PILOT EPISODE 3: MOVING ON

Why did people leave the Mesa Verde region? It wasn't just the drought. 

We share more in common with the Ancestral Pueblo people than you might think. Remarkably, today about the same number of people live around the Mesa Verde region that lived here 1,000 years ago. And the climate was changing rapidly back then, too. It was getting cooler and drier on the Colorado Plateau, which presented challenges to farmers, just as the warming climate does today. 

From about 650 to 1280 — more than 600 years — the Ancestral Pueblo people occupied the Mesa Verde region, a large, diverse geographic area that extends through southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico, southeast Utah and northeast Arizona. Then they migrated south to the Rio Grande Valley and the Mesas of Northern Arizona, where their descendants live today.

For decades, archaeologists have tried to explain why. For a long time, the answer they came up with was primarily an environmental one. The migration coincided with a deep and punishing drought, which seemed to present an obvious explanation: It simply became too hard to live and farm in the Mesa Verde Region. 

Now, though, a number of researchers believe the story is much more complicated. The drought almost certainly was a factor in the decision to leave, but it was far from the only thing making life difficult at the time. 

As we hear from archaeologist Donna Glowacki in Moving On, this was also a period of significant social, religious and political change.

Pot Sherd in Midden

The Ancestral Pueblo people occupied lands throughout the Southwest. This pot sherd lies in the midden, or trash pile, below a site.

Pieces of a Puzzle

Pot sherds - or pieces of broken handmade claywares - are commonly found in the middens and rooms of archaeological sites throughout the Mesa Verde region and the Southwest. This piece is located in Kodak House, a cliff dwelling in present-day Mesa Verde National Park. Whether these pieces were discarded prior to their migration from the area, or were left behind during the move, they provide a stunning look at the craftsmanship and artistry of these people -- something that lives on today in their descendants.

Hand Prints

A pair of hand print pictographs decorate the alcove wall of Kodak House located in present-day Mesa Verde National Park.

Petroglyph Panel

Petroglyphs - pecked or carved depictions in stone - can be found all over the Mesa Verde region, and sometimes appear in clusters such as this panel, visible from the Petroglyph Point Trail in Mesa Verde National Park. The exact meaning of these symbols is still unclear, but they offer evidence of habitation, communication, and expression in these places.

Petroglyphs in Step House

A petroglyph panel exists in Step House, located on present-day Wetherill Mesa in Mesa Verde National Park. This panel contains symbols that may depict certain animals, as well as spirals, the latter having been identified by a number of descendants as a symbol of migration.

Ancient Midden

This midden contains thousands of pottery sherds, ancient corn cobs, and other artifacts that were critical to everyday life for the Ancestral Pueblo people.

Pictographs

Similar in design to petroglyphs, pictographs can also be found throughout the Southwest in cliff dwellings and other archaeological sites, with the key difference being that pictographs are designs made with paint or other pigments on stone, while petroglyphs are pecked, carved, or etched into the surface. The two pictographs seen here are located on the alcove wall in Keet Seel Ruin, within present-day Navajo National Monument. They appear to depict two animals, possibly a bighorn sheep and/or a mountain lion.

Closing the Door

Possibly the most striking aspect of Keet Seel (within Navajo National Monument) is the massive tree trunk which lies horizontally across the site, which visitors must pass under to enter the site today. According to oral histories, the last inhabitants of this site retrieved this tree trunk (possibly from a significant distance away) and intentionally placed it across the middle of the dwelling, a way of closing the door upon their final exit when migrating out of the region.

Things That Remain

Cliff dwellings and archaeological sites contain thousands of artifacts, some of which are mostly intact, having been well preserved from the elements within the sites for 700 years. Descendant peoples do not believe that these places were abandoned by their ancestors, a cultural understanding that has encouraged present-day archaeologists to refer to these places as cliff dwellings, villages, or archaeological sites instead of "ruins".