From about 600 AD to 1300 AD, the ancestral Pueblo people occupied a wide swath of mixed terrain in southwestern Utah and southeastern Colorado. They were peaceful agrarians, raising corn, beans and squash on the fertile—but dry—land. Some of their villages were established on two mesas which now comprise most of Mesa Verde National Park.
The earliest Pueblans built their villages with local sandstone bricks using stone tools. By about 1300, they began to build their villages in the protected rock overhangs of the mesas—some housing as many as 150 individuals. Why they moved from brick structures to cliff dwellings is not known. By the end of the 1300s, the entire population of Pueblans had migrated south and are considered to be the ancestors of the Hopi and Zuni peoples.
Mesa Verde NP is dedicated to preserving the culture and artifacts of the ancestral Pueblans. Access to many sites is by distant view only, and access to cliff sites can be quite strenuous—but well worth the effort.
Pictures don’t do it justice, but here goes…
The Cliff Palace, one of the few sites that you can inspect up close (but under strict range-ledr guidance). Over 120 rooms housing over 150 individuals. Access is by some very steep stairs, some crevices in the cliffs with handholds and footholds, and four 10-foot ladders. What you see is only part of the village. The overhang extends back 90 feet and houses kivas, storerooms. and dwellings.Cliff Palace detail. The round structures are kivas, family spaces used for ceremonies but also for daily work and socialization. They were roofed with logs and mud and access either by a ladder through the smoke hole or by tunnels.Kiva detail with fire pit. The square hole is a tunnel that connects to another kiva.I had to wait for everyone to clear out to get this photo.The Balcony House, also accessible by ladders and handholds.House of Many Windows from across the canyon. Not accessibleThe Step House, a relatively easy (but steep) half mile walk from the top of the mesa.A reconstructed pit house, Step House.Far View Village, with intricate stonework typical of the pre-cliff dwelling period.Far View Village kiva.Pipe Shrine Village, looking toward Far View.Coyote Village, part of the Far View settlement.Kivas detail, Coyote Village.Bins for grinding grain, Coyote Village.
