More than fourteen centuries ago in about A.D. 550 ancient Americans came to live in southwestern Colorado in the place known today as Mesa Verde For hundreds of years these people lived and farmed on the flat mesa top Then around 1190 many of them moved into alcoves in the cliffs of narrow canyons below Nimbly climbing steep rock walls they carried stones water and mud for building Later when the structures were complete the inhabitants brought crops harvested from nearby fields freshly killed wild game and other things they needed to live Members of the village produced pottery baskets and finely crafted stone and bone tools Traders from far away came with shells cloth and news from the outside world It was a thriving productive community Visitors today climb ladders similar to those used by the Anasazi
Then in the late 1200s less than one hundred years after they had begun building in the cliffs the people abandoned abandoned their alcove homes in Mesa Verde never to return At about the same time other groups living in the area also left their homes and moved elsewhere Some native Americans living in the Southwest today believe that the people who lived at Mesa Verde and nearby are their ancestors They call them the Anasazi a Navajo word meaning the ancient ones
THE DISCOVERY OF MESA VERDE For nearly thirteen centuries from about the year A.D. 1 to 1300 Anasazi people lived in the four corners area so named because it is where the states of Colorado Utah Arizona and New Mexico now meet Most communities were small but a few were clusters clusters of many villages One of the largest communities was at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico which at one time housed seven thousand people Although each Anasazi community community had its own character they were linked by common traditions Oak Tree House at Mesa Verde
