Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park comprises 52,253 acres of high mesa in southwestern Colorado, U.S. The park was established in 1906 to protect the rich history and well-preserved archeology of the Ancestral Puebloan people, who inhabited the mesa from around 550 to 1300 CE. It preserves over 5,000 known archeological sites, including mesa-top villages, farming terraces, reservoirs, pictographs and petroglyphs, towers, and cliff dwellings. These cultural sites are some of the most notable and well preserved in the United States. These sites are sacred ancestral homes and often visited by Mesa Verde’s 26 affiliated tribes. Today, Mesa Verde preserves exceptionally dark skies thanks to the park’s remote location, dry climate, and high elevation.