REMINDER A Stunning The sun beats down on Mesa Verde National Park The air is hot and dry At the bottom of a cliff stands a large group of ancient buildings These buildings make up an old village today called Cliff Palace Though it can be quite hot in this part of Colorado inside the buildings the air is nice and cool These buildings located in southwest Colorado are just one reminder of the history and culture of the native peoples of the North American Southwest 4
When it was in use Cliff Palace had around 150 rooms 5
LIVED Where They The first people living in the southwestern part of North America arrived as early as 9000 BC They lived where they could hunt and gather food and many moved from place to place Today the areas where these people lived are parts of the states of Colorado Utah Nevada New Mexico and Texas in addition to northern Mexico Much of this land is hot and arid Even though it’s very dry most of the soil is good for farming 6
How the native peoples of the Southwest lived depended greatly on their surroundings Greenland Canada United States Mexico where the Southwest peoples lived 7
