Mesa Verde National Park sports many well preserved cliff dwelling of the Ancestral Puebloans, known by the Navajos as the Anasazi.

The area has been inhabited for many thousands of years but from 750 AD people started building pueblos and other houses under the canyon cliffs.

A major drought at the end of the 13th century caused the collapse of the civilisation here and the remaining people moved out.

 

Some of the dwellings are pretty large, like Cliff Palace, others, like Balcony House, are strategically situated and can only be accessed by high ladders and through a narrow tunnel.

 

A hiking trail leads to Petroglyph Point where you can admire an intriging petroglyph engraved on a rock.

 

We visited Mesa Verde in Sept. 1993.