Thursday, July 9, 2026

Question: Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado is famous for its cliff dwellings, including Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America. Which ancient people built them?

Answer: The Ancestral Puebloans, historically known as the Anasazi and the ancestors of today’s Pueblo peoples. They built Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings during the Pueblo III period, roughly 1150 to 1300 AD, moving from mesa tops into canyon alcoves before migrating south to present-day New Mexico and Arizona by about 1300.