Mesa Verde

Not that much is actually known about the ancesteral Pueblo and what is known is sometimes based around educated guesswork.

What we do know is, the ancesteral Pueblo civilisation was one of four peoples who occupied the American Southwest from the prehistoric period onwards. The name recently given to these people is 'Anasazi' which is actually a Navajo name.

Mesa Verde, Spanish for 'Green Table', was occupied from the early years after Christ to around the thirteenth Century. The reasoning behind the abandonment of the site is highly contested, with experts from different quarters arguing over the facts.

Many believe that the migration of more volatile and aggressive civilisations into the region, forced the ancesteral Pueblos to migrate further south, while others believe that climate change in the the Americas, which happened around 1150AD (the same climate shift which helped to bring down the Lake Titicaca civilisation of the Tiwanaku), affected the rainfall and led to the abandonment of the site for a more agreeable environment.

The cultural high of the City was in the period between 900 and 1140AD, when bigger settlements were built, long trade networks were established and domesticated animals were kept. Previous to this new period, settlements were smaller and generally were only inhabited for around thirty years. This new epoch brought about a new architectural style which we are left with today.

The most recognised of all the cliff dwellings of the Pueblos is the 'Cliff Palace', which was carved 89 feet deep and 59 feet high into the rock. The use for many of the rooms in the Palace are still a mystery to us, though they are large open spaces which could have been important for religious reasons.

Out of the 150 rooms in the complex, there are many storage rooms which were designed to keep away moisture and pests from the newly gathered harvests.

The growth of Mesa Verde, was probably helped along by the movement of Pueblo peoples who moved to the Mesa Tops in the 1200s. It is thought that this could be due to the arrival of Shoshone and Ute Amerindians who moved into the area, causing the settled Pueblo to flee to the less arable lands around Mesa Verde.

There is scarcely a tract on the Colorado Plateau that does not have evidence of human occupation. Many of the richest remains have been found in the Mesa Verde Province, which covers southwestern Colorado and adjacent parts of New Mexico and Utah. The archaeology of the north edge of the Southwest began in 1849 with the discovery of Chaco Canyon by the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. By the end of the nineteenth century the form of archaeology known as pot hunting was well under way. In "Troweling Through Time", Florence Lister tells the story of the archaeology of the area. In 1907 Edgar Hewett, director of the School of American Research, recruited three Harvard undergraduates to survey the ruins.

These novices, Sylvanus Morley, Alfred Kidder, and John Gould Fletcher, were followed by other field workers whose names are just as legendary today. Lister explains what these people found and what it meant. She traces the story through the twentieth century, during which time archaeology became a science and women gained acceptance in the profession. The story goes through the work of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, which has taken the study of the Southwest beyond archaeology, inviting representatives of the region's modern tribes to offer their perspectives on the past. Lister's presentation will be of interest to professional and amateur archaeologists, tourists, and historians.

Discusses the native Americans known as the Anasazi, who migrated to southwestern Colorado in the first century A.D. and mysteriously disappeared in 1300 A.D. after constructing extensive dwellings in the cliffs of the steep canyon walls. This book has some older ideas about what happened to the Ancesteral Pueblo and therefore some of it, I believe, can be discounted, though the information on the structures of Mesa Verde is first class.

With the climate change of the Twelfth Century and the migration of more aggressive Amerindian groups, the inhabitants of Mesa Verde and the local areas were forced to live a harder life. With so much against them, the Pueblo decided to leave their dry and violent homeland and move to somewhere more acceptable.

This is when the Ancesteral Pueblo moved into the Southwest, around the modern States of Arizona and New Mexico. Here, the rainfall was more encouraging and the streams more dependable for the inhabitants.

None of this is known for certain, though the modern Pueblo people like the Hopi and Keresans believe that their ancestors originally came form Mesa Verde. This idea comes down through their oral history and is also a favoured theory by many anthropologists.

Mesa Verde National Park is located in Montezuma County, Colarado. The closest Town to the Mesa Verde site is Cortez, which is a perfect base for trips to other Puebloan ruins, as well as the Four corners National Monument.

There are daily flights to Cortez municipal airport from Denver, so a flight from anywhere in the United States can be organised. I recommend Travelocity as they have always been very good to me and you will be able to find some great prices.




A perfect vacation idea could be to split your time between Denver and Cortez, depending on what your interests are and how long you have.

If you just want to stay in Cortez, there are plenty of options for other excursions including the Beautiful San Juan National Forest and the Ute Mountain Tribal Park.

Hotels.com is the perfect place to find accommodation, I haven't found a destination (within reson of course) that they have not got a Hotel/Motel/Lodge for. They have good prices and are quick and easy to use.




There is plnety of accommodation options in Cortez and the surrounding area, it is just a case of finding the right place for you.

If you rent a car for the duration of your stay, then the options you have are opened up and you can make your vacation a roadtrip around this culturally and historically rich region.