Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular reminder of the 1,000
year culture of the Ancestral Puebloans. Archeologists have called this people
Anasazi, from the Navajo word that means "ancient". They are now called
Ancestral Puebloans, reflecting their modern descendants.Mesa Verde
National Park is located in the Four Corners Area (SW Colorado), which has one
of the highest concentrations of archeological sites in the United States and
borders the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation. It is easily accessible
just off US-160 between Durango and Cortez, Colorado.
Mesa Verde National Park was established by Congress on 29 June 1906. It
was the first cultural park set aside in the National Park System. Mesa Verde
National Park was also designated as a World Cultural Heritage Site on
September 8, 1978 by UNESCO, an United Nations organization formed to preserve
and protect both the cultural and natural heritage of designated international
sites. These pre-Columbian cliff dwellings and other works of early people are
the most notable and best preserved in the United States.
