After Page, AZ, we stayed in Durango, CO for a week. MFI had done some research on the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park, which was only 36 miles west form our campsite. We spent a day self-touring this intriguing park.
There are cliff dwellings across the southwestern US; however, the dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park are some of the largest and best preserved. Ancestral Pueblo people lived on and farmed Mesa Verde from A.D. 550 to A.D. 1300. The Park protects the 5,000 archeological sites discovered so far, which includes 600 cliff dwellings and more than 3 million artifacts in its museum collection. We toured the Visitor Center and established the route we’d drive to each of the open dwelling sites. Guided tours were available, but they were expensive and required more physical climbing than MFI was willing to tackle. This statue (pictured) adorned the entrance to the Visitor Center. It’s a beautiful work of art by sculptor Edward J. Fraughton who titled it, “The Ancient Ones.” It depicts a native climbing a cliff using hand and footholds while carrying a filled shoulder basket.
Despite its name, Mesa Verde Park is actually a cuesta or gradual slope that dips in one direction, while a mesa is an isolated flat-topped highlands surrounded by steep slopes. The Mesa Verde cuesta slopes at a 7 degree angle to the south and has been heavily eroded by rivers and streams, which created the series of mesas and canyons as shown in the satellite photo (below). The park covers 8,500 acres, and it required a 20-mile drive from the entrance at the north end to the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum and Spruce Tree Terrace (restaurants, gift shops, and restroom facilities). From this point, visitors could drive two loops, each with multiple stops for sightseeing. One was called the 6-mile Mesa Top Loop, and the other was 6-mile Cliff Palace Loop. Another part of the park called Wetherill Mesa was a 27-mile drive from the park entrance; however, it was closed for safety repair work. The prominent northern edge of the mesa is called Lookout Point and is the highest elevation in the park at 8,427′. Most of the sightseeing was on mesas and in canyons (reference Cliff Canyon in the image below) on the southernmost end of the cuesta.
We stopped and saw a number of geological formations along our drive into the park from the northern entrance.
The Pueblo people initially built and lived in pit houses and communities atop the southern cuesta until around A.D. 1200 when most families moved into dwellings built in the alcoves along the canyon cliffs. The earliest pit houses were relatively shallow and roofed with wood framing and mud. Their construction evolved into deeper pits with double stone walls and the addition of towers. There was evidence of 500 towers havng been built for defense or line of sight communications or just symbols of power. Researchers remain baffled over the true purpose of the towers. Throughout the construction periods, circular rooms called kivas were a common feature. Kivas were sacred and religious centers still used today for Pueblo religious and social gatherings. We toured a number of locations with pit home ruins and remnants, until they all started to look the same to us and weren’t providing further insight. The visible holes built into every pit house were fresh air ventilation shafts according to the interpretive displays.
Navajo Canyon was our first stop along Mesa Top Loop. It provided a great perspective of the size and height of the cliffs and depth of the canyons, and we could see weathered alcoves of the type used to shelter community dwellings.
We next saw Square Tower House from a nearby mesa overlook. This community had 60 rooms and 8 kivas when originally constructed. Unfortunately, the dwellings were all constructed on unstable foundations using native stone and earth, making them easily damaged by weathering, soil erosion, and falling rocks from alcove ceilings. As a result, ancestral residents had to constantly maintain the homes. Similarly, the National Park Service must continually work on site preservation to protect them for the future. Despite the extent of their work over decades, what is pictured below remains 90% original.
Next, we stood atop an overlook called Sun View, which provided a broad picture of Fewkes and Cliff Canyons and contained a significant number of dwellings and structures. The first panorama shows the left side of our overlook view, and the second shows the right side. Without zooming in with my camera, the ancestral sites were essentially camouflaged, so as we continued our drive, I took close-ups of each site that had been identified in the interpretive displays at the overlook.
My third picture from the overlook provides a perspective of the depth of the canyons relative to where the tribal dwellings were constructed below the cliff rims. Just left of center was the large Cliff Palace alcove.
Here are the close-ups from left to right as seen from the Sun View overlook:
The function of the Fire Temple remains unknown; however, archaeologists found little evidence of domestic use, so it was believed to be some kind of public gathering location. The adjacent New Fire House was home to three families, and it was thought they may have perhaps been responsible for operating and maintaining the temple. As I zoomed even closer, foot and handholds carved into the sandstone showed how natives could climb between the upper and lower levels.
Below is Oak Tree House. It had fewer than 10 rooms, which was typical of many of the smaller discovered dwellings. A tall ladder is visible on the right of this picture. Wood and rope ladders were also used extensively for movement across the cliffs.
Sunset House
Our last stop along Mesa Top Loop was at the very strange Sun Temple. Pictured at right is an aerial view from the interpretive dislay. Despite the large size, it was barely visible from the overlook sitting atop the mesa above Fewkes Canyon. The temple was built in the A.D. 1200’s, and because of its central location, it was considered to be part of the nearby cliff dwelling community. But archaeologists found no evidence of roofing or household artifacts, there are few doorways inside, and the massive architecture is unlike any other structure in the park. Some studies suggested it may have played a role in celestial observations; however, the purpose of the temple remains a complete mystery.
We had lunch at Spruce Tree Terrace, visited the museum, and climbed along the overlook across from Spruce Tree House. As we drove through the parking lots looking for the best place to park, a herd of deer was grazing in the area. This got me thinking about how well the mesas provided everything the natives needed to survive. The 7% slope of the cuesta mentioned earlier, oriented the land at just the right angle to the sun to create a more temperate climate. This supported both farming the land and facilitating the healthy growth of animal and plant species. What we found most remarkable in the museum was the extent of crops the natives cultivated and their diverse use of natural resources for living and thriving.
Spruce Tree House was the third largest dwelling discovered in the park. Only Cliff Palace and Long House were bigger. The dwelling contains 130 rooms and 8 kivas constructd in an alcove measuring 216′ long and 88′ at its tallest. It was discovered by ranchers in 1888, and at that time, a Douglas Spruce (now called Douglas Fir) was growing from the front of the settlement to the rim of the mesa. It was said that the ranchers used the tree to access the dwelling; however, it was later cut down and removed to support excavation and preservation activities. It is one of the best preserved sites in the park. Despite our relatively close proximity from the overlook, heavy tree growth in the canyon prevented my capturing a picture encompassing the entire site. Nonetheless, it was impressive.
After lunch, we drove the Cliff Palace Loop, stopping first at the palace. We hiked down a paved trail to an observation platform where a guided-tour was assembling to hike down the cliff and over to the palace dwellings. I was grateful for having people in my pictures to provide the scale needed to understand the size of the dwellings. Without any scale, the photographed sites actually looked more like miniature models of the structures. Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. Using tree-ring dating, researchers placed the construction and ongoing refurbishment of the palace between A.D. 1190 through A.D. 1260. The majority of the original complex was built over a 20-year period. The palace contained 150 rooms and an incredible 23 kivas. Because the room-to-kiva ratio was so high, archaeologists hypothesized the 100 residents living there at any given time represented multiple clans, which possibly made the palace a location for an organized civil government.
Our only other stop along the loop was to view Balcony House. Since it couldn’t be seen from the loop road, we had to hike a 1.2 mile round-trip trail, which included an overlook for Soda Canyon and the overlook for Balcony House. It was a mid-sized village of 2 kivas and 38 rooms, which housed up to 30 residents. There was a convenient seep-spring (fresh water source) within the alcove and another just below. The guided-tour required “visitors descend a 100 foot staircase into the canyon; climb a 32-foot ladder; crawl through a 12-foot long, 18-inches wide tunnel; and clamber up an additional 60 feet of ladders and stone steps.” Several of the ladders needed while taking the guided tour are visible in my close-up photos.
A recurring question raised since the first dwellings were discovered was why the ancestral Pueblo people abandoned the mesa by the late A.D. 1200’s. No single answer was apparent, although there seems to be a consensus around a 23-year-drought-caused food shortage versus a large and growing population. Periodic wildfires may have put further stress on food production, and a combination of hardship factors increased internal tribal tension and conflict. Natives were aware of other Pueblo tribes already living in the south (Arizona and New Mexico), and this fact made migrating more palatable. Despite their departure, 25 Pueblos and tribes with continuing sacred c onnections to Mesa Verde National Park still exist in the area today. We were grateful Pueblo ancestors left such a rich physical and spiritual history and consider ourselves fortunate for the opportunity to experience this meaningful national park.
