Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The structure built by the

Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southe ...

is located in Mesa Verde National Park in their former homeland region. The cliff dwelling and park are in Montezuma County, in the southwestern corner of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

History

Tree-ring dating indicates that construction and refurbishing of Cliff Palace was continuous approximately from 1190 AD through 1260 AD, although the major portion of the building was done within a 20-year time span. The

who constructed this cliff dwelling and the others like it at

Mesa Verde Mesa Verde National Park is a national park of the United States and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, and the only World Heritage Site in Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Pueblo ...

were driven to these defensible positions by "increasing competition amidst changing climatic conditions". Cliff Palace was abandoned by 1300, though debate is ongoing as to the cause. Some contend that a series of

megadrought A megadrought is an exceptionally severe drought, lasting for many years and covering a wide area. Definition There is no exact definition of a megadrought. The term was first used by Connie Woodhouse and Jonathan Overpeck in their 1998 pap ...

s interrupting food production systems was the main cause. Cliff Palace was rediscovered in 1888 by Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason while they were looking for stray cattle.

Description

Cliff Palace was constructed primarily out of sandstone, mortar and wooden beams. The sandstone was shaped using harder stones, and a mortar of soil, water and ash was used to hold everything together. "Chinking" stones were placed within the mortar to fill gaps and provide stability. Many of the walls were decorated with colored earthen plasters, which were the first to erode over time. Many visitors wonder about the relatively small size of the doorways at Cliff Palace; the explanation being that at the time the average man was under , while the average woman was closer to . Cliff Palace contains 23

kiva A kiva (also ''estufa'') is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circula ...

s (round sunken rooms of ceremonial importance) and 150 rooms and had a population of approximately 100 people. One kiva, in the center of the ruin, is at a point where the entire structure is partitioned by a series of walls with no doorways or other access portals. The walls of this kiva were plastered with one color on one side and a different color on the opposing side. "It is thought that Cliff Palace was a social, administrative site with high ceremonial usage."

Archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

believe that Cliff Palace contained more clans than the surrounding Mesa Verde communities. This belief stems from Mesa Verde's higher ratio of rooms to kivas. Cliff Palace has a room-to-kiva ratio of 9 to 1. The average room-to-kiva ratio for a Mesa Verde community is 12 to 1. This ratio of kivas to rooms may suggest that Cliff Palace might have been the center of a large polity that included surrounding small communities. A large square tower is to the right and almost reaches the cave "roof". It was in ruins by the 1800s. The National Park Service carefully restored it to its approximate height and stature, making it one of the most memorable buildings in Cliff Palace. It is the tallest structure at Mesa Verde standing at tall, with four levels. Slightly differently colored materials were used to show that it was a restoration. File:Mural 30, Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde.JPG, A 13th-century mural of a rectangular tower believed to be Cliff Palace File:Mesa Verde NP cliff palace ground plan.jpg, The ground plan for Cliff Palace from a survey published in a book by

Jesse Walter Fewkes Jesse Walter Fewkes (November 14, 1850 – May 31, 1930) was an American anthropologist, archaeologist, writer, and naturalist. Early life and education Fewkes was born in Newton, Massachusetts on November 14, 1850, and initially trained as a ...

, File:Cliff Palace Tower.jpg, Round tower, Cliff Palace in 1941.
A 1941 photograph of Cliff Palace by

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

. File:Cliff Palace Dwellings.jpg, The dwellings at Cliff Palace in September 2004 File:Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde Park, Colorado, US (37).jpg, Cliff Palace in October 2018

References

Bibliography

*Chapen, Frederick H. ''The Land of the Cliff-Dwellers''. Appalachian Mountain Club, W. B. Clarke and Co., Boston, 1892. Reprinted by the University of Arizona Press, with notes and foreword by Robert H. Lister, 1988. . *Noble, David Grant. "Ancient Ruins of the Southwest", pp. 36–43.Northland Publishing, Flagstaff, Arizona 1995. . *Oppelt, Norman T. "Guide to Prehistoric Ruins of the Southwest", pp. 159–161. Pruett Publishing, Boulder, Colorado, 1989. .

External links

Cliff Palace
at National Park Service

at National Park Service
Map showing location of Cliff Palace
at National Park Service {{Coord, 37, 10, 00, N, 108, 28, 22, W, display=title Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century Mesa Verde National Park Cliff dwellings Dwellings of the Pueblo peoples Puebloan buildings and structures Ancient Puebloan archaeological sites in Colorado Archaeological museums in Colorado Native American history of Colorado Buildings and structures in Montezuma County, Colorado Landmarks in Colorado Pre-Columbian cultural areas Oasisamerica cultures Ruins in the United States Former populated places in Colorado Historic house museums in Colorado Museums in Montezuma County, Colorado Former populated places in Montezuma County, Colorado