Mesa Verde and The Ancient Ones

The National Parks #2

"Cliff Palace"
(click on photo for a larger view)

The Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park

I feel a strong affinity with Native cultures and ancient peoples and there is pure magic in the lands where they lived and worked, laughed and cried, hunted, cooked, tended children and created art, for so many thousands of years. To walk through their homes, sit quietly in their places of worship, gaze upon their rock paintings, and hike their trails, fosters a deep sense of connection to these people, to the earth, to time itself. . .

One such magical place is  Mesa Verde National Park. The ancient homes of a vanished people are located there as well as at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, and other sites throughout the Southwest. These cliff dwellings, nestled deep into the canyon walls, far below the mesa tops, are hidden from view and difficult to get to.

About 1,400 years ago, from 550 A.D. to 1300 A.D., ancestral Puebloans (sometimes known as Anasazi, or "Ancient Ones") inhabited the area's mesas. However, it wasn't until the last 100 years or so of this occupation that they constructed elaborate structures below the mesa tops. And, toward the late 1200s, they disappeared from the place altogether.

What happened to them? What forced them to build their homes into the side of steep cliffs to begin with? These are mysteries that archeologists have yet to solve. But you can still learn a great deal about the culture of these people at Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon and other archaeological sites in the Southwest.

I found this video on YouTube and thought it was interesting and fairly well done:





Related posts:

The National Parks: America's Best Idea

The National Parks -- America's Best Idea Indeed

The National Parks #1

Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan have done it again with another magnificent documentary series titled, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," airing this week on PBS. And what a wonderful idea this was for a documentary. The film is all at once beautiful and informative, moving and inspiring. I was uplifted by the incredible scenery and the unfaltering commitment of  those who fought to preserve our public lands and brought to tears by those seeking to destroy them (the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite comes to mind).  I could go on and on about the series but I'll defer to those who can express themselves much better than I.

• Awesome: Ken Burns masterfully captures story and splendor of our national parks
  
  
• Ken Burns on how democracy saved the best places for all
  
  
• New heights for Burns and PBS
  
  
• Ken Burns' 'National Parks' film has beauty, brains
  
  
• 'The National Parks': Ken Burns’ best
  
  

Purchase the DVD and book.

As a nature lover and a landscape photographer I owe a debt of gratitude to our National Parks and all our public lands. They have sustained me through good times and bad and have done much to feed my soul. Many thanks to Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan for creating such a beautiful and meaningful film about our most precious national treasures.

Part 2: National Parks Photos #1

Like millions of my fellow Americans, I, too, have found true inspiration in our National Parks and Monuments.

"Sunset Geyser"
(click on photo for a larger view)

Pink Cone Geyser, Yellowstone National Park