Ancient Phenomenon EndurING Time: Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings
Ancestral Home of The Pueblo People In Southwest Colorado Exists Today As One Of The Most Noticeably Preserved National Parks
“I’m a newcomer to the area. Only lived here for about 50 years,” jokes Tom Hayden, a retired guide for the Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings in southwestern Colorado. Hayden is well aware that people have lived in the area for long before him and a civilization flourished there from about 500 AD - 1300 AD. “I have always loved history and I love to fish and hunt,” explains Hayden, “so this is a great area for me.” Hayden grew up in a “dusty, cowboy town” called Gunnison, Colorado and, after graduating school to become a teacher, moved to Cortez and taught history for about 20 years. The area he lives, in between the small towns of Dolores and Marcos, is home to some of the most significant archaeological sites in the United States.
“It’s nothing less than spectacular, built by a magnificent group of farmers who lived on the mesa between 500-1300,” Hayden says, speaking of the cliff dwellings in the area. The dwellings range from one room units to homes that housed a whole village of 150 residents. For centuries, the Ancestral Pueblo people lived and farmed on top of the mesa and then moved their homes to the alcoves below the mesa. Literally, they moved the stones. As Hayden explains, “they already had their stone homes on top of the mesa so they just moved them down in the alcoves.” The story on why they moved their homes is as fascinating as the structures themselves.
“About 2,500 people lived on top of the mesa, about 30,000 lived in the valley near Cortez, and down by the four corners and Chaco there were another 50,000 people,” explains Hayden, “they very successfully farmed corn, squash and beans in the Loess soil.” Loess soil is some of the best dry land soil in the world. As Hayden used to be a teacher, he asks a lot of questions of his listeners such as, “well how did they get water? By praying to the cloud people, of course, and the cloud people delivered.” The water was delivered from the cloud people for about 800 years and then “they shut it off for 26 years,” he recalls. He uses the dust bowl situation of the 30s as a comparison. “In the 30s, there was severe drought that caused the dust bowl and recession, but that was only 10 years long - this was for 26 years in the 1100s.”
The drought started in the south - near the four corners region. As the situation grew worse, the 50,000 people down that way started to make their way north towards the Mesa Verde area. As it often happens for thousands of years, when a group of people are without resources and others have it - violence, conflict and even massacres occur. As a result, the “Mesa Verde people were put in defense mode and decided to ‘circle the wagon,’ as John Wayne would say,” Hayden says.
What he means is they left the farms up on top of the mesa and built their homes in the caves, or alcoves, surrounding the mesa. The alcoves made a great place to live because it had their primary building material, stone, and “they had running water in their homes,” Hayden says. He says that water is what caused the alcoves to form and there was spring water in the back of the caves. Amazingly, the Ancestral Puebloans built these multiple story and roomed structures out of the stone available in the alcoves and from the “beautiful stone buildings they had on the mesa.” Hayden marvels at the fact that they did not have a wheel or beasts of burden to do this work, however “they have the same brain as you and the same brain as me.”
After living in the alcoves for about a century, things went downhill, Hayden explains. And what happens next? “Grandma said it’s time to go,” chuckles Hayden. Hayden says it was a matrimonial system and, clan by clan, the people began to migrate to other areas - New Mexico and Arizona. By 1285, all the Ancestral Puebloans vacated the Mesa Verde Region. The descendants of these people are “alive and well in places in 19 modern villages like Acoma and Zuni,” Hayden says. The Mesa Verde Region stayed relatively vacant except for the Ute people, who were hunter/ gatherers and eventually became “powerhouses in Colorado with the adoption of the horse,” Hayden says. The Ute knew about the cliff dwelling, however would not enter them because they feel they are sacred and that, if one enters the dwellings, they will get sick. Even today, “Navajo and Ute who work with Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings perform ceremonies before participating in archaeological activities,” explains Hayden.
Though the Ute were eventually put onto a reservation in Colorado that included the cliff dwellings, the US government wanted possession of the cliff dwellings once discovered by Europeans. Due to a mis-survey, the land the US government took did not include the dwellings. Once they realized their mistake, they approached the Ute again, however “the Ute knew it was not in their interest to give the dwellings without a trade so they got back Ute Mountain in a trade for the land,” explains Hayden.
Even after this, the Ute realized that they were slowly going to lose more and more land to the US government, especially with the discovery of black gold - oil - in the area. “They had a wise chief at this time who realized what had to be done to keep the land,” Hayden says. And what had to be done is the same thing the National Parks does with American land - the Ute made Ute Mountain Tribal Parks adjacent to Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings, and the archaeological artifacts and dwellings there “will blow your socks off,” Hayden says. Judging by the history, the size - Ute Mountain Tribal Parks is 125,000 acres and Mesa Verde is 52,000 acres - and archaeological significance of the whole area, it sounds like all of it is there for everyone to have their socks blown off for generations to come.
Andrew Malo
A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University in Education, Andrew has taught for the past decade in Chicago, New Mexico, and Japan. He enjoys tinkering with trucks and motorcycles, woodworking, reading and computer programming.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Mesa Verde RV Resort is nestled in the sage and piñion country of southwest Colorado. It is simply the best rated resort in the area. First-rate amenities and a dedicated and friendly staff will help make your stay enjoyable.