September 16, 2019 Cliff Palace and Balcony House

Day 2

Morefield Campground Mesa Verde National Park, Mesa Verde, Colorado

Our tours of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde were scheduled for today. The first tour was at Cliff Palace and began at 11 am. It took the better part of an hour to get from our campground to the site. Much of the mesa has been affected by wildfires usually as a result of a lightning strike.

The Cliff Palace tour begins with a descent of 100 feet on a combination of metal stairs and carved sandstone steps. There were a series of five 10-foot ladders to get into and out of the site. Our tour guide, Ranger Brown, began with a safety talk. It sounded like it might be hard but I really wanted to go and I was determined to climb the ladders!

A small portion of this community was constructed in AD 200. Most of the community though was built 1,000 years later around AD 1200. The Cliff Palace consists of 150 rooms and 23 kivas.

This pueblo has a seep spring that provided water. There were several others nearby within 3 miles of the site. The presence of water is one reason that this area was chosen. The top of the mesa was farmed. The people were able to grow beans, corn, and squash. These vegetables were supplemented with wild game and potatoes that were grown on the canyon floor. The shelter was made of stone hand cut with a stone hammer and a stone axe. The mortar was made of soil, sand, ash from the fires, and water. Chinks were placed in the mortar to keep it from seeping out from between the joints. Roofs were supported by 8-inch Utah juniper trees sections. It is estimated that using a stone ax, the laborer had to strike the tree 100-300 times at each end. The igneous stone used for the tools was gathered in the distant San Juan Mountains. The walls were fairly plumb and many of the corners were 90 degrees. Tim could tell where different masons had worked to construct the shelter. I was amazed by the resilience and perseverance of these people.

We traveled a short distance to Balcony House for the 1 pm tour. This site has 38 rooms and 2 kivas. We were met by Ranger David. Ranger David also gave a safety talk. This tour is the most strenuous at Mesa Verde. There was a 32-foot ladder to ascend into the balcony and then narrow passages to crawl through. The small tunnel was 15 inches wide and 27 inches tall. At the end, there were two 10-foot ladders and a steep uphill climb on narrow stone cut steps. As Ranger David spoke about the serious risks of this tour and the 18 rope rescues that the rangers had done in the past year, I got anxious. I wasn’t sure that I could do it. He encouraged everyone to walk as far as the 32 foot ladder and then decide for themselves if they should continue. I verbalized my doubt to Tim who told me that I could do it! I had done Cliff Palace fairly easily after all! I am so glad that Tim nudged me to step outside my comfort zone and try it!

The first stop was a small pool of holy water. This water gathers under the rock from a spring and from rainfall and snow melt. This water is significant to native peoples who still return here to gather water for ceremonies.

The 32 foot ladder…

Ranger David was remarkable. His passion for this place is unparalleled. He grew up in the town of Mancos nearby and as a child he had decided he wanted to be a ranger at Mesa Verde. He was raised by and English mother and a Native father. He learned very early in life that when people talk about religion is makes more sense to focus on the verbs and not the nouns. He stated that wars were fought over nouns but if we focus on the respecting, treating others with kindness, hoping, and loving, then we all have those things in common. He wanted us to leave Mesa Verde reflecting on what makes us all human and what people share.

We passed through this narrow passage that opened to the balcony.

Ranger David spoke about the importance of water and food and shelter in this dry and hostile environment. He spoke about the function of the kiva as a place for ritual and community meetings. The kiva is a circular room partially underground. Each kiva has a ventilation shaft, a firepit, a ladder into the kiva from the roof, and a sipapu. The sipapu is a small round hole in the floor of the kiva. Ranger David told the story of the sipapu. This is the place where the native people believe that tribal ancestors emerged into the world. Ranger David went on to talk about the real importance of the kiva, every bit as important as water, food, and shelter is the sense of community and love and hope that exists here. Hope for food, hope for rain, and hope for forgiveness…

These are milling stones. These are a cause of early death for many of the people in the community. The stones they used were sandstone and as they ground the corn, silica was released into the air causing lung and breathing problems. Sandstone is soft and as the corn was ground, so was the stone. The stone particles became part of the food, eroding tooth enamel and rotting teeth. Rotten teeth were an easy way for infection to enter the body. The life expectancy for women was 25-35 years old. Men lived to be 35-40 years old. I am sure that women’s life expectancy was affected by their job as corn millers and the risks of childbirth.