Great Sites: Weatherill Mesa

Mesa Verde National Park

 

Weatherill Mesa is remote and, therefore much less visited than the rest of the sites at Mesa Verde National Park.  But it is a real treasure to visit. 

Long House at Weatherill Mesa
Mesa Verde National Park

 

There are three main attractions, 1) the Ranger guided tour of Long House, 2) the Loop facilitated by the tram, and 3) the hike to the Step House site.

The Ranger guided tour of Long House is a must.  This site was unique for a cliff dwelling because of its large open-air plaza fashioned after a large kiva and the natural seep spring.  

 

 

 

 

The tour begins with a short ride on the tram to a covered area with picnic tables.  You follow the Ranger down a steep switch-back trail to the site.

 

At first, Long House doesn’t look like much, but you soon learn that there are a lot of very interesting and unique features.

 

A ladder takes you up into the upper level where the Ranger points out an area where they ground their stone axes on the sandstone.

 

 

 

 

There are also imprints of corn cobs in the plaster—maybe made by kids playing because further down are hand prints on the walls made by small children. 

 

 

Some commented that it reminded them of a day-care facility.

 

 

 

Up in this balcony area you see one of the features that I find fascinating—a seep spring.  Rain and snow melt seeps through the porous sandstone that makes up the alcove.  When it hits the slate layer, it seeps out into the alcove providing a natural source for water right in the dwelling.

 

 

 

 

Looking down on the plaza you can see another fascinating and unique feature of Long House—the open-air plaza.  It looks like a grand kiva with the walls and roof missing.  Here is a partial transcript of Ranger Sam's eloquent description of how the plaza was used. [video of presentation]

 

"For 700 years  after the Ancestral Puebloans left Long House, this is all [there was to] Long House [peaceful and quiet].

"But back in the day, when the Ancestral Puebloans lived here, this place would have been alive with the sound of people, with the sound of the community—songs, dancing, singing, laughter, especially this place where we are standing right now.  We call this place, this courtyard, the Great Plaza  or the Great Kiva.

"I like to imagine that over this [rectangular rock-lined] opening here and this [rectangular rock-lined] opening here,  they have stretched skins of deer skins or elk hides. And this is a drum, and they are beating drums and making music.  

"And over here [this big square pit] is a fire pit and they have a big fire going and they are singing and dancing around that communal life force, the fire.

"Over here [behind the fire pit] we have another interesting little hole in the ground and this is what is called a Sipapu, and “sipapu” means place of immergence.   And this little hole, or square I should say, represents where these people believe that their Mother, the Earth, had given birth to them up to the surface to meet their father, the sky, and this Sipapu is where they believed their spirit would go back into the earth when they died.

"And over here we have more drums.  There are people laughing, singing and dancing.   This place is alive with the sounds of the community.  And what is so great about this story is that although that sound, that laughter, that talking may not be here in Long House today, it is still going on.  So what happened to these people, where did the Ancestral Puebloans go?

"Well they were dry land farmers, right?  So they depended upon the rain for water for their crops.  So, what happens when it stops raining?  Their crops failed and you can’t eat.  And that’s what happened to these people in 1280, a drought struck this region that lasted almost 30 years.  They couldn’t eat and they couldn’t make do, so they had to put art and architecture aside and renew."

[They abandoned the cliffs and moved south to start over.]

 

 

After the Long House tour, you can catch the tram for a Loop trail around the mesa.  The Loop was fun.  There are nicely preserved pithouses protected by metal buildings.  The tram lets you out at the paved trail-head and then picks you up at the end of the trail.  There are some parts of the tram ride where the driver waits for you to look at cliff dwellings from the rim.

 

 

Then there is the hike to Step House.  Unfortunately, we got rained out of our hike to this unique site.  I really wanted to see this site because there is a reconstructed pithouse, a large concentration of rock art, and the ruins of two separate occupations side-by-side. 

 

I will be going back to Mesa Verde National Park and you should visit it, too.  This is archaeology at its most elegant and beautiful.  It is probably the last site of the Ancestral Pueblo Culture, the culture that was part of the Chaco Phenomenon that lasted for over 500 years.  It was a culture that rose to great heights in art, architecture, government, and social life.  There is every reason to believe that the people were happy, healthy, and prosperous.  It was a good life with little signs of war or conflict.  Their's was a culture to be admired, studied and learned from.

 

by Courtney Miller

 

My book, The First Raven Mocker, has just been released. 

 

 

See what the Cherokee were like in mythological times.

 

Check it out at:

 

 www.CourtneyMillerAuthor.com

Great Sites: The Secret Passages of Coyote Village

Great Sites: Mesa Verde National Park

This week I want to talk about one of the unique features of the Mesa Verdeans that fascinates me—mysterious doors and passages!  Early in the history of these remote people they built narrow (2-foot by 3-foot) doors to tunnels that connect a room to a kiva or a tower.   I haven’t seen that anywhere else.   But at Mesa Verde it is quite common.  That is one thing that makes the small, unassuming ruins at “Far View Sites” so interesting to me.  This site sits on top of the “mesa” not far from the Far View Lodge in the center of the park.  The area was populated between 900 and 1300 A.D.--fairly early in the timeline—and was a farming community.   It is called “Far View” because of its stunning views of the countryside, canyons, and surrounding mountains.

The most elaborate example of tunnels lies in Coyote Village, one of the ruins featured on the Far View Site trail loop.  Next week I will talk more about the loop, but this week I want to concentrate on the mysterious passages of this site.

Coyote Village has 30 ground floor rooms (the upper floor(s) are gone now), five kivas and a watch

tower.  Three of the kivas, the tower, and a room are all linked by tunnels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[view video]  Starting with the kiva in the center of the plaza, it looks like a typical kiva with ventilator chamber, stone deflector, (back fill covers the fire pit and sipapu), stone pilasters … but then there is a curious door in one of the bench-like banquettes with a tunnel that leads under the plaza to the kiva next to it.

That kiva not only has the door from the central kiva but another door mounted in the corner of the chamber fronting the ventilator shaft that tunnels to the watch tower.  The most common connection at Mesa Verde is from a kiva to a watch tower.

When entering the watch tower from the plaza, one would have to be careful not to step into the hole in the floor  just inside the door and fall into the tunnel exit from the kiva.

Not only did the kiva connect to the tower, it had a third tunnel that connected to a room and another kiva in the corner of the village. 

The third kiva in the link had a door to a passage to a rectangular room.   Oddly,  there is no sign of the tunnel  from the central kiva inside the kiva suggesting the tunnel went to the room.

But, an inspection of the rectangular room only turns up a drop down into the tunnel to the third kiva.  I suspect that the tunnel from the central kiva comes up between the third kiva and the room.
[end of video]

 

I don’t know why I find these passages so intriguing.  Perhaps it’s that childhood fascination with sneaking around in tunnels and secret passages.  I’m sure there is a very practical explanation for them other than sneaking around.  It gets pretty cold on these high mesas in the winter.  Perhaps this was just a way to move around without having to go outside.  But, if that is the answer, I wonder why all of the rooms weren’t connected this way.

 

 

-- Courtney Miller

Great Sites: Mesa Verde National Park

Part 1: The Park

 

Mesa Verde National Park is probably the most popular of the great Ancestral Pueblo Culture sites.  The cliff dwellings feature the advanced building expertise of the Chacoan Ancestral Pueblo Culture showcased in beautiful, natural sandstone cliff alcoves.

 

“Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to 1300. Today the park protects nearly 5,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.”

 

Mesa Verde National Park is in Southwestern Colorado. The Mesa Verde Headquarters is a one-hour drive from Cortez, Colorado, heading east on Highway 160 to the park turnoff, and a 1.5 hour drive from Durango, Colorado, heading west on Highway 160 to the park turnoff.

Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum

What to do:

The Mesa Verde Visitor and Research Center and Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum offer glimpses into the culture of Ancestral Pueblo people. 

 

There are five cliff dwellings open to the public.  Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Long House, can only be entered on a ranger-guided tour but Spruce Tree House and Step House can be explored on your own.  

Mesa Top Loop Road on Chapin Mesa is a six-mile drive that offers amazing canyon views and a chance to learn about the Ancestral Pueblo people’s occupation and architecture through time. 

Hear about Mesa Verde from the park rangers who know it inside and out. Learn the vibrant story of the Ancestral Pueblo people’s lifeways on the mesa for over 750 years.

Cliff House

Whatever your interest, you will find a program to satisfy your curiosity.  Wander Prater Ridge Trail, try to decipher the art on Petroglyph Trail, or discover the lushness of Spruce Canyon. Whatever you decide, taking a walk or a hike will give you a chance to see some of the park’s hidden gems.
 

 

 

Check the park website, http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm , to plan your visit.  No matter what season, there is always something see.

 

Knife Edge Road 1920

 

See how Knife Edge Road has changed since 1920.  And for a relaxing stay, check out Far View Lodge conveniently located inside the park.

 

Next week we’ll delve into the sites and culture.

-- Courtney Miller

Great Sites: Aztec Ruins National Monument: Mini Tour

What is there to see at Aztec ruins?  Aztec Ruins National Monument is a small place, but has a big offering.   The restored great kiva is worth the visit by itself but there are also well preserved rooms with the ceilings intact, great examples of fine Chaco-style architecture, and it is easily accessible.  Let me give you a sample with this mini tour [Note: this week you have the option of watching a video with each section]:

[video] The great house, Aztec West, is only a few steps from the visitor center.  In the 1100’s it was a three-story building with over 500 rooms and many kivas including the restored great kiva in the plaza.  Right away you come face-to-face with the west wall where the significance of unique green rows of greywacke stone hauled from nearby quarries is a mystery.  We can only guess at reasons for the inclusion by the original masons. 

[video] As you follow the trail along the west wall  [of the Aztec West great house] you can peer into some of the outer rooms.  Most of the rooms were for storage, some were burial chambers, and one has a vented chamber suggesting it may have been a residence.

[video] We are now inside the great house at Aztec Ruins where the visitor trail allows us to explore

the rooms along the back wall.  Many of the ceilings are original construction that has survived the ages.  This One room was a burial chamber with over a dozen bodies found wrapped in shrouds of feathers or cotton cloth and rush matting and accompanied by offerings of pottery, jewelry, clothing and other items.  Many of the rooms were burial chambers with one or sometimes many corpses.  Other rooms were for storage and some contained trash heaps. 

[video] Two rooms in the Aztec Ruins Great House are very interesting.  One room once contained a door, but then the room was sealed off.  Perhaps it was a burial chamber or was filled with trash and access was no longer needed.

Next to the sealed off room is a square room that has many of the characteristics of a kiva including benches around the outside and a vent chamber on the south side.  All kivas were built inside a square room, but this one is missing the characteristic enclosed, round walls.  Maybe it was just too small.

[video] T-shaped doors became common in Chaco-style great houses after being introduced by the Mesa Verde outliers.   They look strange but had an exquisitely practical function.

They were built this way so that occupants carrying a load from the plaza with their arms full could easily enter the room.

 

[video] In one of the two great kivas in the plaza at Aztec Ruins, The timbers resting atop one another demonstrate the lower part of a domed, cribbed roof.  A cribbed roof uses many more large timbers than a flat, horizontal roof so archaeologists  believe that Chacoan kivas with domed roofs were used less often.   The restored great kiva across the plaza demonstrates the more traditional flat roof.

[Video] The reconstructed great kiva is what Aztec Ruins is most famous for.  

After Earl Morris excavated the great kiva in 1921, exposure took its tole and it weathered away.   So, the park service decided that rather than bury what was left, they would bring Mr. Morris back to consult on the reconstruction.  Everything in the reconstruction is based upon evidence Morris had found in his excavation.

The huge room could have held hundreds of people.  A smaller room may have hidden the performers while people entered.  The main room had a square floor vault where the sacred fire greeted guests entering from the south.  Two large, rectangular foot drums would have echoed loudly as dancers stomped on would covers. 

[Video] The main room of the great kiva was built to facilitate impressive productions.  Sacred fires crackled from the square hearth.   Foot drums of different sizes produced different sounds as the dancers stomped on them.  The four sandstone discs originally supported each of the four pillars to keep them from settling under the weight of the massive roof.  Small rooms encircled the main room with ladder access.  Perhaps to enable dancers to flood dramatically into the room?

[Video] Encircling the main room of the great kiva at Aztec are small antechambers.  Someone could descend into the room by using the ladder built in to the wall.  The room also had a door to the outside.

 

By the late 1200's, the Ancestral Pueblo culture in Aztec like the other Chacoan great houses gave up on this site and abandoned it.  The people moved south and established new pueblos as the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo cultures of today.

-- Courtney Miller


Want more?  Watch this five-part video tour by Ranger Tracy Bodnar