Mesa Verde National Park is probably the one most anticipated by Mom. This land is sacred to the Puebloan people of the Southwestern United States. It is the site of some of the most iconic and culturally significant ancestral sites in the world!
Mesa Verde National Park: A Study in Change and Sensitivity
When Mom and Dad were in school, the term “Anasazi” or “Anasazi peoples” was in the textbooks of the time. This was the “commonly accepted name” for the people who inhabited the area in and around Mesa Verde National Park for many, many years. This, however, was not the term those people chose for themselves. Anasazi was a Na-Dené adoption of an Utu word. The word meant “Ancient Enemy” or “Primitive Enemy,” and its usage was closer to the English word “Barbarian.”
The use of this derogatory term led many Puebloan peoples to avoid visiting the lands of their ancestors. The National Park Service in recent years has made many changes to its policies. Most importantly is doing away with the word Anasazi in favor of the term “Ancestral Puebloans.” Due to these changes, native people have been returning to the places of their ancestors, an important keystone of their culture.
While we were visiting the park, the museum was undergoing extensive renovations, which started with returning hundreds of artifacts to the native peoples, including human remains that had been displayed in the park for years. The renovations were not complete when we were there, but signage indicated that the park was working closely with tribal leaders to make a learning experience that is both informative and respectful.
Things to do at Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park has a lot to offer. In addition to the scenic outlooks throughout the park, the park offers guided tours of several of the cliff dwellings. We signed up for a tour of the “Cliff Palace” and were lucky to have a tour guide who was a member of a local tribe and was able to give a deeper insight into the area from someone to whom the land was home.
The tour we went on was amazing and took us into one of the iconic cliff dwellings. At the same time, it wasn’t too strenuous. Mom hurt her back earlier in the summer and was still recovering, but was able to do this tour. There is another tour that requires attendees to climb ladders and crawl through tunnels. Mom and I looked at that and knew they’d never get us out again. The tours do cost extra (and you have to book them in advance), but it was well worth the price.
In addition to the cliff dwelling tours, there is a side loop of the main road that showcases various other sites, including pit houses, above-ground structures, and even a small town with markers showing how it had been built and rebuilt several times.
Sometimes when we visit a National Park, we’re overcome with the geological beauty. Mesa Verde is one where the nature is great, but the history is what truly draws the soul out. While touring the dwellings and viewing the kivas, seeing the evolution of the dwellings and culture over time, one cannot help but pick up on the sense of home. We weren’t visiting a natural wonder, we were visiting the homes and lives of those who came before us. It was a humbling and expansive experience that you and your family shouldn’t miss.