In the American Scientist article, researchers noted that a mix of factors seemed to be involved in this collapse. At one Mesa Verde site called "Sand Canyon," people late in the 13th century were depending more on wild plants and were eating less domesticated turkey. With the population shrinking, the site fell into ruin and "refuse was being deposited in once-important civic or ceremonial structures, such as the great kiva," the researchers wrote. There were also signs of a battle. The people who left Sand Canyon, before the final fall, likely joined the other people of the Mesa Verde region in migrating south to new lands.
A recent study reveals that a "megadrought" even worse than the drought that wiped at Mesa Verde, may hit the American Southwest by the end of the 21 st century. The effects on the people living in the American Southwest could be severe, leaving future inhabitants to grapple with water shortages amidst a hotter, more arid, environment.
Aside from leaving future inhabitants struggling for water the changing environment also poses threats to the Mesa Verde ruins. In , the Union of Concerned Scientists published a report noting that Mesa Verde National Park has already suffered the loss of much of its forest due to wildfires.
These wildfires, as well as flash flooding caused by the loss of vegetation, have already caused damage to the ruins at Mesa Verde and could get worse in the future. Live Science. Owen Jarus. Discover the wonder and grandeur of this one-of-a-kind place for yourself, with a guided interpretive tour. For your reading pleasure, please enjoy our Mesa Verde National Park History Synopsis, a graphical representation of the park timeline, and a list of the Mesa Verde 24 Associated Tribes.
History Synopsis. Associated Tribes. Call Us. Park History Discover Park History. At Mesa Verde, they farmed crops such as beans, corn, and squash and supplemented their diet by gathering wild plants and hunting deer, rabbits, squirrels, and other game.
At first, they lived in pithouses, usually dug into the ground on the mesatops, but sometimes also located in alcoves in the cliffs. Later, as their population grew, they built larger houses of adobe, called pueblos.
By , they were building advanced, multi-story houses of shaped stone. Between and , during the Classic Period, the population at Mesa Verde may have reached several thousand people, with most concentrated in compact villages of many rooms, often with kivas built inside the enclosing walls of the pueblos.
Ancestral Puebloan people left the remnants of their villages and lives at sites throughout the Four Corners area. Around AD, some people began to move back into the cliff-side alcoves.
Anthropologists and archeologists do not know exactly why this population shift occurred, but Mesa Verde is famous for the cliff dwellings built by this last group of Ancestral Puebloans. Mostly constructed from the late s to late s, these cliff dwellings range in size from one-room structures to villages of more than rooms, such as Cliff Palace and Long House.
Builders fit the structures to the available space, constructing their villages from sandstone blocks and mud mortar. Livings rooms averaged about six feet by eight feet, space enough for two or three persons. Smaller rooms in the rear and on the upper levels were likely used for storage.
Most villages included undergound kivas, thought to have been used as ceremonial chambers. A few generations later, around , the Ancestral Puebloans abandoned Mesa Verde for points south.
There are over archaeological sites and over cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people at the site. The most famous Mesa Verde dwelling is the Cliff Palace. It dates back more than years and was likely once painted with bright colors. It is constructed from sandstone, wooden beams and mortar. Henry William Jackson first photographed Mesa Verde and the cliff dwellings in However, more recent research suggests that the body was actually used as a ceremonial structure.
Guess that means the old theory no longer holds water.
0コメント