Daily Postcard: Rounding a corner on the Main Pueblo Loop Trail at Bandelier National Monument, hikers see a standing stone structure – this is Talus House, a reconstruction of one of the many buildings that would have stood in front of many of the cavates (human-excavated cavities) along the cliffs here in Frijoles Canyon. Cavates (CAVE-eights) more often served as storage units or some were kivas (centers for religious and social activities). Structures similar to Talus House were frequently the living quarters. However, during the over 400 years that the Ancestral Pueblo people lived here, the purpose of any given structure may have changed many times. The term cavate was established during the archeological work by Edgar Lee Hewett on the Pajarito Plateau. Talus House was reconstructed in 1920 to give visitors an idea of what these living quarters would have looked like. Courtesy/BNM