M is for Mesa Verde

Tim Iverson
Naturalist

(8/2020) National parks are set aside to conserve and protect public lands that represent the best of the best. Early parks, like Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Mount Rainier were natural awe-inspiring cathedrals with their vast landscapes. Others, like Everglades, feature rich biodiversity unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Mesa Verde National Park, the sixth national park, was the very first park set aside for history and culture; to preserve and maintain the story of the people who lived there for future generations.

Located in the four-corners region of the southwestern United States, Mesa Verde National Park is the largest archaeological site in North America and represents some of the best sites left from the ancient Puebloan people. The cliff dwellings, which this park and region are renowned for, was home to people who were formerly called "Anasazi." This term, from the Navajo language, translates to "enemy of our ancestors." The modern Puebloan people, who still live in the region, are direct descendants of the ancestral cliff dwelling. More recently, people have objected to the term, Anazazi, as they feel it’s pejorative.

Each national park has a certain je ne sais quoi - an indescribable sense of magic and wonder. It’s something you can’t quite put your finger on, but experience all the same. Visiting Mesa Verde (Spanish for ‘green table’) is like falling backward into another place and time altogether. As you first enter the park, the road winds back and forth as it scales to the top of the mesa, the flat top of the mountain. One side of the road leaves you feeling secure as you’re buttressed by the mountain. The other side presents grand sweeping views of the desert valley below, just beyond the exposed edge of the cliff. Compared with the desert below the flat-top of the mesa is cooler, wetter, and greener. These are some of the reasons that drew the initial inhabitants to the land.

The ancestral Puebloan people lived here from 450 to 1300 AD. However, it was only in their last 100 years, from 1200 to 1300 that they constructed complex cities within the canyon’s cliffs. For approximately 800 years these people thrived here only to suddenly abandon the site altogether. They did not have or leave behind a written record, the oral stories passed along generations combined with the archaeological sites have allowed cultural and archaeological researchers to reconstruct their past.

The first 700 years of the ancient Puebloan residency at Mesa Verde occurred on top of the flat-topped mesa. Here, the adobe homes, or pueblos, housed farmers growing mostly corn, beans, squash, and raising domesticated turkeys. Additionally, they had a prolific basket weaving and pottery making culture. These unique and highly identifiable wares were used widely in this region and there is evidence that they were connected to a vast trade network with other cultures from as far away as the southern-coastal Mexican region. Puebloan pottery has been found there and conversely Mexican turquoise stones and Macaw feathers have been found in the four-corners region of the US.

It was only in their last 100 years, the ancient Pueblo people descended from atop the mesa into the canyon walls. It’s here that they established the cliff dwellings that they are best known for. There are nearly 600 cliff dwelling sites scattered throughout the park, most of which contain only one or two rooms. Cliff Palace, the largest of the remaining sites, had 150 rooms and housed approximately 125 people. This grand city structure was likely the epicenter for the surrounding community also serving as a religious and ceremonial complex. Throughout this palace there are 23 kivas. A kiva is a circular subterranean room with a wood beamed roof at ground level. Inside they contained a small fire pit, ventilation shaft, and most importantly a sipapu, a small ceremonial depression representing where their ancestors emerged into this world, where offerings could be made.

As visitors embark with rangers on guided explorations, they are invited into these sacred spaces. Descending and ascending ladders route people the same way original residents would have accessed their dwellings. Close examination reveals depressions worn into the stone from repeated usage as people stepped, braced, or held onto the walls as they passed by. Murals painted within homes and buildings beckon you. From here, time seems to stand still and it feels like you are living among them. The intimate lived experiences standing among the mortar structures perched high up on a cliff wall allows for a personal relationship with the site eventually begging some inevitable questions. Why live there? Why go through all the effort of building these homes and cities if they were going to abandon them after only 100 years? Where did they go?

The ancient Puebloan people did not leave a written record so archaeologists have only best guesses based on evidence left behind and oral traditions that remain with modern Pueblo peoples. The climate record indicates a long drought stretching through the final quarter of the 13th century. Other sites in the area indicate that many may have met a violent end. The cliffs would have provided sanctuary from intruders and the elements. Water seeped through the sandstone above and collected in small reservoirs dug into the cliffs. However, no matter how well defended or how well stores were stockpiled, eventually they will be depleted if production didn’t match. Ultimately though, without direct contact, record, or evidence these are only best guesses by leading researchers as to why these people came and went as they did.

The ruins and cities of Mesa Verde and the region were never really lost. The sites were known amongst the descendants and inidiginious people of the area. However, it was a cold blustery day in December 1888 when local rancher Richard Wetherill went searching for lost cattle. As he searched through the falling snow he gazed across the canyon. Through the snowfall emerged the ruins of Cliff Palace. His initial rediscovery drew frenzied interest and essentially led to looting of the sites with sacred objects being stolen, shipped, and displayed across the world. After public outcry and preservation efforts led by Smithsonian director Jesse Fewkes, President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation making Mesa Verde our sixth national park in 1906.

The Native American Graves and Repatriation Act was landmark legislation passed in 1990. By recognizing and treating sacred objects and human remains with dignity and respect, many of the stolen items have been returned to their original resting place. In 2019 the nation of Finland agreed to return over 600 funerary objects and remains to their ancestral home and burial sites. In 2006, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the park, the National Park Service and Hopi tribe conducted a reburial ceremony in conjunction with the 24 associated tribes in the area.

Mesa Verde National Park was and remains a significant site for the Puebloan people. The park is recognized as a United Nations World Heritage Site, the first of its kind national park, and the ancestral home of people who still exist today. As we struggle to identify and understand the lives and experiences of others, Mesa Verde National Park stands as an example allowing for visitors to share an immersive experience.