Fall Roadie 2010 :: Mesa Verde

We loved the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde.

Cliff Palace

These artifacts are anywhere from 700 - 1,300 years old, depending on the area of the palace, and they are all 80-90% original structures.

Pretty amazing to be able to wander through these places where the ancient Ancestral Puebloans lived, farmed, hunted, wove baskets, made pottery, and played with their pet turkeys.

I don't imagine our current home will be around in 1,000+ years.

If earthlings aren't toolin' around in flying saucers by then, maybe they'll be heading back into these time-tested cliff dwellings.

MK's descent into a kiva

As I take this picture of us in a ceremonial kiva, I wonder why in the world I'm standing in there...in the middle of something that was a sacred chamber to the Ancestral Puebloans, something they would typically would burn to cleanse as they'd leave their dwelling places at Mesa Verde.

This one didn't look burned to me. What kind of spirits were still there, I had no idea!

I think one came back with us in the RV and has been preventing me from unpacking ever since.

Mano y metate (how they ground corn)

As I wandered around several of these cliff dwelling areas, I imagined how the people lived. Then I thought about all the things that were going on in the world while the Ancient Puebloans dwelled in these cliffs.

Right about that time:

Meany King John was signing the Magna Carta,
The kids think it's funny that King John's brother, Richard the Lionheart, called John a "pustule." They also think it is hiliarious that their mother, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, called him all "snot and sinew" since if he did't get his way he'd either cry or fight.


Giotto was probably getting neck aches from painting his frescoes in Padua,


the Chinese were shooting cannons and rockets after their accidental discovery of gunpowder,


Marco Polo was traipsing about in China with his dad and uncle;


the Hurdy-Gurdy Girl was livening up the dancin' feet at the alehouses.

Besides the frescoes and Hurdy-Gurdy, I think I would have preferred the more peaceful cliff dwellings.

Then a ranger burst my bubble. She told me these cliff dwellers eventually showed signs of violence...by bonking each other over the head and probably pushing each other over the cliffs. Violence is strange.

And then there was that other hardship--starvation.
Can't imagine raising our kids on the cliffs either. "Look Mom, no net!"

I always seem to forget about how dangerous it was just to LIVE back in those times.

I just like to dream about simpler times.