I took the following photos as part of my educational
project to benefit the students at the school where I teach and also to benefit
anyone else interested in the Anasazi. These photos were taken on my trip to
Mesa Verde National Park during the summer of 1998. The information that is
written by each photo is from knowledge I gained from touring the park and reading
the brochures published by the park that accompanied each tour. Click the small pictures
to see the larger versions.
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In southwestern Colorado in a place known as Mesa Verde, the Anasazi
Indians came to live more than fourteen centuries ago.
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The mountains at Mesa Verde are covered with trees and shrubs.
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This is Navajo Canyon Viewpoint. It is about 700 feet deep and represents the erosion processes that are still active today.
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For hundreds of years the Anasazi Indians farmed on the flat mesa top.
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The early pithouses where they lived around 575 B.C. represents a way of life based on agriculture. This pithouse has a larger room (living area and work space), smaller room (storage area) and firepit with an air deflector. There are post holes that suggest roof support.
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This photo shows two pithouses. The larger room was first built around A.D. 674. According to data at Mesa Verde National Park, there was evidence that this pithouse was destroyed by fire. The second, smaller pithouse was constructed shortly after the first one was destroyed.
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850-950 A.D. Eventually pithouses and kivas (ceremonial rooms) were dug deeper into the ground and contained a bench-like shelf around the walls. This would have had a ground level roof and a central rectangular opening with a ladder for entry into the room. Smoke from the fire would have escaped through the opening.
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1000 A.D. The stones are the base of a tower built over an earlier site. This is developmental Pueblo architecture.
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1075 A.D. The stone supports (pilasters) and some masonry facing around the bench (banquette) represent advancements over earlier kivas. The round structures are towers that served as lookouts for inhabitants.
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Spruce Tree House is pictured here. The Great Pueblo Period lasted from 1100 to 1300 A.D. During this time the Anasazi began constructing cliff dwellings that probably provided relief from wind, rain, and snow. The two types of low lying evergreen trees in the picture are the Pinyon Pine and Juniper. The house contained about 114 rooms and 8 kivas built into a natural cave. It is thought to have been home for about 100 people. Entrance to the rooms was gained through rectangular and T-shaped doorways.
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Spruce Tree House (built around 1200-1276 AD) at Mesa Verde National Park
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View of a kiva and adjacent rooms at Spruce Tree House
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Kiva or ceremonial room
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Square Tower House (built between 1200 and 1300 AD) is located in Mesa Verde National Park. This multistoried building unit was discovered by Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason, two local ranchers in December 1888. It is believed that Square Tower House originally had over 80 rooms.
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Oak Tree House is located in Fewkes Canyon at Mesa Verde National Park. It had 50 rooms and 6 kivas.
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At the edge of the pinyon and juniper forest is a canyon where Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason also discovered what they called Cliff Palace in 1888.
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View of Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park. |
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Cliff Palace once housed more than two hundred people. It is the largest cliff ruin in Mesa Verde.
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Cliff Palace: The upper ledge contained storage rooms. The Anasazi entered these rooms by using a short ladder.
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Cliff Palace: The Anasazi Indians used fine masonry and constructed walls straight and square. The two openings near the top of the wall of the middle building in this photo were used for ventilation of the rooms that were behind it. The holes below the rectangular doorway in the same building were sockets for beams that supported the roofs of the ground floor rooms. Over the tops of the large beams the Anasazi placed smaller poles, a layer of juniper bark, and a layer of mud 5 to 6 inches thick.
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Cliff Palace: The main building material that was used by the Anasazi was sandstone. The mortar between the blocks is a mud and water mixture. Fitted in the mortar are tiny pieces of stone called "chinking" stones which fill in the gaps and help prevent the main structures from collapsing. Over the top, a thin coating of plaster was placed. Some of the finest walls remain intact, but some stabilization has been done to front sections of Cliff Palace.
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