Saturday Jun 8 2013

Mesa Verde.
The first stop, Cliff palace, a city for 150 people.

But wait there is more, Balcony House

A view from within the city

But wait, there is more. This valley,
soda Canyon, has at least 3 (smaller)
cliff cities. I have detailed pictures.

Taking a hike around, showed even more
cities. And some can be visited, others
only with a guided tour. Others can only be
seen from a distance.
Soda Canyon with at least 3: window house,
long house and sunshine rock, ...

 

And now the Quiz: what is the meaning of the 3 stones
in the front of this pictures. Leave a comment if
you want to make a guess.

The anthropologists are speculating about a lot of the
what, who, why. There was no written language. 
These people, the ancestral Puebloans lived here
for more than 700 years. But have build these
cities from around 1200 AD. And they all left
around 1300 AD.
Why did they build on these overhanging cliffs ?
For defense against attackers or wild animals.
First guess of anthropologists. But no proof.
Second guess: climate. The rocks and stone house
protects to against extreme heat (and yes I concur
this really works), and extreme cold and snow in
winter. And also provide water due to some springs
in these sand stone rocks.
Last theory is that in the last 25 years they lived
there, there was an extreme drought period. And
extreme lack of water and food, caused internal
fights. Balcony house seems more a fortified food
storage, which seems to prove these theory.

Also seen along the hike to one of the cliff houses