Mesa Verde, CO National Park

Mesa Verde, the first National Park set aside for the "preservation... of the sites and the other works and relics of prehistoric man. In the sixth century A.D., the Anasazi, or "Ancient Ones," established villages on the high, flat land in southwestern Colorado. At first, they lived in caves and in low shelters built over pits on the mesa top. In the late 1100s they began constructing multistory stone apartment houses or pueblos tucked in on ledges and under rock overhangs. Some 3,800 sites have been recorded, including one particular complex, today called the Cliff Palace, comprising more than 200 rooms.

Balcony House

The people who lived in Mesa Verde archaeologists call the "Anasazi," a Navajo Indian word meaning "ancient ones" or "ancient foreigners." The Anasazi had no association with the modern day Navajo people. We use a Navajo word to refer to them because we don't know what these early inhabitants called themselves. They  moved up onto the mesa somewhere around A.D. 500. Although  they used the cliff alcoves consistently throughout the time that they  were in the area, they did not build the cliff dwellings as such until around A.D. 1200. The dwellings represent a massive construction  project, yet the Anasazi lived in them only about 75 to 100 years  because by A.D. 1300 they had abandoned the area. As you walk  through Cliff Palace, keep in mind that this structure continues to  hold many secrets which the archaeologists will never be able to  unravel. For all of our advanced research and knowledge, we cannot  answer certain basic questions about these ancient residents.

The majority of alcoves are small crevices or ledges able to accommodate only a few small rooms. Very few are large enough to house a dwelling the size of Cliff Palace which contains 217 rooms and 23 kivas and had a population of 200-250 people. This is partially why out of the nearly 600 cliff dwellings concentrated within the boundaries of the park, 75% contain only 1-5 rooms each, and many are single room storage units. You will be entering an exceptionally large dwelling which may have had special significance even for the original occupants.

Mesa Verde NP
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