Mesa Verde National Park

The second week of our summer 2010 vacation was spent in the south west corner of Colorado, near Mesa Verde National Park. Up until recently, I didn't know about this park or that there are ancient cliff dwellings in America. It was an amazing place to visit.

We learned that Ancestral Puebloans lived in this area of North America for hundreds of years. They built homes on top of the land. The geography worked well for them to grow food. And, amazingly, the population in that area was higher at that time than it is now. Around 1200 AD they decided to build some of their homes in the openings of the cliffs. No one seems to understand why they did this as life would have been more difficult for them because they had to carry everything up or down the cliffs to get it home. About 70 years later they left and no one really knows why. It wasn't until the late 19th century that these dwellings were discovered.

The dwellings were in poor shape when they were found but archiologists have been able to reconstruct and preserve portions of the dwellings. They continue to find important archiological sites in park and I think they said that they currently have over 4000.

There are cliff dwellings that can be viewed from a distance, some that can be toured for a small fee, and the Spruce Tree House can be visited without an extra fee. This is the first one that we saw...

ALL OF THE PHOTOS CAN BE ENLARGED TO SEE MORE DETAIL BY CLICKING ON THEM.


All of the dwellings have kivas. They are usually in a lower level, round, and had tops on them. They were used for spiritual ceremonies, to keep warm, and even for weaving. They rebuilt the top of one at Spruce Tree House and allow visitors to go inside. Pretty cool, huh?!...


This kiva is from another dwelling and is slightly square. However, they all had some of the same features...the large hole was for the fire; the little wall in front of it directed air away from the fire and around the kiva to circulate, ventilate, provide oxygen for the fire, and it kept air from hitting the fire directly which could spread ashes around the room; the hole on the other side of that wall is where the air came in from above; and the small hole on the bottom of the photo is the spirit hole. They believed that their ancestors entered and exited the underworld through that hole. There is a spirit hole in every Kiva...


Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America...


It's pretty amazing!


Check out the huge boulder they incorporated into the room at the center. And, notice the size of the people in comparison to Cliff Palace.


Parts of these dwellings were multi-storied. This one had an opening to look inside. This photo is looking up into it. There are pictographs on the walls.


The Ancestral Puebloans had to work hard to get to their dwellings by climbing up or down the cliff walls using hand and footholds and some trails.


It's a lot easier for visitors to enter the dwellings now. There are rock steps and paths and ladders...one ladder in Balcony House is 32' high! This is a shorter one that I'm climbing...


In Balcony House visitors can experience climbing through small doors and tunnels...


This photo was taken at "Balcony House". I like this display of grinding stones with different colors. Notice the tube/cave at the back of the dwelling that served as one of the rooms...


This is Long House. If you enlarge the picture, you may be able to see that they even built rooms in the cracks/openings above the main part of the dwelling...


The openings in the cliffs that they built their dwellings in were created over millions of years by erosion from water seeping through the sandstone, hitting a layer of shale and moving outward carrying sandstone with it. After the large openings were created, water continued to seep through at the back of the opening and it provided a source of water for the inhabitants. Long House still has some water seeping out...


This photo shows how they would carve channels and holes in the sandstone to try to capture and hold the precious water...


I think that Long House has more kivas than any of the others dwellings.


More rooms and kivas in Long House...


We were told that some of the kivas had secret passageways. This may have been one of them at Long House...


People would come to these cliff dwellings from all around for celebrations and ceremonies. This block was built on the main level of Long House, where celebrations were held. The sides are exactly aligned with north, south, east, and west. They must have really understood the stars!


Mesa Verde National Park was fascinating. We learned so much and we look at a lot of things very differently now because of what we learned. It's also a very beautiful park. This is a turnout at the north end. The rocks, the flowers, and the views are amazing!


Next stop...Durango and Silverton!