Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
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Location	Montezuma and Dolores counties, Colorado, United States
Nearest city	Cortez, CO
Coordinates	37°22′14″N 109°00′00″W / 37.370556°N 109°W / 37.370556; -109
Area	176,056 acres (71,247 ha)[1]
Established	June 9, 2000
Governing body	U.S. Bureau of Land Management
Website	Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is a national monument protecting an archaeologically significant landscape located in the southwestern region of the U.S. state of Colorado. The monument's 176,056 acres (712.47 km²)^[1] are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, as directed in the presidential proclamation which created the site on June 9, 2000.^[2] Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is part of the National Landscape Conservation System, better known as the National Conservation Lands. This system comprises 32,000,000 acres (130,000 km²) managed by the Bureau of Land Management to conserve, protect, and restore these nationally significant landscapes recognized for their outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values.^[3] Canyons of the Ancients encompasses and surrounds three of the four separate sections of Hovenweep National Monument, which is administered by the National Park Service. The monument was proclaimed in order to preserve the largest concentration of archaeological sites in the United States, primarily Ancestral Puebloan ruins. As of 2022, over 8,500 individual archeological sites had been documented within the monument.