| Christmas 2006 (7 of 10) : |
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We visited Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. The Park was created in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelle and was the the first park opened for it's anthropological interest instead of outstanding beauty (Yosemite, Glacier, Yellowstone were in the first 5 parks, Mesa Verde was number 6).
The park was home to Native Americans from around 600AD to about 1300AD. The early settlements are covered holes in the ground. By 1250 or so, they were building sophisticated villages in the caves in the side of the hillside. It must have been hard work climbing up and down the rock faces to get in and out of the villages.
There was a story put about that nobody knows what happened to the people who lived there - however this story was promoted to spark interest in the park. The people who lived there were the Hoppi Indians who live about 100 miles south west of Mesa Verde in Arizona. I think there must have been climate change which caused the villages to move south to warmer territory.
I think it's also interesting to reflect that the dramatic exodus was also around the time of the tumultus events in Scotland at the Battles of Largs (1263) and Bannockburn (1314) after which the Vikings and then the English were defeated and vanquished.
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