Visits to Sacred Sites

Paperbound, 80 pages, with original color photographs

With a combination of reverence and humor, Panther-Yates takes us on a tour of the Four Corners’ world-renowned – and lesser known – ancient sites. Originally published in the Santa Fe Sun-News, these columns testify to New Mexico’s undeniable power and mystery.

In addition to the usual Native American dances, kiva mysteries and petroglyphs, the author introduces us to the offbeat spiritualities of the Muslim-like Penitentes of Abiquiu, Chimayo’s santeros and a teaching coven of witches in Taos. We visit a Sikh temple, study the Phoenician Hebrew Ten Commandments Stone in Los Lunas and explore the hippie nirvana of Santa Fe.

From the Foreword

These articles with their accompanying photographs were published in the Sun-News over the years from 2004 to 2007. They began when my wife and I moved to Santa Fe in September 2004—unintentionally, I should add, because we originally had our sights set on Phoenix. When we got to Clines Corner in the U-Haul truck we veered off the highway to visit the City of the Holy Faith and stayed.The definition of “sacred site” is a rather loose one. As an American Indian, I regarded every site inhabited by my people as sacred, consecrated by the sheer fact that indigenous tribes had lived there. This was especially the case in the Southwest with its fantastic ruins, admired all over the world as high points of Native North American civilization. I went to pay homage to the ancestors.There are too many people to thank for the opportunity to visit these places and make this record available to the reader. My chief thanks go to Skip Whitson, publisher of the Sun-News, who printed the pieces, and to Orlando Vigil, who took me to La Bajada and served as a constant source of local information for all the following excursions. I cannot adequately express my appreciation towards all the correspondents and experts who verified historical and linguistic interpretations. To my wife, Teresa Panther-Yates, I am also most grateful.

Contents

• Petroglyph National Monument
• Shadows of Chaco Canyon
• Quetzalcoatl’s Cave
• Coatis on La Bajada
• Hopi
• Abiquiu
• Hidden Mountain
• Diablo Canyon
• Pecos Pueblo
• Mesa Verde
• Inscription Rock
• Doorway to Mimbres
• Sky City
• Fossil Corn at Jémez
• Nava Adé
• Sandia
• Witches and Angels at Taos
• Mount Wheeler
• Chimayo
• Jemez Springs
• Tent Rocks
• Hovenweep
• Aztec Ruins
• City of the Holy Faith

(Also available in hardcover editions from our publisher)

DONALD PANTHER-YATES was born in Cedartown, Georgia, and earned a doctorate in classical studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of The Los Lunas Mystery Stone, The Bear Went Over the Mountain, a history of Cherokee families (including his own) that remained in the East after Indian Removal, When Scotland Was Jewish (with Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman) and numerous publications in American Indian studies. He lives in Phoenix.

Click here to purchase audiobooks

By Donald N. Panther-Yates, donpanther

Panther-Yates takes us on a wild tour of the Four Corners’ world-renowned – and lesser known – ancient sites. Originally published in the Santa Fe Sun-News, these columns testify to New Mexico’s undeniable power, mystery and offbeat nature.

In addition to the usual Native American dances, kiva mysteries and petroglyphs, the author introduces us to the weird spiritualities of the Muslim-like Penitentes of Abiquiu, Chimayo’s santeros and a teaching coven of witches in Taos. We visit a Sikh temple, study the Decalogue Stone outside Los Lunas and explore the hippie nirvana of Santa Fe.

About the Author

Donald Panther-Yates was born in 1950 and is of one-quarter American Indian descent (Cherokee-Choctaw). His first book was The Bear Went over the Mountain, a genealogy and social history of the Yates family of Virginia. His latest book is Old World Roots of the Cherokee: How DNA, Ancient Alphabets and Religion Explain the Origins of America’s Largest Indian Nation (forthcoming from McFarland in Spring 2012). He lives in Phoenix.

Click here to purchase audiobooks

By Donald Panther-Yates

E-Book, 80 pages, with original color photographs

Let Panther-Yates takes you on a tour of the Four Corners’ famous and infamous ancient sites. Originally published in the Santa Fe Sun-News, these columns testify to New Mexico’s undeniable power, mystery and enchantment.

In addition to the usual Native American dances, kiva mysteries and petroglyphs, the author introduces us to the offbeat spiritualities of the Muslim-like Penitentes of Abiquiu, Chimayo’s santeros and a teaching coven of witches in Taos. We visit a Sikh temple, study the Phoenician Hebrew Ten Commandments Stone in Los Lunas and explore the hippie nirvana of Santa Fe.

Click here to purchase audiobooks