7 독특한 장소: 미국에서 발견된 놀라운 원주민 유적지

작성자 / 편집자: Leyla Akın•12 October 2026

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According to a report published on the site, the pre-historic period of Native Americans dates back decades, and research suggests that prehistoric humans have been in the Americas for much longer than most scholars believe. On Indigenous Peoples Day, seven regions in the United States stand out for their stories of Native Americans. 1. Chaco Canyon (New Mexico) This settlement, which was established many years ago, may have been named after the Spanish word for “Native,” and it was the center of the Old Pueblo people from around 850 to 1250 CE. At its heart is Pueblo Bonito (“Beautiful Village”), a four-story stone structure with more than 600 rooms and 35 underground ceremonial chambers called kivas. Experts estimate that the builders carried more than 200,000 wooden logs from distant mountains to construct these complex structures; the logs were used to reinforce buildings made of blocks of sandstone. The town was once at the center of trade routes stretching more than 400 miles (640 kilometers), and excavations of imported Mexican parrots and cacao confirm trade with distant regions. 2. Cahokia (Illinois) Cahokia was the largest Native American settlement in northern Mexico and housed up to 40,000 people in 1100 CE — comparable in size to large cities in the Middle Ages in Europe. Strobel, a historian and Native American historian at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, told Live Science: “It’s an incredibly important site.”

5. Walnut Canyon (Arizona)

Locals lived in houses called “wattle and daub” — a frame of sticks plastered with clay or mortar — along with large circular fields, wooden palisades, and dozens of ceremonial earthen mounds. According to excavation studies, many people from far away also visited to attend ceremonies. The area now includes a park and a reconstructed “woodhenge” of wooden circles that follow sunrises and sunsets, along with a 100-foot (30-meter) stepped earth structure called Monks Mound. Strobel thinks Cahokia may have been the most important site in the United States before the colony.

3. Mound Key (Estero Bay, Florida)

Mound Key was the largest Native American settlement around Estero Bay. For long periods, it was made up of two small islands covered in mangroves, but over the centuries, feasts on shellfish built the area into two mounds covered in vegetation. In some places, the mounds rise more than 30 feet (9 meters) above the water; they are now so large that they are only divided in half by high water.

Before Europeans arrived in the 16th century, this shelled island was called Calos and was transformed by its inhabitants into a living maritime city. Mound Key itself is estimated to be made up of several million shells; most of them oysters.

4. Sitka (Alaska)

Sitka National Historical Park preserves the battlefield of the 1804 Battle of Sitka, the last major armed conflict between European settlers and the people of Alaska. At the time, Russia claimed Alaska (they sold it to the United States in 1867). The conflict began in 1802 when Russian merchants built a fort in Sitka, entering the tribal lands, but the Tlingit warriors destroyed their enemy’s fort and drove them out. They rebuilt it to withstand the expected Russian attack, but they were forced to abandon it when it was bombed by Russian ships in 1804. The dispute was not resolved until the United States purchased Alaska, which was only fully resolved at that time.

5. Walnut Canyon (Arizona)

This area preserves cliff dwellings built by the Kuzay Sinagua people between A.D. 1125 and 1250. People can reach the site by walking along a deep sandstone and sand dune canyon about 10 miles southeast of Flagstaff. The cliff dwellings were built in natural caves within the sandstone; this provided them with insulation from cold and heat, and their high locations on the canyon floor served as defense against attacks. Strobel said that Walnut Canyon is a lesser-known site, but it is an outstanding example of Native Americans who, despite relatively dry conditions, managed water management skillfully. Those living in the caves grew crops on the flat land along the canyon edge, but they drew water from the stream at the base of the canyon to fill their cisterns.