MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

MESA VERDE A PLACE TO VISIT

 To reach Mesa Verde we have to go to Durango city. Durango is 340 miles south of Denver and takes about 7 hours by car. We started off around 10 in the morning and reached Durango around 8 in the evening with occasional stops on the way. We checked into the Marriot hotel for our night stay.

The driving distance from Durango to Mesa Verde is 48 miles west and takes about one and half hour.

The flat hill tops become visible as we approach Mesa Verde National Park

THE NAME Mesa Verde is Spanish for “green table” and it comes from the regions tree covered plateaus (flat and table like land) and flat-topped mountains. The early Spanish explorer named the area Mesa Verde because its flat top like a table, heavily forested with ever greens like pine and juniper trees is perpetually green.

In Mesa Verde national park alcoves are large arched recesses in cliff walls that were used by PUEBLO Native American tribes to build their homes. Cliff dwellings are structures built into these alcoves which range in size from single room granaries to villages with over 150 rooms. To build their dwellings pueblos used mud and stones and also locally available wooden branches. If the dwellings are multistoried, they used retractable ladders.

It is better to understand the structure and formation of alcoves which are fundamental and basic structures to build cliff dwellings.

Alcoves are large, arched recessions formed in a mountain cliff wall, Alcove is not same as a cave. Caves are underground chambers not found in Mesa Verde. Alcove formation is caused by water that seeps into cracks freezing and thawing in them, eventually expanding and slowly pushing the rock apart.

It eventually gives the feeling of an open box the upper lid forming the ceiling of the alcove and lower section of the box forming the foundation area to build the cliff dwellings

The word PUEBLO is the Spanish word for “town” or “village” and or “people”. It comes from the Latin word “populus” meaning “people”. Spanish colonials applied the term only to those Native American settlements having fixed location and permanent buildings like CLIFF DWELLINGS BUILT INSIDE THE ALCOVES.

GEOLOGY OF MESA VERDE

In fact, geology determines where plants grow where human beings live and where animals live. Geology is foundation of everything in our environment. So, it is interesting to learn how geology shaped ancestral Pueblo culture and history of Mesa Verde. Alcove formation is fundamental geological help for the proliferation of Pueblo culture.

Alcove formation is assisted by water that is absorbed into and percolates through pores in the sandstone. The water eventually reaches a layer of shale which is much less porous or absorbent than the sandstone. The water cannot easily pass through the shale and so gravity guides the water along the top of this layer to the cliff face. SEEP SPRINGS ARE FOUND where the water emerges from the cliff face, directly above the shale layer. These seeps provided a continuous supply and source of water for the residents of alcoves. The water comes in constant contact with the sandstone in these areas and dissolves the calcium carbonate that holds the sandstone together. Eventually this causes the sandstones to fall apart and crumble into individual grains of sand. The grains are washed away during rainstorms or blown away by wind. This forms the silt. This silt and sand were used by the ancestral Puebloans as part of their mortar mix to build their cliff dwellings. This made it necessary for the for the Ancestral Puebloans to backfill the floors of the alcoves to obtain a flat surface to build their cliff dwellings. The process of alcove formation continues even today which is the main reason for the stabilization work is an important part of the preservation efforts at Mesa Verde.

Alcove formation is fundamental requirement for the origin and development of ancestral Pueo bolo Indian culture. To reitrarate further alcove formation in Mesa Verde is a combination of physical weathering and chemical process over a long period of time. The process is primarily caused by water that seeps into the cracks in Cliff House Sandstone formation which is porous and erosion resistant. The water dissolves the calcium carbonate that holds the sandstone together and when freezes in winter it expands and cracks the rock. As the ice melts rock debris drips down due to gravity and eventually the chunks of sandstone weaken collapse and fall away from the cliff face in blocks creating alcoves like an OPEN BOX. The gentle dip or slant in the rocks elevation also contributes to the formation of alcoves.

Sculpture at the entrance of the park. Pueblo Indian climbing the cliff dwelling

Collecting SEEP SPRING WATER SEEP SPRING WATER

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Native American

   Climbs cliff dwelling  

 In front of Mesa Verde

National Park

In front of Mesa Verde

National Park

Alcoves and cliff dwelings with visitors

In front of alcove and cliff dwelling

cliff dwelling with visitors

Alcove with cliff dwelling

Alcove with greenery on its roof

Alcove with cliff dwelling

Cliff dwelling village

Alcove with cliff dwelling

Professor K.A.Balasubramanian

Ph.D.(IARI NEW DELHI), Ph.D.(IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON) D.I.C.(IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON)

August 17th 2024

DENVER, COLORADO, USA