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Mesa Verde National ParkHistoric photo of Cliff Palace
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Mesa Verde National Park
History & Culture
 

On June 29, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established Mesa Verde National Park to "preserve the works of man," the first national park of its kind. Today, the continued preservation of both cultural and natural resources is the focus of the park's research and resource management staff.

 

 
View of Square Tower House





For cultural information on Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings and mesa top sites, click on Places.

 

 
Artist rendition of Ancestral Puebloan traders.

 


For information about the Ancestral Puebloans who lived at Mesa Verde, go to People.

 

 
Park Ranger archeologist documenting a wall in Spruce Tree House.


For information about Mesa Verde's Archeological Site Conservation program, current projects and research including stabilization, post fire site surveys, and architectural documentation, click on Preservation.

Balcony House
Visiting Cliff Dwellings
for information on visiting the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde
more...
Ancestral Puebloan black-on-white mug
Artifact Gallery
links to artifact gallery activity
more...
Photograph of Cliff Palace, 1895 - 1900 by WH Jackson  

Did You Know?
On a snowy December day in 1888, while ranchers Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason searched Mesa Verde’s canyons for stray cattle, they unexpectedly came upon Cliff Palace for the first time. The following year, the Wetherill brothers and Mason explored an additional 182 cliff dwellings.

Last Updated: July 28, 2009 at 11:39 EST