More ancient history

Click the photo for a slide show. The first three are from our campground. There is one of Mesa Verde, and yes we drove all the way to the top of that mesa! Then we visited two sets of cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. The first set is called the Cliff Palace. There are a few flower pictures in between and then a set of photos from Spruce Tree House, the best preserved (90% original) cliff dwelling in the U. S.

Just another crummy day in paradise! I took the dog out for a walk this morning and snapped a few photos from the 1 acre off leash dog park that is part of our campground. After breakfast, we packed up and headed for Mesa Verde National Park. From the gate it is a 15 mile drive to the visitor center, and it is ALL uphill! There are a number of ruins to see here, and we didn't have time to see them all, so we chose the most famous (Cliff Palace) and the best preserved (Spruce Tree House).

These areas were inhabited from c. 750 A.D. to c. 1300 A.D. The remaining structures were constructed during the last 100 years or so of that period. The Cliff Palace is thought to have been a gathering or ceremonial area, inhabited by some kind of leaders, government or religious or both. The Spruce Tree house was more like a residential area.

In the photos, you will notice a number of round structures that are dug into the ground and lined with stones. In their original state, these holes in the ground were covered over with a roof made of beams and sticks and covered over with mud. There are two pictures taken inside one of these "kivas" that is intact. You can get a little idea of the way they were constructed. In another photo taken at Spruce Tree House, you can see some holes in a flat area with ladders protruding out of the hole. These are kivas that have been covered over and their tops make a kind of patio for the kivas and other structures built on the next level.

The kivas were dwellings for extended families and were very cleverly designed. There was a fire pit in the center, just under the hole that the ladder protrudes through. Along the side of the wall was an air shaft that allowed fresh air in to provide air for the fire and the inhabitants. You will notice in the indoor picture a small wall behind the ladder. This was a "vane" to direct the air around the room. As you can imagine, even with this clever system of ventilation, the inhabitants breathed a lot of smoke. Many of them apparently died from emphysema.

The people who lived here farmed the land on the top of the mesa, growing corn and squash. Later they also grew beans, which filled in their dietary needs for protein. It seems that corn protein can't be processed by the human body in its native state. With the addition of beans to the diet, the corn amino acids can be processed and used by the body. Prior to the introduction of beans into the diet, many of these people were malnourished. They ate little or no meat.

Now, I haven't mentioned that both of these ruins are located about 100 feet below the top of the mesa. So, you guessed it, we walked down a hundred feet and then back up 100 feet. The exit from Cliff Palace is via a number of stone steps and three ladders. It is quite a climb! At 7,000 feet it is quite a challenge, too.

We ended our exploration of the cliff dwellings tired but happy. This was what I had in mind when we began planning this trip. We snapped a few shots from the mountainside on the way down. After a quick drive through historic downtown Durango on the way back, we returned to Alpen Rose RV Park, where Pogo was very glad to see us. She got a run in the off leash dog park!