Mesa Verde National Park – 2007

We traveled throughout the South Western United States in early summer 2007. One of our stops was at Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, preserves the cliff dwellings where the Ancestral Pueblo people lived for over 700 years. They inhabited this area from about A.D. 600 to 1300. This park protects nearly 5,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most important and best preserved in the United States.

Long before Europeans explored North America, about 1,400 years ago, a group of people living in the Four Corners region chose Mesa Verde for their home. These people eventually built elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Then, in the late A.D. 1200s, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away. Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular reminder of this ancient culture. Use the “FS” buttom at the bottom of the slide show to view photos in “Full Screen View”.