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Cliff Dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park

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The National Park known as Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to 1300. (Image credit: Andrew Kotsopey, National Park Service)

This recently released image shows dwellings on a cliff in Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is Spanish for “green table.” Ancestral Puebloans lived in elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves for more than 700 years, until about the year 1300. Within the space of 200 years, they were gone.

The park, in southwestern Colorado, includes nearly 5,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde was established as a National Park on June 29, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Live Science Staff
Live Science Staff
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