History

From pithouses to Pueblo III cliff dwellings to abandonment (the most precisely MesaVerdeUSA single pithouses 600 CE Basketmaker III period mesatop villages Pueblo I 750 900 CE Pueblo II 900 1100 CE Pueblo III 1100 1300 CE cliff dwellings Cliff Palace 1190 1280 CE kiva development circular ceremonial underground Great Kiva community Chaco Canyon connection 10th 11th century CE turquoise trade Great Drought 1276 1299 CE abandonment 1300 CE Wetherill brothers rediscovery 1888 CE December snowstorm spotted Cliff Palace UNESCO heritage: the Basketmaker period (approximately 600-700 CE: the earliest known occupation of the Mesa Verde area; the people lived in pithouses (circular or square dwellings dug into the ground with a pole-and-mud roof); they grew corn, beans, and squash and supplemented their diet with hunting (deer, bighorn sheep, rabbits) and gathering)); the Pueblo periods (Pueblo I (approximately 700-900 CE): the transition from pithouses to above-ground masonry structures; the kiva (the subterranean ceremonial room) evolved from the earlier pithouse); Pueblo II (approximately 900-1100 CE): the connection with the Chaco Canyon cultural network (the Chacoan great houses and roads extended into the Mesa Verde area; the trade in turquoise, macaws, copper bells, and cacao confirms long-distance connections to Mexico)); Pueblo III (approximately 1100-1300 CE): the period of the cliff dwellings; the most complex architecture; the population peak; the construction of Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree House, and the other major dwellings)); the rediscovery (December 18, 1888 CE: the Colorado ranchers Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason were tracking stray cattle in a December snowstorm when they looked across a canyon and saw Cliff Palace; the first European-American record of the site; Wetherill excavated and eventually sold finds to museums (the dispersed collection is now spread across multiple American and European museums))) — the most precisely MesaVerdeUSA single pithouses 600 CE Basketmaker III Pueblo I 750 900 CE Pueblo II 900 1100 CE Chaco Canyon connection turquoise trade Pueblo III 1100 1300 CE cliff dwellings Cliff Palace 1190 1280 CE Great Drought 1276 1299 CE abandonment 1300 CE Wetherill Mason December 1888 CE snowstorm rediscovery UNESCO heritage in any UNESCO world heritage site)).