Spruce Tree House Cliff Dwellings, Ancestral Puebloan Culture, Mesa Verde National Park, Montezuma County, Colorado. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Abandoned as of approximately 1300 A.D. after being inhabited for fewer than 100 years. Prior to their construction people lived in pit houses on the top of the mesa. They grew corn, squash and beans. Dogs and turkeys were the only domesticated animals. The bow and arrow came into use around 400 A.D.
There are more than 4,500 protected sites within the park, of which 600 are cliff dwellings. Local cattlemen rediscovered the cliff dwellings in the 1880s.
Note evidence of another forest fire on the mesa top.
Spruce Tree House Cliff Dwellings, Ancestral Puebloan Culture, Mesa Verde National Park, Montezuma County, Colorado. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Abandoned as of approximately 1300 A.D. after being inhabited for fewer than 100 years. Prior to their construction people lived in pit houses on the top of the mesa. They grew corn, squash and beans. Dogs and turkeys were the only domesticated animals. The bow and arrow came into use around 400 A.D.
There are more than 4,500 protected sites within the park, of which 600 are cliff dwellings. Local cattlemen rediscovered the cliff dwellings in the 1880s.
Note evidence of another forest fire on the mesa top.