Cliff Palace Mesa Verde

by Joan Carroll

Title

Cliff Palace Mesa Verde

Artist

Joan Carroll

Medium

Photograph - Photography And Digital Art

Description

Imagine living in Cliff Palace and looking out over this magnificent landscape! It was deserted on this day because in the spring of 2016 it was closed to visitors in order to try to stabilize the foundations. Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The structure built by the Ancestral Puebloans is located in Mesa Verde National Park in their former homeland region in what is now the southwestern corner of Colorado. Recent studies reveal that Cliff Palace contained 150 rooms and 23 kivas and had a population of approximately 100 people. It is thought that Cliff Palace was a social, administrative site with high ceremonial usage. Out of the nearly 600 cliff dwellings concentrated within the boundaries of the park, 75% contain only 1-5 rooms each, and many are single room storage units. Construction and refurbishing of Cliff Palace was continuous from c. 1190 CE through c. 1260 CE. Cliff Palace was abandoned by 1300, and while debate remains as to the causes of this, some believe a series of megadroughts interrupting food production systems is the main cause. The root of Cliff Palace's current structural problems is the lack of foundations in part of the community. Although the northern areas appear firmly based on bedrock, the southern end is footed in loose unconsolidated soil and rubble. Without a solid base, the structures in the southern end of the site are sliding downhill at uneven rates, leading to cracks, falling walls, and general instability. Mesa Verde is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

FEATURED PHOTO, Exploration Photography group, 7/8/16

FEATURED PHOTO, Images That Excite You group, 7/7/16

FEATURED PHOTO, The Road To Self Promotion group, 7/5/16

FEATURED PHOTO, All Natural Beauty Of This World group, 7/5/16

Uploaded

July 5th, 2016

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