Day 27 - April 12, 2008

We had an incredible day at Mesa Verde National Park. This park is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States with almost 5,000 archaeological sites. Among the sites are some of the largest cliff dwellings in the world. The sites here tell the story of an 800 year period (AD 500 - 1300) during which

these people shifted fron a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a largely agrarian way of life centered on large communities in cliff dwellings.

We had to climb down several ladders to reach the Cliff Palace Dwellings.

The Cliff Palace Dwellings, the jewel of the park, had over 150 rooms occupied by about 100 people at its peak. It is a four-story apartment complex.

Cliff Palace Dwellings

Skinny passageway to get to the Cliff Palace Dwellings. Those Ancestral Puebloans were little people.

Spruce Tree House Dwellings had 130 rooms with 8 kivas.

Spruce Tree Dwellings

Inside an actual Kiva (Ceremonial House) at Spruce Tree House Ruins. Pretty neat to see a Kiva with a roof on it as most of the roofs have not survived the ages.

What a view!!! Priceless!!!!