An Introduction to Mesa Verde
The land, the climate, and the early homes of Mesa Verde. This reading leaves out the welcome video and the classroom questions and activity directions.
This page is a simplified version of the original text (leveled toward 800L). Photos, maps, and other images are not on this page — use the original link above to see them.
Words with a dotted underline have a Word Help card pinned beside the paragraph.
The Mesa Verde Environment
Mesa Verde National Park is in Southwest Colorado, near Four Corners. Four Corners is where the states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado all meet.
The Four Corners area has forested mountains and mesas, with large sagebrush plains in between. Mesa means “table” in Spanish. A mesa is a flat-topped hill or mountain with steep sides all around it.
Mesa Verde is covered in a dense forest of small evergreen trees. Pinon pine, juniper trees, shrubs, grasses, cacti, and wildflowers give food and a place to live to animals. These include deer, elk, mountain lions, bobcats, bears, and turkeys.
Many steep-walled canyons cut into the mesa. Some of these canyons have seep springs. They are an important water source for wildlife and people alike.
Living on the Mesa
For over 700 years, Pueblo people lived on and around the Mesa Verde region. Pueblo Indians are American Indians who live in pueblos and have a long tradition of farming. Pueblo is the Spanish word for “village” or “town.” In the Southwest, a pueblo is a settlement that has houses made of stone, mud, and wood. The houses have flat roofs and can be one or more stories tall.
Pueblo people first began living on the mesa around 550 CE (Common Era). The Mesa Verde environment was a good place for these early settlers to farm and build permanent homes called pithouses. Pithouses were dug partly underground and had a wood and mud roof.
Over time, the style of home changed to above-ground rooms built side by side (750 CE). Pueblo villages grew in size and farms were expanded. Pueblo farmers grew a variety of crops. Corn was especially important.
Communities continued to grow on the mesa. By 900 CE, homes and villages were built of stone. Stone masonry let people build villages of two, three, even four stories. People traded with other villages and communities far away. This brought in fine items and new ideas.
In the 1100s, families began to move from mesa top villages into cliff dwellings. Cliff dwellings are pueblos built into shallow alcoves along the steep walls of canyons. Why move into a cliff dwelling? Pueblos built into these natural rock alcoves were protected from wind, rain, and snow. Active seep springs where families could collect water were also located below the canyon rim, in or near many of these alcove sites.