Mesa Verde Far View site

A couple of days after visiting the cliff dwellings we went up the 25-mile twisty road again....

The views were spectacular.

...to see the Far View site. During this time of year, most people are going to the cliff dwellings and, half the park is closed, so we had this site all to ourselves for a couple of hours.

The site is quite extensive so I'm posting a map to show how many places we were able to visit and take photos.

We took over 100 photos and that would make a loooooong posting so I've posted them here for your viewing....

https://picasaweb.google.com/stevenlstrick/MesaVerdeFarViewSite?authuser=0&feat=directlink

These people lived on top of the mesa and were farmers. They lived in this location for 500 years before moving south into Arizona and New Mexico.

Site B

Site C. A reservoir to hold water. They built canals higher up the mesa and, as it rained, the rain ran downhill into here. This was 12-feet deep at one time. Sediment over the years has filled it up.

Site D. This is where the water flowed in from the north, which is behind you.

Site D. A close look at the entrance to the reservoir where the water entered.

Site D. The people would walk down these steps into the reservoir to fill their baskets with water, then hand water their crops.

Site C. A panorama of the reservoir

Site E. Megalithic House.

Site E. When this was discovered in the 1930s all that was showing were these tall large rocks to the left. Once excavated, a small group of homes and a kiva were uncovered.

Site F. Far View House...named because of the 360-degree view. These homes were three stories high.

I found this most fascinating. In my mind, the person who discovered this, J. Walter Fewkes, was looking around for more sites and came across the ruins. BUT, this was not the case. What he saw was this very large mound of rubble, comprised of dirt, tree limbs, etc, that had collected for hundreds of years. One he began excavation, the entire Far View House was revealed.

Site F. Pine Shrine House

Site H. Every now and then, we'd see some markings like this. People still don't know what they mean.

Site H. Coyote Village. We were allowed to walk around and into this site.

Site H. Coyote Village.

All in all, a remarkable site(s). Kim had a ball. She could not take enough pictures. We fancied ourselves and famous archaeologists as we discussed why the walls were made the way they were, why were the kivas placed where they were, etc. Fun stuff.

Next stop: White Sands

Mesa Verde Visitor's Center

We better start posting more destinations or we'll never get caught up. We've been in the Texas Hill Country for over 2 weeks and there is still White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns to post. Eeeeek.

The Mesa Verde Visitor's Center was absolutely terrific.

They had dioramas that depicted life over the 500 years people lived here.

There was also a display that showed how the dioramas were made in the 1930s.

Here is a website that shows them even clearer.

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/dioramas_mesa_verde_colorado.htm

There were displays that showed how Kivas were made. Such detail.

...as well as the pottery and tools they used when living here...

All in all, a great visitor's center. It took easily an hour to go through it all.

All the photos are also posted here.

https://picasaweb.google.com/stevenlstrick/MesaVerdeVisitorsCenter?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Next up: Far View House at Mesa Verde.

Kim and Steve

Spruce Tree House Cliff Dwellers at Mesa Verde

The Mesa Verde park is located south of Cortez, Colorado in the southwest part of Colorado. Here is a short paragraph describing the park better than I could:

Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.  Some great information is located at this website:

http://www.nps.gov/meve/historyculture/index.htm

View from the visitor's parking lot looking across the canyon at the Spruce Tree House dwellings.

You notice the text above mentioned "600 cliff dwellings"? That's a lot of ground to cover and, due to it being late October, half the park was closed for winter. We got to see this Spruce Tree House area and the Far View area (which will be in another post).

There are so many mysteries regarding these people....where did they come from, why did they live in cliff dwellings, where did they go, why did they leave? A couple of ideas as to why they left were: lack of wood due to the amount they used year after year for fires, etc.; a 30-year drought...that would certainly hurt crops; soil exhaustion...after years of planing the same crop over and over, the soil became undernourished. Whatever the cause(s), off the went...south to be part of the Zuni and Hopi Indians in Arizona and New Mexico.

There is a trail that leads down to this dwelling so we were able to walk through the ruins and talk to some very knowledgeable park rangers.

View from the path across the canyon

Some of the areas were roped off. This park has so many visitors yearly the damage would be terrible.

These walls were built right up to the cliff behind.

These circular areas were called Kivas. It would have a roof over it and they would use it for either ceremonies or as a social gathering.

The walls go back another 50 feet into the cave.

Each "clan" had it's own Kiva. There were 8 of them at this site.

This is a partial view of the inside of a Kiva. There was a small opening in the roof with a ladder leading to the below ground. We thought it might be funny if this is where the husbands went to do some male-bonding.

Hey, how's that cowboy get in the photo?

Rather than post dozens of photos, which tell the story so much better, I put over 50 of them here for your enjoyment. I encourage you to view them....it's really an incredible place. Kim and I "pestered" the rangers with question after question to find out more about the people that lived here. We spent hours looking at this site. Pretty captivating stuff.

https://picasaweb.google.com/stevenlstrick/SpruceTreeHouse?authuser=0&feat=directlink

This was one of Kim's lifetime dreams...to come here and walk around the dwellings. You should've seen her face...like a kid on Christmas morning.

We'll post some terrific photos of the Visitor's Center and the Far View site next posts....too much for one post.