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PPA

Welcome to Mesa Verde National Park!

Park History

Mesa Verde, meaning "green table" in Spanish, is a national park in Colorado that preserves the well-preserved cliff dwellings and mesa-top sites of the Ancestral Puebloans who lived there for over 700 years, from 550 to 1300 A.D.
The park protects over 4,000 archaeological sites, including famous structures like Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America.

History:
Early Inhabitants:
Nomadic Paleo-Indians known as the Foothills Mountain Complex seasonally inhabited Mesa Verde as early as 7500 BC.

Ancestral Puebloans:
The Ancestral Puebloans, formerly known as the Anasazi, arrived around 550 A.D. and built their homes in the alcoves of the canyons.

Cliff Dwellings:
They constructed villages within the cliffs, including Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Square Tower House, using stone and mortar.

Mesa-top Living:
The Ancestral Puebloans also lived on the mesa tops, building pit houses and farming the land.

Abandonment:
Around 1300 A.D., the Ancestral Puebloans abandoned Mesa Verde, likely due to a combination of drought, resource depletion, and social factors. -- Source Google



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