National Park Service's World Heritage Sites: Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park, in southwestern Colorado, covers 52,121 acres of finger-like mesas cut by steep-walled canyons. Tucked into sandstone alcoves in these canyons are more than 600 cliff dwellings, for which the park is best known. These stone masonry dwellings were built by the Ancestral Puebloans (previously known as the Anasazi) in the late 12th and 13th centuries and have stood uninhabited for over 700 years. Thousands of prehistoric villages and archeological sites, which usually pre-date the cliff dwellings, dot the tops of the mesas. With the first permanent dwellings, built around A.D. 550, and the continuous occupation of the area lasting until the end of the 13th century, Mesa Verde National Park preserves a vital link to North America's prehistoric past.

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado