Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde
In 1891, Swedish scientist Gustaf Nordenskiold studied, explored, and photographed many of Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings. Considered by many to be the first true archeologist at Mesa Verde, his book, The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, was the first extensive record of its cliff dwellings. This edition is richly illustrated with Nordenskiold's own drawings and photographs which have been digitally remastered.
"The summer and autumn of 1891 I passed through Colorado, engaged upon investigations of the remarkable cliff dwellings scattered in the canons of an extensive plateau, the Mesa Verde, in the southwest of the state. The present work is the result of those researches. It contains a description of the ruins, an account of the excavations carried out there and of the objects discovered." - G. Nordenskiold, Preface
Images of America Mesa Verde
Mesa Verde National Park was America's first cultural park and also the world's first cultural heritage park. Created in 1906, it preserves the sites and materials of the prehistoric Puebloan people. Located in southwestern Colorado near the famous Four Corners, where the states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet, the magnificent Mesa Verde is situated in Montezuma County, just south of Cortez and directly west of Durango. The park's rich archaeological history was played out amid some of the most ruggedly beautiful landscapes in the West. The greater story of the evolution of the park encompasses the Ute people, Theodore Roosevelt, novelist Willa Cather, and other personalities. These remarkable vintage photographs tell that saga, which is as fascinating as that of the Puebloans.
Mesa Verde Life/Earth/Sky
Author Susan Lamb demonstrates an exceptional interprative knowledge of the Ancestral Puebloans, in this stunningly beautiful photographic reference for Mesa Verde National Park. Insightful and heartfelt narratives detailing the park's natural and human histories allows readers to explore some of the mysteries of Mesa Verde. Also includes detailed maps of the park and region. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of this book are donated to Mesa Verde National Park.
Mesa Verde Shadows of the Centuries
Originally published in 1988, "Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries" is an engaging and artfully illustrated history of an enigmatic assemblage of canyons and mesas tucked into the southwestern corner of Colorado. Duane A. Smith recounts the dramatic 1888 "discovery" of the cliff dwellings and other Anasazi ruins and the ensuing twenty-year campaign to preserve them. Smith also details the resulting creation of a national park in 1906 and assesses the impact of more recent developments - railroads and highways, air pollution, and the growing significance of tourism - on the park's financial and ecological vitality. This revised and completely redesigned edition includes more than 50 illustrations and will be enjoyed by readers interested in environmental, Western, and Colorado history.
Mesa Verde Story Behind Scenery
Mesa Verde, The Story Behind the Scenery, provides a sensitive and balanced look at the cliff dwellings--nestled in cliff alcoves and somehow shrouded in mystery--that are synonymous with Mesa Verde National Park. The legacy of the Ancestral Puebloan culture, formerly referred to a the Anasazi, is documented in detail in this enchanting book, providing a window into the forces that shaped the civilization over some 10,000 years.
An exciting and lavishly illustrated book, Mesa Verde, The Story Behind the Scenery, details not only the native American cultural phenomena, but gifts the reader with a view the passion behind the creation of this only "cultural park" in the National Park system.
Mesa Verde World
Mesa Verde, with its stunning landscapes and cliff dwellings, evokes all the romance of American archaeology. It has intrigued researchers and visitors for more than a century. But "Mesa Verde" represents more than cliff dwellings--its peoples created a culture that thrived for a thousand years in Southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. Archaeologists have discovered dozens of long-buried hamlets and villages spread for miles across the Great Sage Plain west and north of Mesa Verde. Only lately have these sites begun to reveal their secrets.
In recent decades, archaeologists have been working intensively in the Mesa Verde region to build the story of its ancestral Pueblo inhabitants. The Mesa Verde World showcases new findings about the region's prehistory, environment, and archaeological history, from newly discovered reservoir systems on Mesa Verde to astronomical alignments at Yellow Jacket Pueblo. Key topics include farming, settlement, sacred landscapes, cosmology and astronomy, rock art, warfare, migration, and contemporary Pueblo perspectives.
Mesa Verde/Yucca House Complete Guide
Two former Mesa Verde Park Rangers collaborated to provide visitors with the most comprehensive guide to both Mesa Verde National Park and Yucca House National Monument. This guide book is intended to help visitors explore the park and monument to their maximum; intellectually, spiritually, physically and photographically. It contains easy-to-follow maps, schedules and information designed to make your stay at Mesa Verde more pleasurable at any time of the year. Additionally, the information on hiking trails, natural history and archaeological sites will be invaluable to all visitors.
Top spiral bound for ease of use. 8 x 5.5
Mesa Verdes Hidden Landscape
This book is based on a cultural landscape inventory of Mesa Verde National Park's early development. The landscapes described in this book are historic designed landscapes – a landscape that was consciously designed or laid out by a landscape architect, master gardener, architect, or horticulturist according to design principle. The headquarters loop at Mesa Verde is considered an historic designed cultural landscape because it is connected with an historically important person, Jesse Nusbaum; the activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps; and the 1930s movement of national park master planning.
This book is created out of a deep interest and respect for those who have endeavored to undertake the often difficult task of making national park resources available to the public while protecting the resources themselves. Contains 22 maps and more than 100 historic black and white photographs.
Our Trip to Mesa Verde 1922
Four adventuresome young college ladies decided in 1922 to walk from Ouray through Dove Creek and Cortez to Mesa Verde, returning via Lake City. Photographs and illustrations of their trip are included in this little book.
Postcard Book Mesa Verde
Share the splendor and beauty of America's National Parks and natural areas with these postcard books. Each title features the work of America's finest landscape photographers.
Prelude to Tapestries in Stone
This book is the most up-to-date interpretation of one of the largest cliff dwellings in North America, Cliff Palace. Water seeping into Cliff Palace in late November 1995 threatened the integrity of the site. Part of the mitigation plan included architectural documentation of the most threatened areas in Courtyard Complexes M and J during the winter of 1995-96. This architectural documentation study revealed that there were 151 rooms, 75 other architectural spaces, and 21 kivas in Cliff Palace from AD 1278-1280. Only 25 of the rooms had hearths, implying that they were the only ones used as living rooms. The author thinks these were the residential quarters of a small caretaker population of 25-30 households. Other rooms and open areas may have been used by people who came from other areas and used Cliff Palace for only a short period each year. Included with this report is a full color poster map of Cliff Palace.
This Is Mesa Verde
This Is Mesa Verde has stunning photographs and interpretive text that allow you, the reader, to learn more about the beauty and wonder that Mesa Verde has to offer each visitor.
"As Ancestral Pueblo people settled down and clustered together, individual families no longer had to do everything for themselves. Those who were especially good at hunting or farming could provide for others outside their own home, while artisans had more time to work on tools, baskets, clothing, and jewelry. Rooted where they could keep their materials and surrounded by others with a need for their work, artisans made objects of great beauty as well as utility". – Susan Lamb, This Is Mesa Verde
Two Raven House
A monograph in the Wetherill Mesa Project in the Archaeological Research Series.On a sunny day in May of 1960, Jerry Melbye found the rubble ruins of a small pueblo in an open glade of sagebrush. A steel stake bearing a site number was driven into the mound and it was recorded that here was a single story house of from 9 to 12 rooms fronted by a kiva and an extensive trash mound. The report is largely descriptive with a minimum of interpretation and no attempt to define archaeology or spell out cultural history.
Wildflowers of Mesa Verde
This book is a visitor's guide to some of the more commonly seen plants of Mesa Verde National Park. It was inspired by Stephen Wenger's wonderful book, Flowers of Mesa Verde National Park, that was published over thirty years ago by the Mesa Verde Association. To facilitate identification of the plants, both a close-up of the flower or cone as well as a photo of the entire plant are included for each of the featured wildflowers, tree, shrubs, cacti, and grasses. Uses by Indians and ecological information have been incorporated into the book. There is a place at the bottom of each page to record when and where each plant was first seen. Invasive plants that have created problems in the area are discussed in a special section at the end of the book.
Windows of the Past
Windows of the Past is a stunning collection of nearly 200 photographs from the famous landmarks to the subtlest of intimate details of America's Southwest.
Florence C. Lister, whose evocative essay, "The Prehistoric Drama" is included in this title, has been active in Southwestern prehistoric and Spanish colonial archaeology for more than half a century. A distinguished archaeologist and educator, she has authored many technical reports and books for the general public.
zzWetherills Friends of Mesa Verde
Following in the wake of what one noted scientist called 'transients who neither revered nor cared for the ruins as symbols of the past, ' the Wetherill family became the earliest students of Mesa Verde. Their careful excavations and record-keeping helped preserve key information, leading to a deeper understanding of the people who built and occupied the cliff dwellings. As devout Quakers, they felt they were predestined to protect the historic sites from wanton destruction - a role that would not be assumed by the government or other institutions until years later. Based on decades of meticulous research, author Fred Blackburn sets the record straight on these early protectors of Mesa Verde.