Mesa Verde National Park

The Anasazi were a stone-age people, without metal of any kind. They had no written language, yet they survived for at least 800 years in what is now Colorado. They learned to shape stone, bone, and wood into a variety of tools. They used stone axes for clearing trees, they used the bow and arrow for hunting, and sharp-edged stones and bones for cutting and scraping. By some accounts, the first Ancestral Puebloans settled in the Mesa Verde area around 550 A.D. Other archeologists believe the first permanent settlement might have occurred as early as 1 A.D. Robert L. Axtell; Joshua M. Epstein; Jeffrey S. Dean; George J. Gumerman; Alan C. Swedlund; Jason Harburger; Shubha Chakravarty; Ross Hammond; Jon Parker; Miles Parker in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (2002) suggest th

. . .
stulated that the decision was made for defense. It is clear that the recesses in the cliffs offered better protection from the elements and in particular the winter snows. It is also possible that there were religious or even political reasons for the decision to move back to the cliffs. Scientists also know that beginning in 1276 A.D., a drought struck the region. That drought lasted for twenty three years and it coincided with what scientists now believe to be the last of the new constructions in and around Mesa Verde. One by one the springs that supplied water to the Anasazi dried up. The Ancient Puebloans had no choice but to move from Mesa Verde. They migrated south in search of new homes in a region with a more dependable water supply. According to an article in Science News(2002), the fact that the Anasazi left the valley as a group rather than stay in reduced numbers suggests that factors other than drought, such as disease, may have been at work. Because Anasazi culture was so complex and the parched valley could no longer support a critical mass of people to maintain the society, all of the Anasazi chose to leave together (Could the Anasazi have stayed? , 2002, 174). Mark Muro writing in Science (2000) suggest
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mesa Verde, Park Anasazi, Ancient Puebloans, Bower Science, AD Anasazi, National Park, American Heritage, Pueblo Indians, Mark Muro, mesa verde, News2002 Anasazi, national park, verde national, mesa verde national, verde national park, mesa verde region, clarke 2000, verde region, ortman 2000, ancient puebloans, american heritage, story mesa verde, proposed mesa verde, alcoves sheltered, religious ceremonies,
Approximate Word count = 1851
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Mesa Verde National Park