These images were taken along the Chapin Mesa Road in 2007. Areas visited included Spruce Tree House, Balcony House, and Cliff Palace. I also photographed a few other locations.

Mesa Verde has over 4000 archeological sites and 400 of them are cliff dwellings. The earliest peoples to travel into the Mesa Verde valley may have done so as early as 10,000 years ago when they would have been very nomadic. Permanent settlements really begin to show up around 550-750 AD. These Basketmaker Anasazi eventually took to growing crops in addition to maintaining some hunting and wild crop gathering. They originally lived in pithouses on the mesa tops but around 1200 AD they started moving into the large cliff alcoves where they built some fantasic structures. Sadly, in the late 1200s it appears that draught forced the abandonment of the Mesa Verde area. They appear to have moved south and the Acoma and Pueblo peoples of New Mexico and Arizona claim them as ancestors. In 1888, two cowboys (Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason) discovered the site. Later, William H. Jackson and Ernest Ingersoll would popularize the area through photography and surveys.

All images taken with a Digital Rebel XT with various L lenses.