Mesa Verde is best known for a large number of well preserved cliff dwellings, houses built in shallow caves and under rock overhangs along the canyon walls in Southwestern Colorado. Around 14 centuries ago, the nomadic Anasazi — or Ancestral Puebloan — people chose to settle down and build permanent homes near their planted crops. As the tribe prospered, members migrated outward to build “cliff dwellings” in a variety of locations-Mesa Verde chief among them. From this network of cities, Anasazi culture flourished for hundreds of years. Then, according to the US National Park Service, they migrated south to New Mexico and Arizona, and by 1300, the Ancestral Puebloan occupation of Mesa Verde ended.The structures contained within these alcoves were mostly blocks of hard sandstone, held together and plastered with adobe mortar. Specific constructions had many similarities, but were generally unique in form due to the individual topography of different alcoves along the canyon walls. In marked contrast to earlier constructions and villages on top of the mesas, the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde reflected a region-wide trend towards the aggregation of growing regional populations into close, highly defensible quarters during the 1200s.
Not all of the people in the region lived in cliff dwellings; many colonized the canyon rims and slopes in multi-family structures that grew to unprecedented size as populations swelled. Decorative motifs for these sandstone/mortar constructions, both cliff dwellings and non-, included T-shaped windows and doors. This has been taken by some archaeologists, such as Stephen Lekson (1999), as evidence of the continuing reach of the Chaco Canyon elite system, which had seemingly collapsed around a century before. Other researchers see these motifs as part of a more generalized Puebloan style and/or spiritual significance, rather than evidence of a continuing specific elite socioeconomic system.
History of Mesa verde
The Colorado mesa, Mesa Verde, was chosen as the settling point for a group of nomadic people named Anasazi (meaning “Ancient Ones”) by the Navajo, Hisatsinom by the Hopi, and Ancestral Puebloans by the NPS. These Indians occupied the mesa top for approximately 600 years before they began building their most famous remnants: the cliff dwellings.
Mesa Verde National Park’s archaeological sites span over 700 years of Native American history, being inhabited from 600 – 1300 CE. The renowned cliff dwellings, the height of the Puebloans’ architecture, include more than 600 units. Yet many of these structures were being built at the time the first Anasazi began to leave. Over the span of two generations, the site was abandoned Hill station in USA. The reasons are unclear as the Anasazi left no written records; however, it is known that a drought struck the area in 1276 and lasted for 23 years. This drought, in addition to what may have been a depletion of resources after 600 years of occupation, most likely led the people of Mesa Verde to abandon their cliff dwellings.
Weather of Mesa verde
Mesa Verde enjoys a fairly moderate climate for its elevation but is generally colder than most areas of the deserts. Winters are mostly sunny but cold. Average midwinter (January) highs are about 40 degrees F. with lows of about 15 degrees F. Cold-snaps do occasionally occur but are short-lived. Winter snowfall averages about 90 inches a year causing closure of most of the park. The park re-opens in the spring as the weather warms and occasional rains bring wildflowers to high country meadows and mesa tops. During the summer, temperatures seldom reach more than 85 degrees F. July’s mean daily maximum is 82 degrees F.; its mean daily minimum is 45 degrees.It will not be an exaggeration to say that Mesa verde cliff dwellings is a Beautiful Place For Vacations.