The perpendicular walls of Square Tower House has several different pictograph, which according to most wise men, these pictographs are connected in some way with a religious symbolism. However, be that may be true, there is another explanation to the wall paintings.

Could this tower had been an Astronomy Observatory?

The saros is a period of exactly 223 synodic months, approximately 6585.321 days, or 18 years, 10, 11, or 12 days (depending on the number of leap years), and 8 hours, that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon.

One saros period after an eclipse, the Sun, Earth, and Moon return to approximately the same relative geometry, a near straight line, and a nearly identical eclipse will occur, in what is referred to as an eclipse cycle, which period is exactly 18.029 years and most of the stick pictograph have eighteen marks, as shown in the photos below.

US 160 Highway between Mancos and Cortez in Colorado, upon arriving at the park, exit the highway and turn south onto the park access road.

Basin and Range

Colorado Plateau Ecoregion

Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloans)

Time Covered: 200 CE - 1300 CE

Morefield Campground

On my very first visit to Mesa Verde in 1980, I had no idea that there were any original painting still on the walls here at this ancient ruins. In fact, I was more impressed with the stacked stone structures and spent most of my time drawing the Square Tower into my sketch book.

Decades later, in 2009, after I had returned to the journey on, I was told by the tour guide about the paintings on the walls in the top of the square tower. The same tour guide allowed me to lean into one of the lower windows and take a photo of the painting. See the photo below taken in the 2009 Journey.

Even as late as my 2009 visit, I still had no idea what purpose the paintings served to the people who called these ruins their home. In fact, it was not until I had been with the journey on for several more year and I was learning more about ancient rock art and its purposes, did I even begin to comprehend its significance.

Even to this day, I am totally amazed upon finding out a new use the ancients had for these amazing pieces of art and science.

For instance, the four vertical sticks with the numerous marks on each stick length, I have come to find out are saros counting sticks for the counting of 18 years (of full moons) until the next total eclipse of the sun and/or moon.

Ever since the 2018 visit to Mesa Verde, I have been ever on the search for more of the Art Work or other indicators depicting the ability and knowledge of the ancients to predict future celestial events.

Located in the inner chamber near the top floor of the square tower at the Cliff Palace ruins at Mesa Verde is a strange group of pictograph.

The very first time I saw these paintings during my 2009 journey, I just thought these paintings were used by the ancients as a design on the wall.

Even when I zoomed into the photos, I still saw no reason for thinking otherwise.

There are, however, other pictograph within the inner chamber at the top of the square tower, pictograph that I even have photos of, but these, I will not pay much attention to until years later.

Yes, unbeknownst to me at this time, but with continued research, I will later find out that the ancient Anasazi people were very versed in astronomy and the telling of times and seasons, as well understanding and predicting astronomical events.

Actually, these sticks show up in at least two places in the upper chamber.