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Introduction & Pithouse
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Colorado
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Introduction & Pithouse
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What makes a place a home? Abundant resources? Closeness to family? Generations of memories? Here you see one of the oldest permanent structures built on the mesa, where early Ancestral Pueblo settlers enjoyed many of the same comforts we enjoy in our homes today. Though nomadic people lived in the surrounding area for thousands of years, permanent farmsteads began to appear on the mesa around 550. Planting corn, beans, and squash, along with continuing to hunt and gather wild foods, gave them a more reliable and balanced food supply. The transition to farming allowed the Pueblo people to set down roots. This new lifestyle spurred traditions and innovations that would last for centuries. Resourceful and attuned to their environment, the Ancestral Pueblo people took advantage of the earth’s natural insulation by building pithouses—semi-subterranean homes. The atlatl and spear were replaced with a lighter and more accurate hunting tool: the bow and arrow. Light and portable basketry made way for durable pottery, better for storing and cooking food.
Square Tower House
~0 min drive
Here, you see one of their most spectacular architectural achievements, built six centuries later.<br /> <br /> This cliff dwelling includes the tallest standing architecture in Mesa Verde, a four-story, 27-foot (8 m) tall structure that was part of an even larger building com…
Cliff Palace View
~1 min drive
<p>Cliff Palace is North America’s largest cliff dwelling, with 150 rooms and 21 kivas. Cliff Palace was an important community center. It may have been an administrative site, an important place of business and cultural exchange, or simply a large village. It stands now as a…
Dolph Kuss
~35 min drive
3.1 mi · Moderate
Millset (Snow)
~35 min drive
6.7 mi · Hard
Navajo Canyon View
~0 min drive
Imagine you are an Ancestral Pueblo person looking for a place to build a home. Can you identify the resources that make this a good place to live?<br /> <br /> You are standing at 7,000 feet (2,130 m). This might seem like a high place to farm. However, the southward slope of…
Cliff Canyon Overlook
~2 min drive
<em>Cliff Canyon Overlook and Cliff Palace Loop Road are open 8 am to sunset from late spring to December 1, or until the first significant snowfall.</em><br /> <br /> The Cliff Canyon Overlook opens up to a stunning view of Cliff Canyon. In the 1200s, Cliff Canyon was a thriv…
Dolph Kuss Loop (Snow)
~37 min drive
3.1 mi · Moderate
Mcphee Overlook
~37 min drive
17 mi · Hard
Mesa Top Sites
~1 min drive
Look closely at this site and you will see three villages built one on top of another. The people of the first village constructed their homes of jacal. Later occupants built a second village on the same site with single-stone-wide sandstone masonry.<br /> <br /> A third villa…
Far View Community Sites
~8 min drive
<p>The Far View area was once an extensive farming community and one of the most densely populated regions of the Mesa Verde. This mesa top community includes Far View House, Pipe Shrine House, Coyote Village, Far View Reservoir (currently dry), Megalithic House, and Far View…
