TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1A CITY OF STONE CHAPTER 2 DIGGING UP MESA VERDE CHAPTER 3 THE ANCESTRAL PUEBLOANS CHAPTER 4 MESA VERDE ABANDONED CHAPTER 5 PROTECTING MESA VERDE GLOSSARY READ MORE CRITICAL THINKING USING THE COMMON CORE INTERNET SITES INDEX
CHAPTER ONE A CITY OF STONE On a cold morning in December 1888 two cowboys set off on horseback They were searching for lost cattle in southwest Colorado As the men rode snow began to fall They could not see very far ahead The area had many steep cliffs Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason did not want to fall over a cliff so they got off their horses and started walking They came to the edge of a mesa and looked across the canyon The men could not believe what they saw In an alcove under the mesa top was a city made of stone They had found Mesa Verde Charles Mason Richard Wetherill
ARCHAEOLOGICAL FACT In Spanish Mesa Verde means green table Spanish explorers may have used the name to describe the flat topped hills that were covered with green trees flat topped hills of Mesa Verde mesa a broad hill with a flat top and steep sides alcove a large arched recession formed in a cliff wall Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason found cliff dwellings in December 1888 Wetherill named one of them Cliff Palace
