Rock formations and artifacts.

The rock formations are described below. The inset shows four of Amerind's artifacts on display at
our Museum. Two of these are from AD 1096 - 1250, one is from 1800, and the fourth is from circa 1900.

"Geologists call this rock quartz monzonite, but it’s often simply called granite, and this
particular body of rock is the Texas Canyon quartz monzonite. Quartz monzonite is an igneous rock,
formed from molten rock (magma), which crystallized as it cooled slowly beneath the earth’s surface.
In Texas Canyon, the intrusion of the magma did not reach the earth’s surface.
The intrusion of magma occured in pulses over a period of time, crystalizing between 50 and 55
million years ago. The last dinosaurs were extinct 10 million years before these rocks were formed.
The dramatic pedestal rocks, spires, and balanced boulders that characterize the distinctive
landscape at Amerind and throughout the outcrop area of the Texas Canyon quartz monzonite achieved
their forms as the rock around them disintegrated. As the land surface was slowly lowered by erosion,
the more resistant rocks remained high. The surrounding rocks generally weather differently because
they are finer-grained and formed in a different geologic environment, thus creating a landscape of
different appearance." by W. Scott Baldridge, Geologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.