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The landscape of the southwest corner of Colorado can be described as both harsh and beautiful. Flat-topped mesas covered with juniper and piñon stand like huge tables rising above the flat desert floor. The sides of the mesas drop suddenly into steep canyons with niches in the cliff walls carved out by the weather. The name of the area is Mesa Verde, Spanish for Green Table.

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At first glance, it appears an unlikely place people would choose to live in, but two thousand years ago small family groups moved into the region and made it their home. We don't know where the people came from or why they came to such rugged territory. Perhaps the juniper and piñon, along with wild game, attracted them to the mesa. As they settled into the territory they discovered small springs and seeps and developed unique water conservation techniques that allowed them to farm corn, beans, and squash on the tops of the plateaus. The Navajo call these people Anasazi, the Ancient Ones.

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By 1200 A.D. the small family groups had grown to a population of roughly 2,500 people. It was during this time that the Anasazi moved out of their houses and small villages atop the mesa and began building living areas in the niches of the cliff walls. These niches are created when rainfall soaks down through the sandstone of the cliff walls, becomes trapped by the harder layers of shale beneath the sandstone, and freezes during the winter months, causing the sandstone to fracture and fall from the cliff wall. Most niches are so small that only one- to five-room houses could be built, but there were a few wide niches where the Anasazi built large and beautiful structures. The grandest of these is Cliff Palace.

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The Anasazi occupied the cliff dwellings for less than one hundred years. A severe drought began in approximately 1276 A.D. and for 23 years rainfall was so sparse that the springs and seeps ran dry. Village by village, the Anasazi were forced to leave Mesa Verde and search for new regions to grow their crops.

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For hundreds of years the ruins of Mesa Verde stood silent and forgotten. In the mid-1700s the Spanish governor of New Mexico sent Don Juan Maria de Rivera to explore the region northwest of New Mexico. Perhaps someone from that expedition gave Mesa Verde its name. Nearly one hundred years after Rivera’s expedition, Professor J. S. Newberry, a geologist with a U.S. military expedition, mentions Mesa Verde in his reports. Although this is the first time the name is used officially, Newberry makes no note of ruins. Miners and prospectors of the region knew of the ruins though. Fifteen years after Newberry’s report, W. H. Jackson, a U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey photographer, followed John Moss, a prospector, to some of the smaller cliff dwellings. Ten years later, on March 20, 1884, prospector S. E. Osborn carved his name in a third cliff house.

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It wasn’t until a snowstorm in 1888 drove Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason to search for lost cattle that Cliff Palace once more echoed with the sound of human voices. Richard and three of his brothers spent the next fifteen months discovering more ruins in Mesa Verde. They gathered artifacts during their forays into the area and later sold them in a series of four collections.

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In 1891 the first scientist to come to Mesa Verde was Gustaf Nordenskiold from the Academy of Sciences in Sweden. He photographed the cliff dwellings and compiled detailed records which he later published in a book. He also collected roughly 600 artifacts. Unfortunately for American archaeologists, the precious objects were sent to the National Museum in Helsinki, Finland, where they are still exhibited.

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The loss of rare artifacts and the deformation of structures by prospectors, ranchers, and curious visitors prompted attempts to declare Mesa Verde a national park. In 1906 Congress passed the Antiquities Act making the collection or destruction of prehistoric or historic objects or structures a federal crime. A few days later, President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill creating Mesa Verde National Park. In 1908 Jesse Walter Fewkes, an archaeologist with the Smithsonian Institute, began excavations and repairs of the ruins. His work is carried on today by archaeologists from a variety of institutions. On September 8, 1978, Mesa Verde was named a World Cultural Heritage Site. Today, more than 400,000 visitors enjoy one of the nation’s best-preserved archaeological sites as they marvel at the architecture of Mesa Verde and the ancient ones who once called it home.

1. Select all of the statements from the passage that are facts.

a. The name of the area is Mesa Verde, Spanish for Green Table.

b. Perhaps the juniper and piñon, along with wild game, attracted them to the mesa.

c. The Anasazi occupied the cliff dwellings for less than one hundred years.

d. Although this is the first time the name is used officially, Newberry makes no note of ruins.