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1 Your web browser (Safari 7) is out of date. For more security, comfort and the best experience on this site: Update your browser Ignore Family Version CL IFF PAL ACE Apartment home of Ancestral Puebloans For the complete photos with media resources, visit: Cliff Palace, Colorado, isn't really a palace at all! Palaces are large, fancy homes for individuals or a single family. Many families lived in Cliff Palace. It was actually an apartment building! Cliff Palace was part of the large village of Mesa Verde. The people who lived in Mesa Verde are known as Ancestral Puebloans, sometimes called the Anasazi. Ancestral Puebloans lived in Cliff Palace in the 1200s, long before Columbus and other Europeans reached the Americas. About 100 people lived in Cliff Palace. Some people had their own rooms, but most shared with one or two friends or siblings. Residents of Cliff Palace entered their apartments through wooden ladders. Many rooms were painted in bright colors usually pink, brown, red, yellow, or white. Smaller rooms near the back of the cliff were used for storing crops, such as beans, corn, and squash. In the front of Cliff Palace are large, round rooms with sunken floors. These rooms are called kivas. Kivas were used for ceremonies, and each family probably had their own kiva. 1 of 5

2 Questions Cliff Palace was part of the thriving village of Mesa Verde, home to several thousand people. What other lifestyles could the Ancestral Puebloans have chosen? Why do you think they chose to live in a large settlement? Answers will vary! Ancestral Puebloans could have pursued a nomadic lifestyle. Families could have established isolated plots of land, and extended families could have formed loosely connected networks. The village of Mesa Verde offered Ancestral Puebloans more opportunities. They could store food and other goods, making the economy more stable during times of drought or conflict, for example. Mesa Verde also offered Ancestral Puebloans a greater range of services, such as aid for the injured or help with child-care. Ancestral Puebloans at Mesa Verde could also specialize their work. Some people could construct buildings (such as Cliff Palace) while others harvested crops, for instance. Not everyone had to do everything themselves. Finally, the village of Mesa Verde created a strong sense of community among Ancestral Puebloans. The settlement's shared culture allowed residents to negotiate with neighboring communities or tribes in times of both peace and conflict. Cliff Palace was just one part of Mesa Verde. What other types of dwellings do 2 of 5

3 you think Ancestral Puebloans used? Besides cliff dwellings, residents of Mesa Verde lived in stone houses built on top of cliffs and on the valley floor. They also lived in so-called "pit houses," dwellings dug into the ground and covered with wood, thatch, or mud roofs. The apartments at Cliff Palace had storage space, living quarters, and even a place for entertainment (kivas). What features of modern apartments are missing from Cliff Palace? Answers will vary! The apartments at Cliff Palace did not have specialized rooms for cooking (kitchens). They also did not have private bathrooms. (Eating and hygiene were more communal activities for Ancestral Puebloans than modern Western cultures.) Fast Facts Today, 24 tribes trace their heritage to the Ancestral Puebloans who constructed Cliff Palace and the rest of Mesa Verde. They span the entire Four Corners region: Navajo Nation (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico) Southern Ute (Colorado) Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (Colorado) Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (Texas) Hopi (Arizona) The 19 Pueblos of New Mexico: (Taos, Picuris, Sandia, Isleta, Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara, San Ildelfonso, Nambe, Tesuque, Jemez, Cochiti, Pojoaque, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Zia, Laguna, Acoma, Zuni) Vocabulary Term Part of Speech Definition 3 of 5

4 Anasazi Ancestral Puebloans plural anthropologist archaeologist (1200 BCE-1300 CE) people and culture native to what is now the southwestern United States. Also called Ancestral Puebloans. (1200 BCE-1300 CE) people and culture native to what is now the southwestern United States. Also called Anasazi. person who studies cultures and characteristics of communities and civilizations. person who studies artifacts and lifestyles of ancient cultures. ceremony activities to celebrate or commemorate an event. chinking tiny pieces of stone used to add stability to mortar. cliff steep wall of rock, earth, or ice. construct verb to build or erect. crop agricultural produce. dwelling a place to live. embed verb to attach firmly to a surrounding substance. kiva Term Part of Speech mortar palace plaster ritual circular room entered from a hole in the ceiling, used for ceremonies among several tribes of the Southwestern United States. sticky substance, such as cement, used to bond bricks or stones. large home or mansion, often the home of a leader or dignitary. paste-like material made of crushed stone (usually lime, gypsum, and sand), water, and fiber. series of customs or procedures for a ceremony, often religious. sandstone rock formed by grains of sand. soil top layer of the Earth's surface where plants can grow. village small human settlement usually found in a rural setting. 4 of 5 Definition

5 Articles & Profiles Bureau of Land Management, Colorado: Who Were the Anasazi? Images 360 Cities: Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park Websites Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Dwellings National Geographic Society. All rights reserved. 5 of 5