Mesa Verde, Spruce Tree Terrace, Colorado, United States
Mesa Verde, Spruce Tree Terrace, Colorado, United States 1999
Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. It protects some of the best preserved Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites in the United States.
The park was created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. It occupies 52,485 acres (21,240 ha) near the Four Corners region, and with more than 4,000 sites and 600 cliff dwellings, it is the largest archeological preserve in the US. Mesa Verde (Spanish for green table) is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America.
Starting c. 7,500 BCE, Mesa Verde was seasonally inhabited by a group of nomadic Paleo-Indians known as the Foothills Mountain Complex. The variety of projectile points found in the region indicates they were influenced by surrounding areas, including the Great Basin, the San Juan Basin, and the Rio Grande Valley. Later, Archaic people established semi-permanent rockshelters in and around the mesa. By 1,000, the Basketmaker culture emerged from the local Archaic population, and by 750 CE the Ancestral Puebloans had developed from the Basketmaker culture.
The Mesa Verdeans survived by utilizing a combination of hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming of crops such as corn, beans, and squash. They built the mesa's first pueblos sometime after 650, and by the end of the 12th century they began to construct the massive cliff dwellings for which the park is best known. By 1285, following a period of social and environmental instability driven by a series of severe and prolonged droughts, they abandoned the area and moved south to locations in Arizona and New Mexico, including Rio Chama, Pajarito Plateau, and Santa Fe.
Mesa Verde Colorado
Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States. The park was created in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt to protect some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world.
The Anasazi inhabited Mesa Verde between 600 to 1300, though there is evidence they left before the start of the fifteenth century. They were mainly subsistence farmers, growing crops on nearby mesas. Their primary crop was corn, the major part of their diet. Men were also hunters, which further increased their food supply. The women of the Anasazi are famous for their elegant basket weaving. Anasazi pottery is as famous as their baskets; their artifacts are highly prized. The Anasazi kept no written records.
By the year 750 the people were building mesa-top villages made of adobe. In the late 1190s they began to build the cliff dwellings for which Mesa Verde is famous. These construction and water-related activities lead archaeologists to speculate that climatic change and increased population placed the communities under stress. The ancient people of Mesa Verde left the area in the late 1200s, possibly in response to a 24-year regional drought. People in the entire Four Corners region were also abandoning smaller communities at that time, and the area may have been nearly empty by AD 1300. Having left the Mesa Verde area, the people of Mesa Verde moved south to southern Arizona and New Mexico. Since then, there is evidence of Native Americans hunting in the Mesa Verde area. There is no evidence, though, that anyone lived in the cliff dwellings or pueblos after the Ancient Puebloan people.
Mesa Verde, Colorado, United States 1
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, United States 1999
Another video Mesa Verde, part 2
Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. It protects some of the best preserved Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites in the United States.
The park was created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. It occupies 52,485 acres (21,240 ha) near the Four Corners region, and with more than 4,000 sites and 600 cliff dwellings, it is the largest archeological preserve in the US. Mesa Verde (Spanish for green table) is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America.
Starting c. 7,500 BCE, Mesa Verde was seasonally inhabited by a group of nomadic Paleo-Indians known as the Foothills Mountain Complex. The variety of projectile points found in the region indicates they were influenced by surrounding areas, including the Great Basin, the San Juan Basin, and the Rio Grande Valley. Later, Archaic people established semi-permanent rockshelters in and around the mesa. By 1,000, the Basketmaker culture emerged from the local Archaic population, and by 750 CE the Ancestral Puebloans had developed from the Basketmaker culture.
The Mesa Verdeans survived by utilizing a combination of hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming of crops such as corn, beans, and squash. They built the mesa's first pueblos sometime after 650, and by the end of the 12th century they began to construct the massive cliff dwellings for which the park is best known. By 1285, following a period of social and environmental instability driven by a series of severe and prolonged droughts, they abandoned the area and moved south to locations in Arizona and New Mexico, including Rio Chama, Pajarito Plateau, and Santa Fe.
Mesa Verde Colorado
Mesa Verde, Petroglyph Trail, United States 2
Mesa Verde, Petroglyph Trail, Colorado, USA 1999
Another video Mesa Verde, part 1
Mesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. It protects some of the best preserved Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites in the United States.
The park was created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. It occupies 52,485 acres (21,240 ha) near the Four Corners region, and with more than 4,000 sites and 600 cliff dwellings, it is the largest archeological preserve in the US. Mesa Verde (Spanish for green table) is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America.
Starting c. 7,500 BCE, Mesa Verde was seasonally inhabited by a group of nomadic Paleo-Indians known as the Foothills Mountain Complex. The variety of projectile points found in the region indicates they were influenced by surrounding areas, including the Great Basin, the San Juan Basin, and the Rio Grande Valley. Later, Archaic people established semi-permanent rockshelters in and around the mesa. By 1,000, the Basketmaker culture emerged from the local Archaic population, and by 750 CE the Ancestral Puebloans had developed from the Basketmaker culture.
The Mesa Verdeans survived by utilizing a combination of hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming of crops such as corn, beans, and squash. They built the mesa's first pueblos sometime after 650, and by the end of the 12th century they began to construct the massive cliff dwellings for which the park is best known. By 1285, following a period of social and environmental instability driven by a series of severe and prolonged droughts, they abandoned the area and moved south to locations in Arizona and New Mexico, including Rio Chama, Pajarito Plateau, and Santa Fe.
Mesa Verde Petroglyph Trail
Mesa Verde National Park - Spruce Tree House
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Spruce Tree House is a self guided hike to the best preserved cliff dwelling. Great hike for the family. Park Rangers are on site to answer questions.
Petroglyph Panel-Mesa Verde National Park
The park service describes this eroded but undisturbed rock art as a tale of the migration of the ancestral Pueblo people. Even for their descendants interpreting drawings over 800 years old is quite challenging, the viewer must first assume they understand the mindset of a people whose way of life disappeared so long ago. Their fragmented history tells a familiar story of a people forced to adapt and assist each other together during times of hardship and war. Some of the symbols are obvious such as handprints, people, turkeys, antelope, sheep or lions. Others may be rivers or snakes, the more unique symbols are thought to represent a specific clan. Filmed 4/16/13.
Mesa Verde Petroglyph Point
Slideshow of the Petroglyph Point trail in Mesa Verde National Park. The trail traverses around the cliffs of the mountain at the same level as the cliff dwellings, passing right through several formaly inhabited areas, to a panel of rock art. At that point the trail climbs up to the top of the mesa and passes above the same dwellings as it makes its way back to the Spruce Tree House parking area.
Geologic Overlook in Mesa Verde National Park Panoramic View
Mike's 50th Birthday trip: Mesa Verde hotel
Mike and Kevin Van Flandern and John have checked into the Far View lodge inside Mesa Verde park.
Montezuma Valley Overlook in Mesa Verde National Park Panoramic View
Hovenweep National Monument Colorado Utah Pueblo Zuni Hopi Ancestral Puebloans Canyon Ancients Music
Hovenweep
National Monument
Colorado, Utah
Masonry that has stood for centuries
Once home to over 2,500 people,
Hovenweep includes six prehistoric
villages built between A.D. 1200 and 1300.
Explore a variety of structures,
including multistory towers perched
on canyon rims and
balanced on boulders.
The construction and attention to
detail will leave you marveling at
the skill and motivation of the builders.
Human Prehistory
Human habitation at Hovenweep
dates to over 10,000 years ago
when nomadic Paleoindians visited
the Cajon Mesa to gather
food and hunt game.
These people used the area
for centuries, following the seasonal
weather patterns. By about A.D. 900,
people started to settle at Hovenweep
year-round, planting and harvesting
crops in the rich soil
of the mesa top.
By the late 1200s, the Hovenweep
area was home to over 2,500 people.
Ancestral Puebloans
The towers of Hovenweep were
built by ancestral Puebloans,
a sedentary farming culture that
occupied the Four Corners area
from about A.D. 500 to A.D. 1300.
Similarities in architecture, masonry
and pottery styles indicate that the
inhabitants of Hovenweep were closely
associated with groups living at
Mesa Verde and other nearby sites.
The ancestral Puebloans prepared their
land for cultivation much
like farmers do today.
They created terraces on hillsides,
formed catch basins to hold storm
run-off, and built check dams to retain
topsoil that would otherwise wash away.
Storage granaries under the
canyon rims protected
harvests of corn, beans
and squash for later use.
Most of the structures at
Hovenweep were built between
A.D. 1200 and 1300.
There is quite a variety of shapes
and sizes, including square and
circular towers, D-shaped
dwellings and many kivas
(Puebloan ceremonial structures,
usually circular).
The masonry at Hovenweep is as
skillful as it is beautiful.
Even the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde
rarely exhibit such careful construction
and attention to detail.
Some structures built on
irregular boulders remain
standing after more than 700 years.
Many theories attempt to explain
the use of the buildings at Hovenweep.
The striking towers might have been
celestial observatories, defensive
structures, storage facilities,
civil buildings, homes or any
combination of the above.
While archeologists have found that
most towers were associated
with kivas, their actual
function remains a mystery.
Departure
By the end of the 13th century,
it appears a prolonged drought,
possibly combined with resource
depletion, factionalism and warfare, forced
the inhabitants of Hovenweep to depart.
Though the reason is unclear,
ancestral Puebloans throughout the area
migrated south to the
Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico
and the Little Colorado
River Basin in Arizona. Today's Pueblo,
Zuni and Hopi people are
descendants of this culture.
CONTACT THE PARK
Hovenweep National Monument
McElmo Route
Cortez, CO 81321
By Phone
Visitor Information
(970) 562-4282 ext. 10
By Fax
(970) 562-4283
Music By
trac 1
Artist NOWË
Song Horizon
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trac 2
Artist MBB
Song Floating
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trac 3
Artist NOWË
Song Realize
soundcloud.com/nowemusic
trac 4
Artist NOWË
Song Summerish
soundcloud.com/nowemusic
trac 5
Artist MBB
Song Fantastic
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trac 6
Artist MBB
Song Destination
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a looknavigator film
produced by
looknavigator
© 2019
looknavigator
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
4.12.19
Thank You
America for our
National and State
Park Service
credit
NPS
National Park Service
NPS photos
State of Colorado, Utah USA
BLM, BOR
U.S. Department of the Interior
The Bureau of Land Management
Hovenweep National Monument
THANK YOU
LOOKNAVIGATOR
Petroglyph Point Trail Mesa Verde
Petroglyph Point Trail and what we hiked to. The trailhead is near Chapin Mesa. Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park, Spruce Tree House
Mesa Verde Knife Edge Trail
Slideshow of the Knife Edge trail in Mesa Verde National Park. The trail once served as the parks access road and was so narrow that only one vehicle could travel the road at a time.
Mesa Verde Prater Ridge
Slideshow of the Prater Ridge trail in the Mesa Verde National Park.
Mesa Verde National Park | World Heritage Site
Mesa Verde National Park
World Heritage Site
mesa verde national park address
mesa verde national park map
mesa verde national park camping
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mesa verde national park history
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Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde National Park
Photographs and slideshow copyright 2011 Creative Juice LLC
Mesa Verde National Park
My Wisconsin Space
Hiking in Mesa Verde National Park on May 6th, 2016
Mesa Verde Spruce Canyon Loop
Slideshow of the Spruce Canyon Loop trail in Mesa Verde National Park.
Park Point Fire Lookout in Mesa Verde National Park Panoramic View
Montezuma Valley starts the video as it pans clockwise with glimpses of the scenic road with the south overlook about halfway through.