Mesa Verde: WOW!

The last time we were in this part of the world, it was 2000, and we were with Claire and Emily.  We had wanted to visit Mesa Verde, but it was in the midst of a devastating wild fire, that almost destroyed the lodge we are staying in.  The lasting impact of that fire is still very visible today, although the meadows that have replaced the trees are beautiful.  So we went to Bandolier National park instead, and I remember it being very interesting.

But nothing like Mesa Verde!  Wow, what an eye opening experience, and what a beautiful place! 

 We started the day with a guided tour, covering the 700 years of history of ancestral Puebloans, their lives on the mesa, and what remains of their culture.  What a fascinating history that is!  Growing up, I was taught that "Indians" were nomads, living in teepees, with basically no social structure.  While (thankfully) that view of history is no longer taught, and I certainly know better now, I was really awed by the level of development, society, agriculture and technology demonstrated in Mesa Verde.

It would take much more than this blog to cover the history of Mesa Verde, so here are the Cliff notes - but it's worth learning more about it!
Our tour started with the oldest settlements, dating from 700AD.  These were structures dug into the top of the mesa, and then built on to add roofs, fire pit, and ventilation.  In this example, several types of architecture are visible, built over several centuries, and demonstrating the improvement in masonry skills.  From about 600AD to 1100 AD, generations of farmers built on this site. 

They grew corn, beans and squash on the mesa, because it's gently sloping southern side provides slightly more rain and a longer growing season than the valley.  In this dry climate, this made a huge difference, and the natives developed great skills in dry agriculture. In fact, the landscape here is quite lush, and usable plants such as juniper and yucca are plentiful, so this makes sense.

 From there we went to the more famous part of Mesa Verde, the cliff dwellings.  It is famous because it is amazing! Around 1200AD, the ancestral Pueoblans started building in the cliffs of the canyon faces, taking advantage of the natural shelter provided by the overhangs that are formed by erosion.  There are over 600 of these cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde.  Some, like the most famous "Cliff Palace" dwelling (see top picture) are very large and housed about 150 people. 

Here is an example of a two level dwelling, but most of them were much smaller "single family housing". 

The walk down there (and back up)- even on the nicely maintained trails - is tricky.  So we can only guess how tough the "commute" was for these farmers, who were still cultivating the top of the mesa. We can see some carving in the sandstone for hand or foot grabs, but still, the carrying of the stones, the water, the mortar, must have been a huge project.  This one took several generations to build, but was only inhabited for about 90 years.  We do not know why they chose to do that instead of remaining in the large and nice structures on top of the mesa (in fact, some did, there are mesa dwellings from the same period).  Maybe for protection from the elements, or from other tribes.  No one knows.  What is known is that, in the early 1300AD, all of the inhabitants (including the ones living on top) left and moved south to New Mexico.  No one knows why.  Possibly there was an extended drought.  Another possibility is given by today's descendants of these people (some of whom still live in pueblos all around the South West):  "It was time to move":  The Pueblo Indians believe that you have to move until you find your "central place", and this was not it..... That is an interesting concept for a people that were in fact basically settled, and had developed sophisticated agriculture. 

In the afternoon, we went to the visitor center, which has a museum, offers nice views of other cliff dwellings, and is the start of a hike to see some of the nicest petroglyphs in the region.  Anyone who knows me knows that I only go to museums when it rains, and you can tell from the pictures that the weather was perfect!  So I took the short (about 3 mile) but quite challenging walk to see the petrolyphs.  It was wonderful. 

First, because the trail is indeed tough, it was very quiet, and I had the beautiful canyon all to myself! 

Secondly, the petroglyphs themselves were very impressive:  carved into the sandstone, to represent both human, animal, and spiritual symbols.  I'm so glad I went.

On the way back to the lodge, we stopped at a large mesa settlement, that provided nice examples of the typical "keyhole" kivas of the region (keyhole because the the shape, where the typically round kiva has a wedge for ventilation, giving it it's typical shape).  Our guide this morning (who was a retired archaeologist) said- semi jokingly- that when archaeologists don't know what a feature is for, they just say its for religious or ceremonial purposes.  And so, many still believe that the kivas are religious in nature (indeed, today's puebloans use them that way - but they also have other modern houses in general). 

That belief is changing, and it is likely that they were just "the living room" - that's where the fire pit, and the entrance were, and just the best place in the house to gather.  That makes much more sense to me - particularly considering that in this "village" there were 5 distinct kivas - one per family.  A living room is just more practical - but then again, what do I know.....
On the same site, there is also a large round structure (about 50 feet across) which was also deemed "ceremonial" at first, but was then shown to have been a very sophisticated water reservoir (it's possible that "ceremonial" is code for "we are underestimating these people....").
I'll get off my soap box now -

because it was then time for dinner with a view....
Off to the higher mountains tomorrow.
In the mean time, here are some pretty pictures of flowers on the mesa