The name Hovenweep is from the Paiute and Ute language which means Deserted Valley. The one who first named this location by that name was pioneer and photographer William Jackson, who journeyed through this area in the early 1870s. He said, Yes, it is an apt description because, as you scan the vast and lonely expanse here in this extraordinary place, it is hard to imagine that these solitary canyons once echoed with the cries and laughter of hundreds of men, women and children.

Hovenweep ruins was established as a National Monument in 1923, and this park preserves what archeologist consider to be the finest examples of Anasazi (ancestral Puebloan) masonry found anywhere. Whether multi-story towers standing alone along canyon rims, or ingeniously engineered structures perched upon massive boulders or upon ledges along the canyon rim, these ruins evoke feelings of wonder at the motivations and resourcefulness of their buildings.

Located in the Little Ruin Canyon on the Cajon Mesa of the Great Sage Plain, the waters flowing from the Little Ruin Canyon join the McElmo river and then join the San Juan river at Aneth, Utah.

The stone stackers came to the Little Ruin Canyon around the year 700 CE most likely because the populations in other settlements were becoming crowded, a determination that a wayfarer can relate to. As the decades and centuries continued, more and more of the stone stackers came to the Cajon Mesa area in search of a homestead.

Once home to over 2,500 people, Hovenweep includes six prehistoric villages built prior to 1300 CE. The settlements on Cajon Mesa include from the northernmost site and then in a southwest direction to the southernmost site:

(1) Cutthroat Castle Group, (37.443557, -108.982989)

(2) Hackberry and Horseshoe Group, (37.409319, -109.027450)

(3) Holly Group, (37.399262, -109.041402)

(4) Square Tower Group, Little Ruin Canyon. (37.389641, -109.079971)

(5) Cajon Group, (37.299256, -109.184063)

(6) Goodman Point Group, (no longer available)

The slots in the walls and doors of Hovenweep Castle have been shown to define an apparent solar calendar. The building is aligned so that light is channeled through openings into the building at sunset and or sunrise of the summer solstice, the winter solstice and the spring and fall equinox.

The sun light during those precise moments falls in a predictable pattern on interior door lintels and specific locations within the astronomical observatory.

Square Tower ruins is the largest collection of stone stacker buildings at Hovenweep and is believed to have a populated of up to 500 people. It is made up of Square Tower, Tower Point, and Twin Towers ruin groups. Towers have limited access, contain few windows and many have narrow slots or peepholes placed in the walls.

Towers at Hovenweep were built in a variety of shapes; D-shapes, squares, ovals and circles. There are also structures used as kivas, residential rooms and storage rooms.