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Mesa Verde
National Park, Colorado |
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 The
culture represented at Mesa Verde reflects more than 700 years of
history. From approximately A.D. 600 through A.D. 1300 people lived and
flourished in communities throughout the area, eventually building
elaborate stone villages in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls.
Today most people call these sheltered villages "cliff dwellings". The
cliff dwellings represent the last 75 to 100 years of occupation at Mesa
Verde. In the late 1200s within the span of one or two generations, they
left their homes and moved away (http://www.nps.gov/meve/). |
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The
archeological sites found in Mesa Verde are some of the most notable and
best preserved in the United States. |
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Exploring some of the cliff
dwellings require climbing ladders and squeezing through small
holes. Exploring these areas requires a Ranger and there are a set
of daily tour times that you sign up at the Visitor Center.
Balcony House is the most
adventuresome tour. |
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The entrance to the park is 9 miles east
of Cortez and 35 miles west of Durango in Southwestern Colorado on US
Highway 160.
Twenty-four Native American tribes in the southwest have an
ancestral affiliation with the sites at Mesa Verde.
Mesa Verde National Park was established in 1906 to preserve
sites built by "Pre-Columbian Indians" on mesa tops and in
canyon alcoves. The park contains 52,073 acres of Federal
land, |
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current habitants of Mesa Verde and of other National Parks are very brash and sometimes not timid
of humans. People feed them all the time and so they sometimes expect
food. Making a clucking sound will bring a brigade of them. Signs are
posted not to feed the animals. |
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Current habitant
of Mesa Verde |
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Mesa Verde Quick Facts:
National Park Designation: June 29,
1906
Mesa Verde NP contains 52,073 acres of
Federal land.
There are
over 4,000 known archeological sites in Mesa Verde National Park, 600 of
which are cliff dwellings. |
