Mesa Verde
Montezuma County, Colorado
History of Mesa Verde
On June 29, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established Mesa Verde National Park to "preserve the works of man," the first national park of its kind. Today, the continued preservation of both cultural and natural resources is the focus of the park's research and resource management staff. Mesa Verde was established to preserve archaeological sites built by the Ancestral Puebloans who inhabited Mesa Verde for more than 700 years (550 A.D. to 1300 A.D.). Mesa Verde has over 4,700 archaeological sites including 600 cliff dwellings and the top sites of pithouses, pueblos, masonry towers, and farming structure, with many more yet to be discovered. For the first six centuries, they primarily lived on the mesa tops. It was not until the final 75 to 100 years that they constructed and lived in the cliff dwellings. For more than 700 years they and their descendants lived and flourished in this region, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Then, in the late A.D. 1200s, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away. The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde are some of the most notable and best preserved ruins in the North American continent. Mesa Verde is also best know for these caves.
Geological Check Points
Climate in Mesa Verde
Wildlife In Mesa Verde
Plants and Trees in Mesa Verde
Some shenanigans to do:
- Visit the Different Cliff Dwellings
- Take the 700 years tour
- Hike trails like the Knife Edge trail, Point lookout trail, and Prater Ridge Trail
Problems Mesa Verde is facing today
- Large scale wildfires that have destroyed more than 35,000 acres of forest and shrub lands
- Nonnative organisms moving in to the park
- Pollution from near and far, and incompatible uses of resources in and around parks
Work cited
United States. National Park Service. "Photo Gallery (U.S. National Park Service)." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 05 Dec. 2015. Web. 05 Dec. 20, 2015.
More trees than shrubs. "More Trees and Shrubs That Grow Well in Colorado." More Trees and Shrubs That Grow Well in Colorado. CSU/Denver County Extension Master Gardener 2010, 5 Jan. 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.
Aramark. "Exhibits." - Mesa Verde National Park. National Parks Services, 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.
Fewkes, J.W. with introduction by Larry Nordby. Mesa Verde Ancient Architecture. Avanyu Publishing Inc., 1999.