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Nice to hear an English chap give me a history lesson on my own neighborhood. No but really great video, and if anybody wants to come visit, it's beautiful!
Not quite my neighborhood, but I'm a Colorado native from Frisco and one of my best memories from childhood was taking a multi-day field trip to Mesa Verde. Such a great place!
My tribe among many others throughout the southwest US you see present day originated from here. I am from Ohkay Owingeh, Pueblo. Which translates to “Place of the Strong People.” My Tewa name is Kho Pín which translates to “Buffalo Mountain” This is our original home and glad to see content covered by this!
How did you receive your name? What were your traditions? I’m fascinated! I’ve been entranced by Native American history since I was 16. I’m now 40. I grew up in nez perce country which I’ve researched endlessly but I’m very interested in your story!
For anyone interested in visiting the site you'll want to go sooner rather than later as every year more and more of the site gets closed off due to decay.
A few other facts I remember from my visit: 1. They had a natural water spring at the back of the cave that is pretty neat to see. 2. The dates of building of individual buildings were determined from the rings in the type of tree used in building. 3. They had to carry supplies in on some scary “ladders”
I just visited Mesa Verde this past June. Unfortunately Cliff Palace was closed due to road construction, so you cannot go down to visit. But if you take the 700 years tour, you still see it in distance.
6:53 The Finnish word "kiva" translates to "nice". Most definitely a coincidence but I suppose the shared family space could be a nice place to be :). Well, depends on your family :D.
My Grand parents took me there 40+ years ago. As so many others here attest, it is definitely a place that leaves a lasting impression and wonder. Especially on a young person.
1:25 - Chapter 1 - The basketmakers 4:40 - Chapter 2 - Palace of stone 7:55 - Mid roll ads 9:25 - Chapter 3 - Bygone world 13:45 - Chapter 4 - The great migration 17:35 - Chapter 5 - Remembrance of things past - Chapter 6 -
I enjoyed visiting Mesa Verde so much that I bought a book of art, reproductions of wall art found in the ruins and now have a tattoo to commemorate my visit. Being of native American ancestry myself (Blackfoot) it means a lot. The place is incredible. Great job...
There's no pictures or videos that can give the scale and depth of this place justice. The climb on that 30 ft ladder as a preteen was intense and incredible. Such an amazing experience and totally beautiful!
It is great to see the ancient history of the First Nations beside the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans. So often the rest of pre-European history is overlooked.
Well, in the sense that it‘s pre-historic, i.e. from an earlier period than any written record, it is actually ancient, even if it‘s contemporary with the middle ages in Europe.
@@kathidubach that’s one way to look at it but that’s like saying studying isolated tribes in the Amazon is the study of ancient history. As they have no knowledge of writing or record keeping.
Thankyou for presenting this piece of history from the viewpoint of the historic people and structures and not with the view of, the "white man" who came along later and claimed, "look what I found ", as if it hadn't existed prior to that moment. I am one of those "white men" who should've gone back to Europe and then asked for permission to come to North, Central, and South America's and visit. I am not a native of Colorado, but I've lived here for 50 years. I have had to learn how to respect the world around me. Thx so much
Honestly it looks like a model in person. The settlement they actually let you walk in is far more easily appreciated. The cannibal/kiva angle is hella interesting.
I've been there! Tremendous place. The steps and entryways FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps put in there were another fascinating relic-some very rough work in places.
we have something like this right next to Roosevelt lake in Arizona. I want to visit these now. o visited in the middle of summer and as soon as I stepped inside the cutout in the mountain it went from 115 degrees to 75 INSTANTLY. one of the coolest feelings I've ever felt.
I was lucky enough to go there as a kid growing up in Colorado on a field trip it truly is something to behold like it's really amazing you can't comprehend how truly astonishing it is until you actually see it with your own eyes because it's small by no means it's actually huge and it's close to cave of the winds and the dinosaur national monument which are also awesome areas in Colorado and there's garden of the gods which has a bunch of really cool stuff in it too Colorado actually has a ton of awesome things to see oh and seven falls that was totally amazing in the winter
A friend and I came across this park as we drove by on a long road trip in 1991. Having been to many great places on this trip, like Yellowstone and Arches NP, Mesa Verde was a standout. I spent a lot of time transfixed - wondering what it must have been like to live there at the time they did. I would have loved to spend the night there - but that's not possible. On another big road trip 15 years later - this time all by myself, I made sure I returned there. I would like to see it again!
thank you for this video. Native American culture has been so neglected and belittled. Still, so few know or care about Native American history. i.e. Americans (and Canadians). what tribes were from the area you live in now? they spent 1-2 days on it when you were in school.
The video didn't really stress the genius of the location of the Cliff Palace and other cliff dwellings. They had previously lived in pit houses on top of the mesas with the freezing wind blowing. Some suffered from arthritis as evidenced by the crutches they left behind. The genius is that the buildings are shaded by the cliff overhang in the summer and warmed by the sun in the winter with the cliff back blocking the freezing north wind. The spring in the back of the village was a big bonus.
I was there in 1973. My whole family couldn't see it because you had to use ladders for access? I think there was a modern staircase to get down, but I do remember climbing a ladder up. You couldn't enter the buildings, but walk around everything else. Made a huge impression on me that I'll never forget.
The four corners region, mesa verde, and the Pueblos, remind me of everything I love and miss about the southwest. The PNW is great, but I miss the desert
A good Geographics episode about Native Americans city is Acoma Pueblo (Sky City), New Mexico. It is believed to be the oldest (or at least 2nd oldest, but up for debate) active city in America. The Native Americans still live mostly like they did in 1200 and when the city was first built above a mesa and largely keep the same traditions they have for centuries! People still live in mud and stone Pueblo's. When you visit the town it's like being transformed to be Columbus times! Although they do have electricity and some modern conveniences, it's still very much like it was 800 years ago!
This is an amazing place been there many times. I have been to the Colorado Springs cliff dwellings as well. It awesome history!! Thanks for the video I love your channels. The fact that you did a video on my state is the 👌.
I appreciate the time and effort you put into pointing out that these native people still exist today and that white people didn't "discover" anything. The existence of these places were known by the descendants of those who lived there. And that counts.
The Europeans discovered many things from their perspective. So did Asians and Africans. Hell, detectives discover things all the time that were already known to perps and victims.
Anything new/previously unseen to a given individual is a discovery. I could travel to India and come across an ancient Hindu temple hidden in the jungle. To me, that is a discovery.
Also, I resent the vague racism here. Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci weren’t white. They were Italian. So true, white people didn’t necessarily “discover” the continental US or it’s territorial waters; but that DOESN’T mean that white people “didn’t “discover” anything”. Captain James Cook discovered Hawaii for the British, and Leif Erikson discovered Newfoundland. Those two men are just two examples of white people discovering sections of the New World. Were those areas already inhabited? In the case of Hawaii, yes, Newfoundland, I can’t recall.
@@WayToVibe James Cook was a white (race) British (nationality) man who discovered Hawaii. Leif Erikson was a white (race) Icelandic (nationality) man who discovered Newfoundland. Christopher Columbus was a Mediterranean (race), Genoese (now part of Italy so Italian is more or less his nationality). “Discovery” is something that EVERYONE is capable of. Just because there were already people here in the United States at the time the Spanish rolled up; DOESN’T mean that the Spanish already knew this landmass was here, it was NEW to THEM. Imagine if you found a planet with intelligent alien life. Just because the aliens were already there doesn’t mean YOU didn’t DISCOVER something new to YOU; would you sit there and huff and puff and say “well, since I’m not part of the indigenous race, my discovery doesn’t count”?
People who can make a home in a place like that were certainly very smart people, though a shame they didn't stay there to keep it thriving, but that happens in many places, abandoned due to many reasons which become seemingly unknown...
A couple of errata: 1) Kivas are not "open air." They are covered with beams and the plazas were continuous across the top, with only a 2'X2' access down into the pit via a ladder. 2) While the Cliff Dwellings at Mesa Verde held maybe 4000 people in total across all the dwellings. Contemporaneously the larger valley (Yellow Jacket Pueblo is only one of dozens of the large villages) was more like 20,000-40,000 people.
Took a trip there 3 years ago. It's an amazing place to see. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the history of the americas. Also be on the lookout for wild horses. It took 3 days to see everything.
Sometimes I hope they actually close off access one day. The few that are disrespectful do too much damage to this and other sites. From the vandalism a few years ago at Mesa Verde to people tipping over rock formations at Goblin Valley State Park and so many other instances. It's truly sad.
In the late 1960's when I was 8-10 years old you could walk in the buildings and there was a secrete passage you could crawl through that had a hidden space. The guide said a person could sit in the hidden space to see who was passing through and if they were an intruder they would hit them on the head drag them out to be thrown over the edge!! Thirty years later took my son to see it, people were no longer allowed to walk in the buildings or the tunnel. It is an amazing place to visit. The exit up the tall ladders though....not for the faint of heart.
I liked this video but at about 7:15 you said the Kivas were open to the sky and used by each family. Kivas were roofed over and used mainly for religious purposes which were kept hidden from all but the members of that Kiva.
Something to bear in mind: You're not going to build your house, let alone a city, on your limited farmland. You need to reserve every square foot of that limited fertile area for farming. So, you build your houses in the side of the cliff. Or if you're Austrian, on the side of the mountain. My husband's half-Austrian, from an isolated U-shaped glacial valley. All of the useful farmland is at the valley floor. And if you look where all of the old houses are, they're build right onto the slopes of the mountains just above the valley floor. First time I saw a house and a barn like that, I thought, “Wow. Not located there for the view, but to conserve farmland.” Hence why I now think that the location chosen by the cliff-dwelling Ancestral Puebloans was in part to keep the tops of the mesas clear for farming. Also doesn't hurt that it's in the shade, as another comment below points out.
I visited this when I was 12 and it was unbelievably incredible. You can't go near it and there are plaques up apologising for how the ancient holy places were trespassed by the "discoverers" and explaining what the native peoples of the area want the narrative to be, as well ss infographics on the stuff that Simon also outlined. That said, they do still refer to the people of this land as "Indians" so maybe not quite there yet.....
I'm lucky to have grown up in Utah with it's utterly vast history of people and geology. There's nothing quite like sitting alone on a peak in the desert with nothing but the wind and petroglyphs as company.
Of interest, most of the ruins in this area, the Indians left in such a hurry or in such misery they left pottery, baskets, tools and clothing. No one theory of why they built these cliff dwellings or why they were abandoned has been settled upon. In southwestern Utah, Indians were so adapted to growing corn that no animal bones are to be found in their trash piles.
I've always been of the mind that the overhanging cliff would have provided a good amount of shelter from the elements and that it would have also been very useful as a defensive measure so that anyone seeking to harm the settlement would have limited means of actually approaching it. I guess I don't know what other propositions have been made about what may have motivated their decision to build in this specific location, but those reasons I mentioned seem pretty logical to me.
@@canman87 Alongside your logical thoughts are theories that the move into the cliffs may have been religious and as you noted, possibly defensive. As the dwellings on the mesas were built partially into the ground, I don’t think winter warmth was a concern and living next to their cropland on the mesa must have been a lot easier than climbing up and down the cliffs. Significant for whatever it means there are cliff dwellings in other surrounding states.
Its funny too think that all the priceless artifacts found at the site were things that the former inhabitants didn't think were worth taking with them when they left.
If you've ever been there you'd know the reason they did this is because it's hot there. In the cliff dwellings it's at least 20°F cooler than the outside temperature.
I've always felt quite lucky growing up where I did, almost every year school trips to the Denver museum of nature and science or the Denver aquarium or the Denver zoo (all ours for the day. Idk how the school did it.), mesa Verde and cave of winds. So many amazing places full of facts and history! I'm also glad we kinda knew these were special things and just soaked it all up instead of messing around(private schools can be scary when the teacher gets actually mad lol)
I like to follow historical information, especially North American, and thought I was mostly just going over the same stuff maybe learning more info I hadn’t pick up previously. But I had never heard of this before. This is amazing.
Not very often is it mentioned why the life expectancy was so short, hence why we still celebrate birthdays. They used to be an accomplishment not just an event.
Haha I didn't know we in Finland refused to return the artifacts until 2019. Didn't even know the artifacts existed before this video. God damn, even we managed to be assholes for original America.
Just be aware, we just came back from there, and the story of 2 farmers Finding the place by accident is total rubbish. Local Indians in the area told the farmers that if they would go out there, they'd find the ruins.
I live in Northern Colorado so this is just a slog to get to. But I Love the entire Mesa Verde area. It's so pretty. Cliff Palace is one of my favorite areas to go. When I was a child, regulation weren't as tight and you could climb around on certain areas.
..aztec New Mexico just south of there has some pretty cool ancient puebloan villages as well..i used to live in farmington new mexico which is on the Navajo reservation in the four corners region..apache natives also have a presence there.. ..the pueblos have their rez's closer to albuquerque in groups known as isleta, sandia, laguna and a few more ..but the whole state of new mexico is like one big archeological site ..yet even more towards the four corner area..its pretty much all reservation over there with shiprock as one of the pillars..
If something drives people to move to homes built high up in cliffs and then to abandon all that work not all the long after it was finished it must be drastic.
Went as a teenager and as an adult its on my list of travel places. I want to go back when I can stay longer and not have my parents telling me that its time to leave before I'm ready.
My dad took me here as a child and I wish I would’ve understood what it really was. But alas I was a bored 7 year old and just wanted to leave. I plan on going back when I can now that I have a large interest in anthropology paleo anthropology and archeology
