A park service guide discusses the life of the Ancient Publoans in Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park. Photo by Janna Graber
The sun shines bright at 8 a.m. when we meet our guide. The semi-arid desert here in southwestern Colorado can be brutal, and the sun’s rays beat down without mercy. It’s hard to imagine living here without modern comforts, but this region was once home to a thriving culture of Ancestral Puebloans.
From 550 A.D. to 1,300 A.D., the Ancestral Puebloans lived and worked in what is now Mesa Verde National Park. For the first six centuries, they lived primarily on the mesa top, farming and working the land. Later, they constructed intricate cliff dwellings tucked under the protected alcoves of the canyon walls, many of which can still be seen today.
Read the story at GO WORLD TRAVEL MAGAZINE