Deep canyons at Canyon de Chelly, AZ.
Monument Valley, AZ and UT.
Local archeology enthusiast Yusef Ben-Masaud shows me a small corn cob found in the earth, pottery pieces, and petroglyphs from around 1180-1250 A.D., one of a human figure. “It represents the pueblo that was just above us on top of the mesa and is simply a billboard that says, ‘we're up here, come on up,’” explains Ben- Masaud. “It’s a specific person, and people at that time would have known who he was and whether they were invited to his village.” Back at the ranch home, a reconstructed pottery bowl, dinosaur bones and other artifacts found on the property are on display. Some of Colorado’s most impressive ancient Pueblo dwellings lie within colossal Mesa Verde National Park. They include the four-story Square Tower House; Balcony House, which can only be reached by climbing long ladders; and Spruce Tree House reached by hiking from the park’s Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum. I am most impressed with the round and square towers of Cliff Palace, joining a ranger-led tour which also includes ladder climbs. “It took three generations about 80 years to build Cliff Palace the way we see it today,” says Ranger and Interpreter Stanley Merritt. “We think that only 60 to 80 people lived in Cliff Palace, thus we believe it was more like a farmers’ market or gathering place.” I get a close-up look at the rounded kivas, once roofed and
busy with activity. “Children laughing, people singing, running and the noise of stone against stone as they worked their tools,” says Merritt, describing a typical day on the site about 800 years ago. Getting to the sites atop Mesa Verde’s Chapin and Wetherill mesas requires more than 20-mile drives from the park entrance, ascending along winding roads and reaching elevations up to 8,500 feet. The popular Chapin Mesa-Top Loop includes stops at ruins of pit houses, where early Puebloan communities lived dating back to around 550 A.D. Leaving Mesa Verde, a 10-minute drive west on Route 160 leads to Cortez, ideal as a base to explore the park. It’s basically the same distance east to the riverside, one-traffic-light town of Mancos. Cattle drives still thunder through the historic downtown, living up to its slogan, “Where the West Still Lives.” Well-preserved, century-old buildings line the streets, several listed on the state or national register of historic places. Once housing offices, a hospital, bank, and other businesses, the historic buildings are now occupied by art galleries, shops, and eateries. The 1910 Columbine Bar continues to be one of the state’s oldest operating bars, and Mancos High School, opened in 1909, is Colorado’s oldest continuously operating high school.
FOUR CORNERS
COAST TO COAST FALL MAGAZINE 2019
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