There are nineteen National Park Service units in the Southwest which preserve ancient settlements, from the world famous Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado to lesser known, more remote locations like Hovenweep National Monument, on the Utah/Colorado border. Many other historic sites are part of larger, landscape-based NPS preserves such as Canyonlands National Park, and so still subject to some degree of protection, white thousands more are scattered across public and state lands where regulations are more limited.

The majority of these archaeological sites are found on the Colorado Plateau of north Arizona, south Utah, northwest New Mexico and southwest Colorado. The best place, with the most concentrated, numerous and well-preserved relics, is Cedar Mesa, where ruins and rock art are found along the major canyon of Grand Gulch, and dozens of tributary ravines - but there are many more locations. Although all archaeological sites viewable by the casual hiker are likely already to have been investigated, recorded and in some cases excavated and stabilized, it is the responsibility of the visitor to treat them with care and respect. Many of the areas are still considered sacred by modern Native Americans.

All archaeological sites included on this website are already relatively well known, documented in guidebooks or on other websites. Ruin and rock art sites are described in some detail, though topographic maps (and GPS coordinates) are not given, so some effort may be required to locate a particular place.