Raye's History House

Mesa Verde is a series of cliff dwellings created by the Ancestral Pueblo in southwestern Colorado near the modern city of Cortez in Montezuma county. The people of this area were skilled basket makers, architects, potters, mathematicians, among other things. Their ingenuity allowed them to survive for centuries in the unforgiving climate of the American southwest.

Early Period ~550 – ~1200 CE

People began to inhabit the area around the year 550 CE. These people are sometimes referred to as the “Basketmakers” because they crafted intricate baskets to use for carrying water, storage, and other practical purposes. Designs were probably passed from mother to daughter.

During this period, the Ancestral Pueblo lived in houses which were partially underground (pit houses) to protect themselves from the harsh climate that saw both hot and cold temperature extremes during the year. Timber supported the roof. By 750 CE, they began to build the homes against each other in long, curving rows.

Before the famous cliff dwellings were built, many people lived in small villages on the mesa tops and others in cliff recesses.

The mesa tops were also used for farming. (Mesa Verde means ‘green table’ in Spanish). There, men harvested crops, such as corn, beans, and squash.

The Ancestral Pueblo also hunted to supplement their diet. They acquired the bow and arrow, which was more effective than the earlier atlatl (spear thrower). They hunted animals, such as deer, rabbit, and squirrel, but most of their food came from farming. These people probably spent most of their day obtaining food in one form or another, largely because drought was common.

The only domesticated animals kept at Mesa Verde were dogs and turkeys; the latter of which provided food, feathers for weaving, and bones for tools.

During this period, the Pueblo did not have metal, so all tools had to be made from stone, bone, or wood. Although they lacked metal working skills, they did have many people with other specialized skills, and they created a surplus of items. These extras were traded in a vast trading network that stretched from the west coast and into Mexico. Seashells from the Pacific coast and turquoise, pottery, and cotton from the south were found at the Mesa Verde site.

Cliff Dwelling Period

By the early second millennium CE, the ancient Pueblo began to construct stone houses in the side of canyon walls, usually near springs. These homes probably housed entire matrilineal clans, and they grew as the family did. Each room was typically six by eight feet, and houses were sometimes two or three stories high. The Pueblo used sandstone bricks about the size of a loaf of bread, and a mixture of mud and water as mortar. The reason that they decided to move back to the cliffs is unknown.

The earlier pit houses evolved into kivas. Kiva is a Hopi word for a ceremonial room. These rooms were also underground, and were probably used both as areas of healing and prayer and as gathering places. The kivas were typically 100 square meters, and could only be accessed by a ladder that descended through a hole in the center of the roof. In the center of the floor, there was a sipapu, which is a hole that symbolizes the entrance to the underworld.

Homes were often decorated with painted designs. Stamped handprints and animal figures were quite common.

The 1100-1300 CE period was very prosperous, and the population reached several thousand.

About 600 cliff dwellings exist within the boundaries of ancestral pueblo territory (10,000 square miles across Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico), but the largest is Cliff Palace which contains about 150 rooms and two dozen kivas.

Another large area of the cliff dwellings is called Spruce Tree House. It contains 129 rooms, and about 60-90 people lived there at any given time. Like the other cliff dwellings, extra rooms were used to store food.

They also constructed a sun temple using advanced mathematics.

The ancestral Pueblo lived in the cliff dwellings for less than 100 years. (Most were built between the 1190s and 1270s. It is not known why they abandoned the cave dwellings around the year 1300, but there has been evidence to suggest climate change and war were contributing factors. The people of Mesa Verde moved south into New Mexico and Arizona where other Pueblo tribes lived. 

Modern Research

The cliff dwellings were first discovered by outsiders in the 1888 when local cowboys, Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason stumbled upon them while searching for lost cattle. This led to a plethora of research as Americans and Europeans alike wanted to visit the site although many of them were not scientists and plundered Mesa Verde for souvenirs.

Colorado philanthropist Virginia McClurg founded The Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association, and, along with Lucy Peabody, began a campaign to convince Congress to protect the site. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Mesa Verde a national park.

The pueblo people kept no written records, making research difficult. Most of what we know about the people who lived here comes from what they left behind. Luckily for researchers, the Ancestral Pueblo tossed their trash down the slope in front of their homes. Much of what we know about them comes from what was found in this garbage heap.

Today, Mesa Verde sees about half a million visitors each year. The Mesa Verde site preserves nearly 5,000 archeological sites. The future of Mesa Verde is uncertain as wildfires and flash floods (caused by loss of vegetation) are becoming more and more common in the area.

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