Mesa Verde National Park, through the America’s Best Idea
program, partnered with the Footprints of the Ancestors
initiative of the Anthropology Department, Northern Arizona
University to produce a video... Mesa Verde National Park
Located in Southwestern Colorado, Mesa Verde National Park
offers an unparalleled opportunity to see and experience a
unique cultural and physical landscape. The park contains more
than 4,000 known archeological sites including cliff dwellings,
which are elaborate stone villages that the Ancestral Puebloans
constructed in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls and
lived in from approximately A.D. 550 through A.D. 1300. These
archeological sites are some of the most notable and best
preserved in the United States. The park also offers visitors
8,500 acres of federally designated wilderness that support a
great diversity of wildlife including 74 species of mammals, 200
species of birds, 16 species of reptiles, five species of
amphibians, six species of fishes and over 1,000 specie