Mesa Verde, Spanish for “green table”, offers an unparalleled opportunity to see and experience a unique cultural and physical landscape. 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 120 within the span of one or two generations, they left their homes and moved away. Established by Congress on June 29, 1906, Mesa Verde was the first cultural park set aside in the National Park System. Mesa Verde National Park was also designated as a World Cultural Heritage Site on September 8, 1978 by UNESCO, a United Nations organization formed to preserve and protect both the cultural and natural heritage of designated international sites.
The archeological sites found in Mesa Verde are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. Mesa Verde National Park offers visitors a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people. Scientists study the ancient dwellings of Mesa Verde, in part, by making comparisons between the Ancestral Pueblo people and their contemporary indigenous descendants who still live in the Southwest today. Twenty-four Native American tribes in the southwest have an ancestral affiliation with the sites at Mesa Verde.
To fully enjoy Mesa Verde National Park, plan to spend a day or two exploring its world-class archeological sites as well as its beautiful landscape.
History & Culture
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, containing 52,073 acres of Federal land, is a unit of the National Park System and the NPS, a division of the Department of Interior, administers this site. Mesa Verde, Spanish for “green table”, rises high above the surrounding country. For 750 years, the Ancestral Puebloans occupied the area within the park. From the hundreds of dwellings that remain, archeologists have compiled one of the most significant chapters in the story of prehistoric America. If you are able to leave your modern self behind and think only in the past, you may be able to understand and enjoy a fascinating story of life in earlier times.
There are over 4,000 known archeological sites in Mesa Verde National Park, 600 of which are cliff dwellings. Only a few of these sites have been excavated. Unoccupied for many centuries, they have been weakened by natural forces. Some were badly damaged by looters before the area was made a national park. Maximum protection must be given to the dwellings in order to preserve them. One regulation is strictly enforced: visitors may enter cliff dwellings ONLY when accompanied by a Park Ranger. However, there are over 20 mesa top sites and view points which may be visited on your own.
Archeological sites of many different types are accessible to visitors. They range from pithouses built during the 500′s to the cliff dwellings of the 1200′s. The cliff dwellings are the most spectacular, but the mesa top pithouses and pueblos are equally important. Seen in their chronological order, these sites show the architectural development of Mesa Verde.
The Mesa Verde area was inhabited for about 800 years by agricultural people who began to drift into the area shortly after the beginning of the Christian Era. We call the first farming people in the Mesa Verde area the Basketmakers (A. D.1-400), because weaving excellent baskets was their outstanding craft. At this early date, the people did not make pottery, build houses, or use the bow and arrow. No sites dating from the early Basketmakers have been found within the boundaries of Mesa Verde National Park.
Around the year A. D. 400, the people began to make pottery and build roofed dwellings. Around the year A. D. 750, they began to use the bow and arrow. Although the people were still the same, the culture was changing. Archeologists call these people the Modified Basket-makers (A. D. 400-750). The pithouses were built in alcoves and on the mesa tops. Scores of pithouse villages have been found on the mesas and two pithouses have been reconstructed at Mesa Verde.
Starting about A. D. 750, the people grouped their houses together to form compact villages. These have been given the name of “pueblo”, a Spanish term meaning village. The name, Developmental Pueblo (A. D. 750-1000), simply indicated that during this period there was a great deal of experimentation and development. Many types of house walls were used; adobe and poles, stone slabs topped with adobe, adobe and stones and finally layered masonry. The houses were joined together to form compact clusters around open courts. In these courts were pithouses which grew deeper and finally developed into ceremonial rooms we now refer to as kivas.
During their last century, some Pueblo Indians of Mesa Verde left the mesa tops and built their homes in the alcoves that abound in the many canyon walls. This last period marks the climax of the Pueblo culture in Mesa Verde and is known as the Classic Pueblo Period (A. D. 1100-1300). The exact number of dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park is unknown, but over 600 cliff dwellings have been documented.
Beginning in A. D. 1276, drought struck the region. For 23 years precipitation was scarce. One by one the springs dried up and the people were in serious trouble. Their only escape was to seek regions which had a more dependable water supply. People left village after village. Before the drought ended, these people had left Mesa Verde area.
Attractions
Cedar Tree Tower
Speculation has arisen as to the previous purpose of these towers: were they used for ceremonial purposes or were they part of a communication system The mystery adds to their beauty.
Chapin Mesa
Three caves at Chapin Mesa are open seasonally for visits.
Sun Temple
The Sun Temple near Cliff Palace displays the rich cultural history of this site.
Getting There
The entrance to Mesa Verde National Park is 9 miles east of Cortez and 35 miles west of Durango in Southwestern Colorado on US Highway 160.
Traveler Facts
Contact Information
Mesa Verde National Park
P. O. Box 8
Mesa Verde National Park, CO 81330-0008
Phone: 970-529-4465
Visitors Centers
Far View Visitor Center (open only in the summer) has publications to help you plan your visit. Also visit the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum (open all year).
Operating Hours & Seasons
Mesa Verde National Park is open year-round.
Permits
All hikers at Mesa Verde National Park must register at the visitor center and obtain permits before their excursions.
Weather/Climate
Mesa Verde National Park generally has mild weather during the summer months and during some winters.
Snow storms may occur as late as May and as early as October, but usually both of these months are pleasant. Summer days (June through September) are generally warm to hot with cool evenings. afternoon thunder showers are common during July and August.
The park receives approximately 18 inches of precipitation each year. Almost half of the precipitation comes in the form of snow. The average snow fall varies between 80 to 100 inches per year.
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