Cliff Palace
Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde
Pueblo III 1190–1280 CE (Ancestral Puebloan florescence)·Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi, Pueblo III)·🇺🇸 Colorado, United States
About
About Cliff Palace
Largest cliff dwelling in North America: 150 rooms, 23 kivas, 128–150 inhabitants in alcove 88 m deep, 27 m high below mesa top, with coursed sandstone masonry, tower structures and painted plaster, built 1190–1280 CE by Ancestral Puebloans (Pueblo III) and abandoned before 1300. Jewel of Mesa Verde National Park, UNESCO World Heritage 1978. Accessed via cliff trail; interior kiva paintings and four-storey quadrangle survive.
Why it mattersBenchmark Pueblo III cliff dwelling; evidences nucleation, defensive settlement shift and drought abandonment culminating in Pueblo migration.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why Ancestral Puebloans moved 13,000 people from mesa-top pueblos into cliff alcoves 1190–1270
- 02Meaning of painted plaster motifs in kivas
Theories
- 01Defensive nucleation theory: social unrest and warfare after 1250 triggered alcove refuge
- 02Late 13th-century Great Drought 1276–1299 forced migration to Rio Grande
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1190–1280 CE
- Period
- Pueblo III 1190–1280 CE (Ancestral Puebloan florescence)
- Culture
- Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi, Pueblo III)
- Purpose
- Cliff-side agricultural village and ceremonial kiva center for mesa-top farming community
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.1190–1280 CE
Initial construction
c. 1557 CE
Rediscovery
On the ground
Structures & features
37.1669° N · 108.4738° W · 2120 m · 3 mapped features
Quadrangular Tower
towerFour-storey tower on south end
37.1665° N · 108.4740° WPlaza Kiva (central ceremonial kiva)
kivaRoofed great kiva 7 m diameter
37.1669° N · 108.4738° WSpeaker Chief House
room blockUpper-level rooms with intact painted plaster
37.1672° N · 108.4736° W
Gallery