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The
Mesa Verde Association is a joint
membership program of the Mesa Verde
Museum Association and the Mesa Verde
Foundation. Your MVA membership supports
both of these 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organizations.
The Mesa Verde Museum Association
(tax ID 84-1404606) provides educational
and interpretive material to visitors
of Mesa Verde National Park through
an active publishing program and the
operation of retail bookstores online,
in the park, and in Cortez, CO. Our
services enhance the visitor experience
and promote stewardship of Mesa Verde's
world-renowned archeological resources
and natural landscapes. Proceeds from
all Association operations are donated
to the park's interpretive, research,
and education programs.
The Mesa Verde Foundation (tax ID
84-046967) funds capital improvements,
projects, and educational endeavors
for Mesa Verde National Park. Our
projects include construction of a
new Visitor and Research Center near
the park's entrance and remodeling
the existing Far View Visitor Center
into a Tribal Cultures Center to enhance
understanding of the connection between
the Ancestral Puebloans and contemporary
Native American tribes.
You are receiving this email because
you are a member of the Mesa Verde
Association or because you purchased
a product from the Mesa Verde Museum
Association. To ensure that you continue
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Welcome to "Verde Views," the e-newsletter
for Mesa Verde Association members and friends.
This periodic publication will keep you
informed about Association news and events,
park happenings, new products and special
sales.
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Archeologists
Concerned about Cracks in Cliff Palace
A fault line is running parallel to
the back of Cliff Palace and is threatening
Kiva F and the southern half of Cliff
Palace. Kiva F, a thirteenth-century
circular structure located in the southern
portion of the alcove, is one of the
key components of the Cliff Palace tour.
Workers are shoring up the iconic kiva
with wooden braces while archeologists
evaluate the damage and make plans to
stabilize the site.
As the centerpiece of Mesa Verde National
Park, Cliff Palace is visited by approximately
160,000 visitors per year. The dwelling
was discovered in the late 1800s and
remains one of the finest examples of
late prehistoric cliff dwellings in
the American Southwest.
Park archeologists first noticed a small
crack in the masonry and then discovered
the north wall was leaning precariously
into the structure. After months of
study, it now appears that the localized
deterioration of individual structures
and features and site-wide problems
are working together. Much of the architecture
in the southern portion of Cliff Palace
is footed onto small, irregularly shaped
roof slabs across a steeply pitched
alcove floor. Over time, these structures
have begun to slide downslope. Water
entering the alcove through cracks on
the mesa top above Cliff Palace has
also been a long-standing problem.
Cliff Palace remains open for tours
while restoration plans are underway
and runoff water is rerouted. Archeologists
have roped off Kiva F to tours and continue
to evaluate and monitor the site.
“Cliff Place is important to the
history of the area, it’s a sacred
site for our tribes and it’s important
to the economy of the area as well,”
said Mesa Verde National Park Superintendent
Cliff Spencer. “We are working
toward a solution to stabilize Kiva
F and Cliff Palace itself.”
For further information on Cliff Palace
and Kiva F, please visit Mesa Verde's
website here.
Additional coverage of the Cliff Palace
situation was recently published in
the Durango Herald, which can be found
here.
Hone
Your Photography Skills With Us
Several openings remain for our special
fall three-day photography workshop
led by well known photographer Northern
Arizona Unversity Professor Emeritus
Dr. Gene Balzer. The workshop is scheduled
for October 12-14, 2012 and is limited
to 13 participants to ensure plenty
of personalized coaching. It begins
at noon on Friday and ends on Sunday
afternoon. The $840 tuition (just $675
for members!) includes three days of
instruction, two nights in-park motel
lodging at the Far View Lodge, and all
meals including two dinners at the famed
Metate Room Restaurant. Click here
for more workshop information or to
sign up.
In partnership with the National Park
Service, interpretive rangers are
conducting nightly Twilight Tours
of Cliff Palace while portraying meticulously-researched
historical figures. Enjoy an evening
with a Civilian Conservation Corps
boy, Pulitzer Prize winner and acclaimed
American author Willa Cather, Superintendent
Jesse Nusbaum, or another person of
great significance to the park. Click
here
to view the complete slate of offerings.
Twilight Tours will be presented nightly
only through September 15, 2012. Tickets
are $10 per person and can only be
purchased in person, up to two days
in advance of the tour, at the MVMA
bookstore desk at the Far View Visitor
Center. Join us soon for this unique
learning adventure!
Mesa
Verde National Park Celebrates 96th
Birthday of the National Park Service
Mesa Verde National Park will celebrate
the 96th birthday of the National
Park Service on Saturday, August 25.
Kids ages 4 to 12 can become a Mesa
Verde Junior Ranger by learning how
to be good stewards, playing Cliff
Dwelling Bingo, and enjoying kids’
activities at the Junior Ranger Station.
Junior Ranger activity booklets can
be picked up at the Far View Visitor
Center or Chapin Mesa Archeological
Museum. The Junior Ranger Station,
located in the courtyard of the Museum,
will be open from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00
p.m.
“Birthdays are a time to celebrate
and we want everyone, especially
the children of America, to join
the party,” said Park Superintendent
Cliff Spencer. “National parks
belong to all Americans and offer
something for everyone – so
visit the park, take a hike, go
on a tour or just take in the scenery.”
The National Park Service was established
on August 25, 1916. The United States
was the first country in the world
to set aside its most significant
places as national parks so that
they could be enjoyed by all. Today,
the National Park Service cares
for 397 national parks throughout
the country – each one an important
part of our collective identity.
Some parks commemorate notable people
and achievements, others conserve
magnificent landscapes and natural
wonders, and all provide a place
to have fun and learn something.
Plan your visit at www.nps.gov/findapark.
The mission of the National Park
Service extends beyond parks into
communities across the country where
they work with partners to help
preserve local history and create
close-to-home recreational opportunities
that revitalize neighborhoods and
enhance the quality of life. To
see what they do here in Colorado,
go to www.nps.gov/CO.
Free
Four Corners Lecture Series Programs
More free programs designed to broaden
your understanding of this area’s
rich heritage will take place at
Mesa Verde National Park and around
the Four Corners this summer and
fall. Mesa Verde National Park’s
next speaker will be Zuni carver
Todd Westika, whose talk will revolve
around the history of fetishes,
from how real animals were transformed
into stone, to uses of fetishes
in Zuni culture. “I will cover
the meanings for the different fetishes,
then talk a little about my background
and how I got involved with carving.
That would be a good lead into an
actual carving demonstration,”
says Todd. Come join us for what
is sure to be an engaging evening!
When: August 24, 7:00
p.m., Far View Lodge Library at
Mesa Verde National Park
Who: Todd Westika
What: Zuni Fetishes - Past
and Present
When: Friday, August 31,
2012, 7:00 pm, Crow Canyon Archaeological
Center
Who: David Kozak
What: Ethiopian Crossroads:
A UNESCO World Heritage Site,
Indigenous Cultures, and the Damming
of a River
When: September 6, 7:00
p.m., Far View Lodge Library at
Mesa Verde National Park
Who: Mark Winter
What: The Making of the
Master Weavers
When: September 15, 3:00
p.m., Chapin Mesa Amphitheater
at Mesa Verde National Park
Who: Starr Tafoya
What: Santa Clara Pottery
Firing and Demonstration
When: September 20, 7:00
p.m., 130 Noble Hall at Fort Lewis
College
Who: Dr. J. Jefferson Reid
What: The Place of Four
Corners Archaeology in the Discovery
of the Mogollon
When: October 9, 7:00
p.m., Far View Lodge Library at
Mesa Verde National Park
Who: Gail Bird
What: Southwest Jewelry
Historic to Contemporary
When: October 14, 1:00
p.m., Anasazi Heritage Center
Who: Erica Olsen
What: Recapture and Its
Archeological Fictions: Literary
Reading and Book Signing
This lecture series is sponsored
by the Mesa Verde Museum Association
(MVMA) and Mesa Verde National
Park, as well as by Fort Lewis
College's Office of the President
and Department of Anthropology,
Anasazi Heritage Center, Bureau
of Land Management, Cortez Cultural
Center, Crow Canyon Archaeological
Center, and the Hisatsinom Chapter
of the Colorado Archaeological
Society. Additional support is
provided by ARAMARK/Mesa Verde
Company and KSJD Dryland Community
Radio. Your Mesa Verde Association
joint membership program dues
as well as proceeds from MVMA
services provide critical funding
for this lecture series, keeping
the programs free for attendees.
Thank you for your support!
Click here
to see the full lecture series
schedule.
Help
Preserve Native American Culture
The Mesa Verde visitor experience is
a wonderful introduction to American
Indian cultures, activities, and traditions.
Did you know that there are more than
24 Native American tribes and pueblos
that have a special relationship with
Mesa Verde? These rich American cultures
are shared with park visitors through
exhibits, demonstrations, lectures,
and performances. Mesa Verde Foundation
is working to help bring these activities
to Mesa Verde for all visitors to enjoy.
Each demonstration or activity typically
costs the park anywhere from $2,500
to $4,000, and the Mesa Verde Foundation
is helping the park fund these sorts
of educational programs and activities.
We invite you to help sponsor these
activities through a tax-deductible
contribution to the Mesa Verde Foundation.
Providing support is quick and easy.
Simply click here,
which takes you to the Mesa Verde
Foundation website.
You may either mail in your contribution,
or click the “donate” link
to make a credit card gift. Be
sure to note in the message box that
you would like your gift to be used
to support the Native American
cultural demonstrations at
Mesa Verde.
The long-awaited Visitor and Research
Center facility is nearing completion.
Retired newsman and former MVMA
board member Tom Vaughan recently
captured this image of the new
building and grounds. We look
forward to welcoming park visitors
in this sparkling new facility
soon!
Photo courtesy of Tom Vaughan/FeVa
Fotos
The
Southwest Delivered to Your Desktop
Kurt Repanshek, editor of the
National Parks Traveler website,
recently posted a fine slideshow
of the incomparable cultural
resources found in Mesa Verde
and several other public lands
in this region. Feast your eyes
and feed your soul with a three-minute
trip to the southwest! We thank
Kurt for permitting us to share
this link with you.
Click here to view the slideshow:
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com
Leaving
Mesa Verde: Peril and Change in
the Thirteenth-Century Southwest
edited by Timothy A. Kohler, Mark
D. Varien, and Aaron M. Wright
It is one of the great mysteries
in the archeology of the Americas:
the depopulation of the northern
Southwest in the late thirteenth-century
AD. Much new paleoenvironmental
data, and a great deal of archeological
survey and excavation, permit the
fifteen scientists represented in
this book much greater precision
in determining the timing of the
depopulation, the number of people
affected, and the ways in which
northern Pueblo peoples coped--and
failed to cope--with the rapidly
changing environmental and demographic
conditions they encountered throughout
the 1200s. In addition, some of
the scientists in this volume use
models to provide insights into
the processes behind the patterns
they find, helping to narrow the
range of plausible explanations.
What emerges from these investigations
is a highly pertinent story of
conflict and disruption as a result
of climate change, environmental
degradation, social rigidity,
and conflict. Taken as a whole,
these contributions recognize
this era as having witnessed a
competition between differing
social and economic organizations,
in which selective migration was
considerably hastened by severe
climatic, environmental, and social
upheaval. Moreover, the chapters
show that it is at least as true
that emigration led to the collapse
of the northern Southwest as it
is that collapse led to emigration.
Paperback; $39.95; member price
$31.96. Click here
to buy your copy today. Proceeds
from your purchases support Mesa
Verde National Park.
As always, Mesa Verde Association
members receive a 20% discount
on this item and on all regularly-priced
merchandise. Your special coupon
code to receive your member discount
online has been sent to you separately.
Not a member yet? It’s easy
to join! Just click here
or call us at 1-800-305-6053 or
970-529-4445 for assistance.
Misplaced your member discount
code? Just call or email us at
info@mesaverde.org
and we'll be happy to provide
it to you!
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