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Why
Mesa Verde
is special
Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado has fascinating cliff houses.
It also gives visitors a unique glimpse of the 700-year civilization of the
Native Americans named the Ancestral Pueblo People who built the structures. They thrived
and disappeared before Columbus set sail.
The most famous
attractions
Over 600 cliff house sites have been found along the overhanging canyon walls.
Below are the best known ones (the first three are at the mesa named Chapin, the
most popular destination in Mesa Verde).
 Cliff
Palace (see photo) - This well-preserved multi-storied building complex has
over 200 rooms plus some towers. It is nearly everyone's favorite.
Balcony
House - The 45-room multiplex nests high up a steep canyon wall.
Square
Tower House - This 60-room development has the highest tower in Mesa Verde.
Other
must-see cliff houses include Spruce
Tree House and Long House.
Mesa Verde
tips & insights
All
cliff houses were built during the last two centuries of the Ancestral Pueblo
People's 700-year primacy. See the "history in brief" section below for more
details.
You
may enter a cliff house only on a ranger-led tour. They are available during
warm weather months for the Cliff Palace and Balcony House. Square Tower House
is off limits.
Note
that these tours can be strenuous because of the high altitude (2400 meters or
8,000 feet). Moreover, they are not for the acrophobic, claustrophobic, or
unsure-footed. You climb tall ladders and sharply inclined steps - and walk by
deep drop offs - and sometimes crawl through snug tunnels.
Tickets
are sold at the Visitor Center on the day of the tour. In summer, line waits
can be long and tickets go fast - get there early.
Cliff Palace and Square Tower House
(west
and southwest facing) are best photographed in
the late afternoon. Balcony House (east facing ) is best shot in the morning light.
The
Spanish explorers named this region Mesa Verde ("green mesa") because unlike
most mesas, its flat-topped elevated terrain is well forested.
Mesa
Verde attracts 600,000 visitors per year.
Mesa Verde
history in brief
Archaeologists
originally called the inhabitants the "Anasazi". Today, the preferred name is
"Ancestral Pueblo People" or, more simply, "Ancient Puebloans".
Very
little is known about the Ancestral Pueblo People lifestyles and history
because they left no written record. However, archaeologists are able to create
a timeline of their ancient development by analyzing evidence
such as pottery fragments, tree lines, and construction design.
The
Mesa Verde dwelling styles date back to different times. Up until around 750
A.D., pithouses (partially recessed into the ground) on the mesa tops prevailed.
Two reconstructed ones are open to the public. From 750 to 1100 A.D.,
above-the-ground stone structures on the mesa tops were prevalent. From 1100 to
1300 A.D. (the Classical Pueblo Period), the inhabitants preferred living in
cliff houses instead of mesa-top homes.
The
Ancient Puebloans mysteriously abandoned Mesa Verde some 700 years ago.
Their forsaken buildings were not discovered until 1888 when two cowboys
searching for stray cattle happened upon them.
Why
did the inhabitants leave? Where did they go? No one knows for sure, but expert
consensus believes the answers are "extended devastating drought",
"ideological strife", and "merged
into the nearby Hopi and Pueblo tribes".
 
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