WHEN I WAS ABOUT TWELVE MY PARENTS AND MY BROTHER MADE A TRIP OUT WEST FROM OHIO TO MESA VERDE AND SOME OTHER PARKS. THIS TRIP INFLUENCED ME TO GO TO SCHOOL TO STUDY SOUTHWESTERN NATIVE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGY AND PREHISTORY.
ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO MY FAMILY VISITED MESA VERDE AS WELL AS HIKED DOWN TO THE CANYON DE CHELLY. BOTH ARE BEAUTIFUL NATIONAL PARKS. MESA VERDE IS A GROUP OF PREHISTORIC CLIFF DWELLINGS THAT WERE OCCUPIED BY THE ANASAZI INDIANS FROM ABOUT 600 AD TO
1200. THE PUEBLOANS CLIMBED UP FROM TRAILS ON THE CLIFF SIDES TO THEIR HIGH PUEBLOS BUILT INTO THE SANDSTONE CLIFFS USING ROPE LADDERS AND SOME STEEP WOODEN LADDERS. THERE ARE MANY GROUPS OF THESE THROUGHOUT THE PARK. IT IS A POPULAR PARK TO VISIT IN THE SUMMER AND THERE ARE STILL STUDIES OF ARCHAEOLOGY ACTIVE IN THE PARK. YOU CAN CLIMB DOWN INTO THEIR PREHISTORIC KIVAS AND IT IS A FUN EXCURSION. IN MANY OF THE TOURS YOU CRAWL THROUGH SOME OF THEIR TUNNELS. IN MOST AREAS YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW A RANGER SINCE THEY WANT ALL THE PREHISTORIC REMAINS PROTECTED.
THESE PREHISTORIC ANASAZI HAD CROPS ABOVE THEIR CLIFF DWELLINGS AND DEPENDED UPON THE RAIN TO FERTILIZE THEM. THEY PLANTED CORN, BEANS, SQUASH, AND OTHER GOURDS. THEY OF COURSE MADE USE OF GATHERING THE NATIVE PLANTS SUCH AS PINYON SEEDS, GRASSES, AND MESQUITE BEANS. A SERIES OF POTTERY TYPES WERE FOUND AT THE EXCAVATIONS HERE. THERE IS AT LEAST ONE NICE MUSEUM THAT EXPLAINS THEIR WAY OF LIFE, EXHIBITING SOME TEXTILES AND ROPE SANDALS THAT WERE FOUND IN THE CAVES!
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND VISITING THIS PARK AND SPENDING AT LEAST SEVERAL DAYS THERE.
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