Mesa Verde

Into Colorado now, and visiting another ancient puebloan site at Mesa Verde in the southeastern corner of the state. This is part of the Cliff Palace, which like the other ancient pueblo sites was abandoned around the 13th century for reasons that are not fully clear.

You can walk right up to some of the houses to view them, and there are others such as this that you can go in if you go on a guided walk. Fascinating to see these ancient sites and to learn about the history. There are sites here dating back to the 6th century AD and the museum has many artefacts from that period to the present day. The pottery and woven materials made was exceptional and these traditions continue now. There was even on display a collection of 13th century corn (maize) found during excavation in a storage pot, presumably put aside for a time when they returned to the site, which they never did.

I'm realising on this trip just how limited my knowledge of north American history has been, which I'm trying to put right. Trouble is, I forget stuff quicker than I can learn it.