacular cliff dwellings, but don't neglect the many mesa top dwelling and farming sites that are actually much more typical of occupation at Mesa Verde.
The drive from the main entrance to the Visitor Center, muesums, and the nearest sites takes about 30-45 minutes, the distance to nearby towns and lodging is another 30 minutes minimum. So if the campground or lodge are open, it may be worth it to stay there.
Major forest fires have destroyed substantial portions of the mesa top trees, leaving a bare and not particularly pleasant landscape in a majority of the park, with living plants limited to scrubs and ground cover. However, there are still terrific views down into the canyons and across the horizon to the San Jaun Mountains, Shiprock, and other landmarks.
Mesa Verde - Balcony House
Date Added: 5th Jun 2012
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 29th Apr 2012. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3
Mesa Verde - Balcony House submitted by jeffrep on 13th Nov 2012. Balcony House cliff dwelling showing the balcony (right) that gives this site its name.
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Log Text: Balcony House is in an alcove directly below a road where people park to take the tour. As a result, you cannot see it from that location. If you cannot take the guided tour (which is possibly the most physically demanding of the short Ranger Led tours) you can take a short hike (about 3/4 of a mile, one way) to the Soda Canyon overlook of Balcony House.
The hike is relatively flat on a well defined sand and dirt track. When you get to the Soda Canyon edge, Balcony House is clearly visible, but binoculars are needed to see the details of the building. There are also several other, much smaller cliff dwellings in the canyon walls and visible from points on the trail.
Mesa Verde - Cliff Palace
Date Added: 5th Jun 2012
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 28th Apr 2012. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3
Mesa Verde - Cliff Palace submitted by DrewParsons on 18th Oct 2008. Mesa Verde - The Cliff Palace. September 2005
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Log Text: Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in the park. It faces west and gets maximum light in the late afternoon. You are allowed to walk along the restored retaining wall (now a walkway) and around several kivas in front of the square tower. We were invited to look up into the Sqare Tower to see the plastered wall mural on the thrid floor, which I was itching to do since I knew it was up there. This access is only as part of a tour, although you can look from two different overlooks to your heart's content, sans guidance.
There are simple tour guides available, and a great many web and other media resources you can absorb ahead on your visit. The ranger will give you a substantial amount of information on the current archaeological thought about why the cliff dwellings were built and later abandoned, as well as the history of excavation and resoration. How well they do this probably varies, although I was very satisfied with my tour's leader.
This is one of the most visited on Ranger Led tours. (These tours are for a very small additional fee over the park entrance fee, but they limit the number of people who can visit the site.) The rangers will warn you (for all tours) about the number of steps, ladders, and the impact of altitude. If you are used to hiking and are moderately healthy, this tour is not difficult, even accounting for the altitude.
The tour is advertised as 1 hour long, although this stretches in the shoulder season when there are fewer tours scheduled farther apart.
Mesa Verde - Spruce Tree House
Date Added: 5th Jun 2012
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: United States
Visited: Yes on 26th Apr 2012. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3
Mesa Verde - Spruce Tree House submitted by DrewParsons on 19th Oct 2008. Site in United States: Mesa Verde - Spruce Tree House photographed in September 2005
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Log Text: Spruce Tree House is an especially interesting cliff dwelling to visit because in the summer time it is open all day and you can spend as much time as you like there. You can basically walk along the front of the dwelling, and at specific points, between some of the buildings. There is more light shining on this dwelling in the afternoon.
If you get to talking with the rangers they are happy to point out features that may be more difficult to see - like the hand print an ancient plasterer left in contrasting color on a house wall, or the incised bird footprints (turkey tracks) someone made in the floor of one of the rooms.
I rated this "A longer walk" simply because the paved path is quite steep in places, even though the total elevation change is only about 100 feet. There are no ladders or steps. However, like all Mesa Verde sites, the elevation change will be very noticeable to someone who is from lower elevations or is unused to substantial exercise. However, you can also see much of the site from an overlook that is directly behind the Chapin Mesa Museum. That overlook view point is a short walk on a paved footpath and definitely wheel chair accessible.
Mesa Verde - Square Tower House
Date Added: 14th Jun 2012
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 27th Apr 2012. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4
Mesa Verde - Square Tower House submitted by DrewParsons on 18th Oct 2008. Detail of the Square Tower House site at Mesa Verde
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Log Text: Observed from overlook. Short trail to the overlook from the road is not paved, fairly level.
Mesa Verde - Sun Temple
Date Added: 5th Jun 2012
Site Type: Ancient Temple
Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 28th Apr 2012. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5
Mesa Verde - Sun Temple submitted by bat400 on 2nd Jun 2012. The eastern end of the Sun Temple. Photo taken over the separate associated round structure.
Photo by bat400, April 2012.
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Log Text: A large somewhat mysterious pueblo site on the lip on the canyon overlooking the Cliff Palace and about a dozen other sites. What you see is a restoration, although when the mound of collected dust, dirt, and fallen masonary was removed and examined, it was obvious that the building never had a roof. In that and other features, tt's quite different architecturally from any other sites at Mesa Verde or other places in the area.
You'll see photos showing visitors walking inside the massive outer walls, using ladders to climb in and out of the site, but this doesn't seem to be allowed any more.
Miamisburg Mound
Date Added: 12th Sep 2010
Site Type: Artificial Mound
Country: United States (Great Lakes Midwest)
Visited: Yes on 5th May 2006
Miamisburg Mound submitted by bat400 on 5th May 2006. Miamisburg Mound
Miamisburg, Montgomery Co., Ohio
Conical earthen burial mound.
View for the top. Note the mature trees in full autumn colors.
(photo used by permission - J.Q. Jacobs)
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Log Text: None
Mieza
Date Added: 5th Jul 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: Greece (Northern Greece)
Visited: Yes on 5th Jul 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4
Mieza submitted by SolarMegalith on 16th Oct 2010. Ruins of theatre from 2nd century BC in Mieza (photo taken on May 2003).
Site in Northern Greece and Macedonia Greece
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Log Text: The only part of the ancient city one can easily visit today is the Hellenistic theater. There are apparently the foundations of a villa near the theater, but the site itself seems to be grown over. The city site itself is visible as a tree and brush covered high ground, but that portion is not accessible.
Outside the city one can visit the "School of Aristotle" and several tombs.
Mitchell's Fold
Date Added: 7th Apr 2012
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Shropshire)
Visited: Yes on 1st May 1988. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4
Mitchell's Fold submitted by PaulM on 22nd Jan 2002. Mitchell's Fold in the snow on New Year's Day 2002.
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Log Text: None
Modoc Rock Shelter
Trip No.2 Date Added: 23rd Apr 2017
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: United States (Great Lakes Midwest)
Visited: Yes on 18th Oct 2007
Modoc Rock Shelter submitted by bat400 on 18th Oct 2007. A drive-up prehistoric site. Modoc rock shelter lies directly along Illinois State Road 7. Used periodically for 9000 years.
Photo by bat400, Oct 13, 2007.
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Log Text: None
Monterey Standing Stone
Date Added: 28th Apr 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: United States (The South)
Visited: Would like to visit on 1st Jan 0000
Monterey Standing Stone submitted by bat400 on 2nd Jan 2013. Photo by "Jtknoxguy," 2007.
"I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.
If this is not legally possible:
I grant any entity the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law."
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Montezuma Castle
Date Added: 13th Sep 2010
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: United States (The Southwest)
Visited: Yes on 1st Jan 2004. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Montezuma Castle submitted by thecaptain on 25th May 2009. Montezuma Castle, on a hot day in November 1990.
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Log Text: None
Moray Terraces
Date Added: 25th Sep 2018
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork
Country: Peru
Visited: Yes on 13th Sep 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3
Moray Terraces submitted by pab on 7th Nov 2013. Moray craters, Peru.
This series of craters was a delight. On the plateau above the Urubamba river valley, there is a series of 4 terraced craters which have been shown to have pre-Inca beginnings.
They are up to half a mile across, and over a hundred feet deep in places.
What is really fascinating is the fact that, because of their depth and orientation, there can be a temperature difference of 15 °C (27 °F) between the bottom of the craters and the tops!
The craters may have ...
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Log Text: None
Mound Bottom
Trip No.3 Date Added: 23rd Apr 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: United States (The South)
Visited: Yes
Mound Bottom submitted by AKFisher on 29th Jul 2023.
Archaeological reconstruction of the Mound Bottom, Tennessee mound complex from the mound encyclopedia. The site is enclosed by a horseshoe bend in the Harpeth River with a small, narrow band of land yielding access. It is a 500 acre site that is today a state park with restricted access. It was "found" in 1804 and had 14 large platform mounds. It was constructed in AD 700 and inhabited until 1300. Some information on the site is at the Visitors Center at the nearby Montgomery Bell State Park....
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Log Text: I have not yet visited this site, but I wish to add it to a planned trip blog.
Mounds (Indiana) - Circle Mound
Date Added: 12th Sep 2010
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork
Country: United States (Great Lakes Midwest)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Oct 2006
Mounds (Indiana) - Circle Mound submitted by bat400 on 23rd Oct 2006. Mounds - Circle Mound Enclosure
A stitched photo. The viewer is standing before the entrance, looking due west, into the enclosure.
Photo: bat400 Oct 2006.
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Log Text: None
Mounds (Indiana) - Earthwork B
Date Added: 12th Sep 2010
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork
Country: United States (Great Lakes Midwest)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Oct 2006
Mounds (Indiana) - Earthwork B submitted by bat400 on 23rd Oct 2006. Mounds - Earthwork B.
The earthwork is oval, with an "entrance" on each end, and very small, only 8-9 feet long. It is in the immediate foreground, only an indentation. The Great Mound can be seen in the background, behind the rail fence.
Photo: bat400 Oct 2006.
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Log Text: None
Mounds (Indiana) - Fiddleback Mound
Date Added: 12th Sep 2010
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork
Country: United States (Great Lakes Midwest)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Oct 2006
Mounds (Indiana) - Fiddleback Mound submitted by bat400 on 23rd Oct 2006. Mounds - Fiddleback Enclosure
The enclosure is oblong with a constricted middle; it's difficult to see from a single observation point on the ground. The summer solstice sunset falls beyond this enclosure when viewed from the center of the Great Mound.
Photo: bat400 Oct 2006.
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Log Text: None
Mounds (Indiana) - Great Mound
Date Added: 12th Sep 2010
Site Type: Henge
Country: United States (Great Lakes Midwest)
Visited: Yes on 22nd Oct 2006
Mounds (Indiana) - Great Mound submitted by bat400 on 22nd Oct 2006. Mounds - The Great Mound.
View from the east with wild asters, the last flower of the season. The outer embankment wall prevents an outside viewer from seeing the central platform within. The exceptions are three dips in the embankment allowing a line of sight to the centers of three smaller earthwork enclosures surrounding the Great Mound.
Photo: bat400 Oct 2006.
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Log Text: None
Mounds State Park (Indiana) - Earthwork D
Date Added: 12th Sep 2010
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork
Country: United States (Great Lakes Midwest)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Oct 2006
Mounds (Indiana) - Earthwork D submitted by bat400 on 23rd Oct 2006. Mounds - Earthwork D.
"Lost" until 1988 when underbrush was removed from the site. Woods now block a clear view between the Great Mound and the center of this smaller, now shallow earthwork. The winter solstice sunset falls beyond the center of this enclosure when viewed from the center of the Great Mound. The forest debris slowly filled in the ditch within the outer embankment ring.
Photo: bat400 Oct 2006.
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Log Text: None
Moundville Archeological Park
Date Added: 12th Sep 2010
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: United States (The South)
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jul 2008
Moundville Archeological Park submitted by bat400 on 23rd Jul 2008. Moundville at sunset.
Photo by bat400, June 2008.
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Log Text: None