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Free Traveling Guides » States » Colorado » National Parks Cliff Palace
Cliff Palace, situated in the Mesa Verde National Park, in the southwest corner of Colorado, was home to nearly 150 Ancestral Puebloans people. This ancient Pueblo is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. It is a huge, magnificent ruin and was founded by Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason in the year 1888. According to the archaeological estimates, Cliff Place was built between c. AD 1190 and c. AD 1260. However, it was vacated in 1300 for unknown reasons.
Cliff Place is constructed into an 89 ft (27 m) deep and 59 ft (18 m) high alcove in a sandstone cliff. The entire structure is nearly 288 ft (88 m) in length and has over 150 rooms. However, only 25-30 rooms have hearths, suggesting that these rooms were used as living space. Besides, there are over 75 open areas, nine storage rooms, and many other rooms whose function is not yet understood. The storage rooms were apparently reached by removable ladders and were used to store the surplus harvest.
Other main features of this large, impressive ruin include many multi-story round and square structures called ‘towers’ and 21 round sunken rooms of ceremonial importance called the “Kivas”. Abstract designs were painted on original plaster that has been used in the interior of a four-storey tower at the south end of the complex. The central Kiva in the complex divides the entire structure by a series of walls with no doorways and access portals. Interestingly, the walls of this huge Kiva are plastered with one color on one side and a different color on the opposite site. This suggests that there were two communities in Cliff Palace and the Kiva was possibly used to integrate these two communities. At present, Cliff Palace is a major tourist attraction. However, it is open to the public only through ranger-guided tours.
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