Mesa Verde National Park Entrance Sign (CO) August 2013
Per Wikipedia:
"Located in Montezuma County (CO/USA), Mesa Verde National Park is part of the U.S. National Park System and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States. The park was created in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, to protect some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world, or as he said, "preserve the works of man".
As a result, it is the first, and still only, cultural National Park set aside by the National Park System, occupying 81.4 square miles near the Four Corners area of CO, UT, AZ and NM, and featuring numerous ruins of homes and villages built by the Ancestral Puebloan people, sometimes called the Anasazi. There are over four thousand archaeological sites and over six hundred cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people at the site.
The Anasazi inhabited Mesa Verde between 600 to 1300. They were mainly subsistence farmers, growing crops on nearby mesas. Their primary crop was corn, the major part of their diet. Men were also hunters, which further increased their food supply. The women of the Anasazi are famous for their elegant basket weaving. Anasazi pottery is as famous as their baskets; their artifacts are highly prized. The Anasazi kept no written records.
By the year 750, the people were building mesa-top villages made of adobe. In the late 1190s, they began to build the cliff dwellings for which Mesa Verde is famous.
These cliff dwellings are structures built within caves and under outcroppings in cliffs — including Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America.
The Spanish term 'Mesa Verde' translates into English as 'green table'."
DSC_0071
Mesa Verde National Park Entrance Sign (CO) August 2013
Per Wikipedia:
"Located in Montezuma County (CO/USA), Mesa Verde National Park is part of the U.S. National Park System and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States. The park was created in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, to protect some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world, or as he said, "preserve the works of man".
As a result, it is the first, and still only, cultural National Park set aside by the National Park System, occupying 81.4 square miles near the Four Corners area of CO, UT, AZ and NM, and featuring numerous ruins of homes and villages built by the Ancestral Puebloan people, sometimes called the Anasazi. There are over four thousand archaeological sites and over six hundred cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people at the site.
The Anasazi inhabited Mesa Verde between 600 to 1300. They were mainly subsistence farmers, growing crops on nearby mesas. Their primary crop was corn, the major part of their diet. Men were also hunters, which further increased their food supply. The women of the Anasazi are famous for their elegant basket weaving. Anasazi pottery is as famous as their baskets; their artifacts are highly prized. The Anasazi kept no written records.
By the year 750, the people were building mesa-top villages made of adobe. In the late 1190s, they began to build the cliff dwellings for which Mesa Verde is famous.
These cliff dwellings are structures built within caves and under outcroppings in cliffs — including Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America.
The Spanish term 'Mesa Verde' translates into English as 'green table'."
DSC_0071