Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park is a national park in southwest Colorado, in the United States. The park occupies 81.4 square miles (211 square kilometers). and features numerous ruins of homes and villages built by ancient Pueblo peoples. It is well known for several spectacular cliff dwellings including Cliff Palace, which is thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America.

Geography

Elevation in the park ranges from about 6,100 feet (1,860 meters) to about 8,400 feet (2,560 meters). The terrain in much of the park is dominated by ridges and valleys running roughly north and south; many of these ridges peak at an east–west crest near the park's northern border, which turns more northerly–southerly towards the park entrance. The northernmost point is 13.2 miles (21.2 kilometers) farther north than the southernmost; the westernmost point is 11.9 miles (19.2 kilometers) farther west than the easternmost.

Early history

Spanish explorers traveling to California during the 1500s were the first Europeans to reach the Mesa Verde region, which they named because of the flat, tree-covered landscape. However, they never got close enough to see the stone villages, and it is not known whether the villages were still inhabited at that time.

Richard Wetherill, a Colorado rancher, happened across the dwellings at Mesa Verde on December 18, 1888, when he spotted them from the top of the mesa. The Wetherhill family and their neighbors explored the ruins, dug, knocked down walls and roofs, and gathered artifacts. The Wetherills sold part of their finds to the Historical Society of Colorado but kept a still larger collection. Initially, although they were being popularized throughout the United States, the ruins weren't well studied or protected.

Mountaineer, photographer and author Frederick H. Chapin visited the region during 1889 and 1890, using the Wetherill family as guides. Although active in exploring and photographing the sites, Chapin did not excavate ruins or collect artifacts. He did, however, photograph artifacts collected by the Wetherills. He also assessed the climbing possibilities of mesas and peaks in the area. He described the landscape and ruins in an 1890 article and later in a 1892 book, The Land of the Cliff-Dwellers, illustrated with hand drawn maps and Chapin's photographs. Chapin Mesa, which shelters many of the best known cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, is named for him.

Mesa Verde was also explored by Gustaf Nordenskiöld, the son of polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, in 1891. He too made the Wetherill ranch his headquarters, and received help from Richard and Alfred Wetherill and their workmen. Nordenskiöld continued excavations begun by the Wetherill's on the impressive Cliff Palace. According to Robert H. Lister, Southwestern archaeologist and historian, Nordenskiöld unfortunately did considerable damage to the archaeological integrity of the site as he dug and gathered artifacts. He also excavated at a number of other ruins.

Superintendent Hans Randolph of Mesa Verde National Park later described the cumulative vandalism at Cliff Palace:

Probably no cliff dwelling in the Southwest has been more thoroughly dug over in search of pottery and other objects for commercial purposes than Cliff Palace. Parties of "curio seekers" camped on the ruin for several winters, and it is reported that many hundred specimens therefrom have been carried down the mesa and sold to private individuals. Some of these objects are now in museums, but many are forever lost to science. In order to secure this valuable archaeological material, walls were broken down...often simply to let light into the darker rooms; floors were invariably opened and buried kivas mutilated. To facilitate this work and get rid of the dust, great openings were broken through the five walls which form the front of the ruin. Beams were used for firewood to so great an extent that not a single roof now remains. This work of destruction, added to that resulting from erosion due to rain, left Cliff Palace in a sad condition.

A large collection of Mesa Verde artifacts was taken back to Sweden and are currently held by Finland's National Museum in Helsinki. In 1893, Nordenskiöld published a popularly written, illustrated account of his investigations called The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde.

National Park

As concern grew over the archaeological well being of Mesa Verde's ruins, and those in other nearby sites, the area was established as a national park on June 29, 1906. As with all historical areas administered by the National Park Service, the park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It was designated a World Heritage Site on September 6, 1978. The park was named with the Spanish for green table because of its forests of juniper and piñon trees.

The Mesa Verde Administrative District was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1987. It consists of the first buildings constructed by the National Park Service (1921), which are based on cultural traditions represented in the park area. The principal designer believed that structures could be used for interpretive purposes to explain the construction of prehistoric dwellings in the Park, and be compatible with their natural and cultural setting.

In the summer of 2002, the park, which is covered with pine and cedar forests, suffered from a large number of forest fires; parts of it were closed. All areas of the park have since re-opened, but some areas show significant damage from the fire.

Park Services

Mesa Verde's park entrance is about 9 miles (15 kilometers) east of the community of Cortez. The visitor center is 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the entrance, and Chapin Mesa (the most popular area) is another 6 miles (10 kilometers) beyond the visitor center.

The park's Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum provides information about the Ancient Puebloan civilization and displays findings and artwork.

Three of the cliff dwellings on Chapin Mesa are open to the public. Spruce Tree House is open all year, weather permitting. Balcony House and Cliff Palace are open except in the winter; visitors may tour them only on ranger-guided tours. The cliff dwellings on Wetherill Mesa, including Long House and Step House, can be reached via a 12 mile (19.2 kilometer) long mountain road leading southwest from the park visitor center. Many other dwellings are visible from the road but not open to tourists.

In addition to the cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde boasts a number of mesa-top ruins. Examples open to public access include the Far View Complex, Cedar Tree Tower, and the Sun Temple, all on Chapin Mesa, and Badger House Community, on Wetherill Mesa.

Also in the park are hiking trails, a campground, and facilities for food, fuel, and lodging; these are unavailable in the winter.

Notable sites

Mesa Verde is best known for a large number of well preserved cliff dwellings, houses built in shallow caves along the canyon walls. For most of the 12th and 13th centuries, the Classic Period, the Ancient Puebloan Indians lived in these dwellings. The reason for their sudden departure about 1275 remains unexplained; theories range from crop failures due to droughts to an intrusion of foreign tribes from the North.

Cliff Palace: This ruin is the largest and most well known of the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde. The site has 220 identified rooms and 23 kivas. Although this and other Mesa Verde sites are large and well constructed, they demonstrate a long history of occupation and their architectural design is an aggregation of dwellings and storage spaces that developed slowly and randomly. Accurate archaeological information from this site has been limited due to several decades of digging and collecting at the turn of the Twentieth century.

Mug House: This ruin situated on Wetherill Mesa was professionally excavated in the late 1960's by archaeologist Arthur Rohn. The structure contains 94 rooms, in four levels, including a large kiva, with simple vertical walls and masonry pilasters. This ceremonial structure has a keyhole shape, due to a recess behind the fireplace and a deflector, that is considered an element of the Mesa Verde style. The rooms clustered around the kiva formed part of the courtyard, indicating the kiva would have been roofed.

Sand Canyon Pueblo: A very large open site, Sand Canyon Pueblo contains at least 420 rooms, 90 kivas, and 14 towers. The site was evidently chosen for a spring at the head of a small canyon. Excavations indicate that the pueblo was built to an architectural plan, and was constructed between 1250 and 1270. Additional residential rooms were added later. Distinct features include a D-shaped multiwalled structure and a great kiva, and characteristics which may be related to Chaco Canyon architecture.

Spruce Tree House: Located on Chapin Mesa, this cliff dwelling is easily accessible and well preserved. The ruins include a kiva with a restored roof which visitors can enter. Excavations indicate that this structure, like many other dwellings in Mesa Verde, was probably occupied for less than a century.

Square Tower House: The tower that gives this site its name is the tallest structure in Mesa Verde. This cliff dwelling was occupied between AD 1200 and 1300.

Mesa Verde Reservoirs: These ancient reservoirs, built by the Ancient Puebloans, were named a National Civil Engineering Historic Landmark on September 26, 2004.

External links

Reference

Nordenskiöld, Gustaf. Ruiner af Klippboningar I Mesa Verde's Cañons, Stockholm: P. A. Norstedt & Söners, 1893.

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