The park is comprised of the cliffside dwellings of the Anasazi people who vanished hundreds of years ago, leaving only these homes as clues to their culture. When the Anasazi first settled this land, they lived in pit-house villages on top of the mesa. In 1200 A.D., about 700 years after settling here, they moved into the cliff-side dwellings that have made Mesa Verde famous. Today, scientists search the park's nearly 600 cliff dwellings for clues to the mysteries of the Anasazi people, including why they abandoned the dwellings after only 100 years of living in them. For visitors, the park offers a wonderful opportunity to climb and crawl through several of the dwellings and to learn about Anasazi society from the park rangers' informative narratives.
Visitors can explore several mesa-top village ruins as well as five cliff dwellings.
The ruins are generally flat and easy to explore. However, the cliff dwellings are a bit more strenuous to visit. They are best investigated with young kids you can backpack, or with kids ages five and up who don't mind the short walks in and out of the canyon or the ladders you climb in the dwellings. On Chapin Mesa, the busiest area of the park, rangers lead scheduled, guided tours through Balcony House and Cliff Palace. During the summer, however, you have to choose between buying a ticket for Balcony House or Cliff Palace.