Mesa Verde, Spanish for “green table”, offers an unparalleled opportunity to see and experience a unique cultural and physical landscape. Mesa Verde National Park is the first and only National Park established to preserve the works of people. The culture represented at Mesa Verde reflects more than 700 years of history. From approximately A.D. 600 through 1300 people lived and flourished in communities throughout the area, eventually building elaborate stone villages in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Today most people call these sheltered villages “cliff dwellings”. The cliff dwellings represent the last 75 to 100 years of occupation at Mesa Verde. In the late 1200s within the span of one or two generations, they left their homes and moved away.

Mesa Verde was the center of the northern San Juan Anasazi (Pueblo) culture that existed in the Four Corners area for over a thousand years. The archeological sites found in Mesa Verde are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. Mesa Verde National Park offers visitors a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people. Scientists study the ancient dwellings of Mesa Verde, in part, by making comparisons between the Ancestral Pueblo people and their contemporary indigenous descendants who still live in the Southwest today. Twenty-four Native American tribes in the southwest have an ancestral affiliation with the sites at Mesa Verde.

From the technical excavations and studies, it has been possible to reconstruct the life of the ancient Pueblo farmers who lived here in what many would consider a harsh environment. These people became so skillful in finding ways to survive that they managed to expand from a simple hunting-gathering culture to a very complex society with thousands of people. Their success was attributable in part to the favorable topography and climate and to the flora and fauna. Equally important was their ability to grow corn, beans, and squash and to adapt to the local environment.