Mesa Verde National Park tours tend to focus on the past, and with good reason. It’s easy to feel connected to history when walking through the remarkably well-preserved archaeological sites that act as the park’s main attractions. At one time, the area now called Mesa Verde was home to a complex and thriving civilization called the Ancestral Puebloans, who left behind the ruins of pueblo houses and cliff dwellings when they mysteriously disappeared about 750 years ago. The most important historical events in the Mesa Verde area occurred centuries before American settlers arrived on the scene; in fact, the population of modern-day Montezuma Country was actually higher in the year 1200 than it is today.
The Ancestral Pueblo people were the descendants of nomads who traveled in cycles throughout the American Southwest, spending seasons in Mesa Verde before moving on. Ancestral Puebloan culture developed over the course of centuries and is considered to have started around the year 750. However, the peak of their civilization wouldn’t come until the end of the 12th century, some 400 years later.
In the mid-12th century, severe and long-lasting droughts struck the nearby San Juan Basin, forcing the people living there to move to more habitable areas. Many of these migrants settled in Mesa Verde, joining the Ancestral Puebloan culture. As their population swelled, their lifestyles changed, and they left their traditional stone and adobe mud pueblo houses, building villages in natural alcoves carved into the sides of the cliffs. The largest of these cliff dwellings, the Cliff Palace, was home to about 100 people and remains in good condition to this day. You can take a guided tour when you visit Mesa Verde National Park.
About 100 years after the Ancestral Puebloans built their cliff dwellings, they suddenly abandoned them. The emigration seems to have been hurried, as many people left behind personal belongings like clothing, tools, and cooking utensils. Oral traditions from other southwestern tribes hold that the people of Mesa Verde traveled south and merged with the cultures already there, although we still don’t know why. There is evidence that the Mesa Verde area was hit by major droughts around the end of the 12th century, but for now, that’s just one theory. Other factors that may have helped destabilize the Ancestral Puebloan civilization include overpopulation, resource depletion, and an over-reliance on maize as a staple food.
To make the most of your next trip to Mesa Verde, check out our Mesa Verde National Park Self-Guided Driving Tour, or you can sign up for Action+ and gain access to over 100 tours for a single yearly price.
