Mesa Verde National Park

[aztec714ok]

white people are monkeys

[MysterEy1]

Watch my video. Where are we?

[NorthWoodsVideo]

Nice job presenting Mesa Verde. Hope to go there soon.

[qiranger]

@NorthWoodsVideo Thanks!

[Iroamwhereever]

Great! I'd love to visit mesa verde

[9musicluverxo]

I this place haunted?

[windrosefiberstudio]

I've been studying the Anasazi with my son and this is just what we were looking for! Gorgeous images! Great information! The energetic music also appeals to youth and helps maintain their attention. Thank you for this beautiful look at Mesa Verde National Park and for the educational resource!

[qiranger]

Glad you enjoyed it. I am teaching a lesson in the next few weeks, so I thought I would use my experiences and create some extra materials to supplement the book. My mother also teaches and will have a until on the people of the region too.

[mayokiconner]

nice! what editing software do you use particularly for the intro?

[qiranger]

Glad you really enjoyed it. The project was assembled in Final Cut. The opening sequence is a template from iMovie '06; however, rather than using their title bar, I use Motion to overlay that aspect. The music is the Redondo Beach Medium Loop from Apple.

[mayokiconner]

Thanks, that helps a lot!

[dorotwhy]

Absolutely breathtaking! Are visitors allowed into any of the cliff dwellings?

[qiranger]

Not any cliff dwelling. The three large ones have guided tours (to ensure that the area remains stable). There are also several mesa-top sites you can explore. Some of the other cliff dwellings are open from time to time and you get to explore them by lottery draw.

[dorotwhy]

Are they structurally safe? Although I am glad that they have been "preserved" for the sake of our access to native history, in a way it is a shame that the natives no longer own this property. Obviously it was theirs. Were these areas abandoned? Are any of these tribes still in tact today and were they displaced? Or, were they eradicated? It would be really cool to see the natives living in these dwellings. You mentioned climate change, so I'm not sure if that would be possible.

[mapari00]

The areas where visitors are allowed to go have been "hardened." Otherwise, no, they are not structurally safe. The areas were indeed abandoned around 1300AD and have not been used since. The modern day Pueblo Tribes of SW USA and NW Mexico consider these sites to be sacred homes of their ancestors. They wouldn't live in b/c of this. One theory is that with a mini ice age the animals left, their food ran out because the frost repeatedly killed the seeds. With no food, they headed south.

[dorotwhy]

mapari00, Thank you very much. :O) This is quite fascinating to me. With no written history on which to rely, I suppose Geology might be used to support this theory? Would you know if any artifacts or remains were unearthed from this area?

[mapari00]

There is no written history, but the modern tribes keep their history by storytelling. Many things you see in the ancient sites have similar structures to Native American structures in recorded history. There were thousands & likely millions of artifacts (& remains) found and there are so many more still out there. Archeologists are continually studying the sites in the park, though they no longer do digs. They were finding the same things over and over. Now they study the structures.

[mapari00]

When they are studying the Ancestral Puebloan sites they are very careful to be revernt. If human remains are found they do not collect them. They leave them in place, possibly placing a rock over them. Other artifacts are rarely removed now either unless they are particularly well preserved or unique. Unfortunately from the1870's when Mesa Verde was discovered until the 1900's, artifact digging was a fun past time and completely legal. When MV became a park in 1906 it became protected.

[dorotwhy]

It's sad to know that so much evidence of their existence was lost. If these dwelling hadn't been looted, the artifacts, etc. would have given us hints as to their way of life, their history. If enough was gathered, it may have told the story of how they came to reside there and the reasons they left.

[mapari00]

Very true. We don't know what we lost. One good thing though is that there was a LOT that wasn't taken and there was a family (the Wetherill's) who lived locally and collected just like everyone else, but they took notes on what they found and where they found it and they were super active collectors. They were amateur archeologists.

[qiranger]

It's a wonderful place.

[qiranger]

Cool!

[teamgh0ul]

Thats AMAZING. I should go see it next summer

[qiranger]

That you should!

[flurryfilms]

looks like i need to go on a vacation!

[qiranger]

lol

[TravMcTavish]

As always top notch stuff. I'm planning a 6 week long road trip across the US next year and will definitely add this to my trip.

[qiranger]

Very cool!

[13thDimension]

ooh good documentary voice :)

[qiranger]

Thanks!

[alsdjflaksjghalklaks]

You are really good at taking these photos/videos o_O;

[qiranger]

Thanks!

[NullisSum]

Pretty cool! Another deftly made min-travel vlog.

[qiranger]

Thanks mate!

[fehquig]

I'm adding it to my bucket list :)

[sunsetlover]

was there when I was little.... I was bored, Now I want to go back to see what its really like

[downwithborgs]

Nice!

[qiranger]

Thanks!

[OhCurt]

Looks like it would take a long time to explore that whole area. Cool.

[qiranger]

Yes, at least 3 days. Maybe a week. There really is so much to do. You could spend a month in the region and not see everything.

[choidj]

Wow, great work. Very professional.

[qiranger]

Thanks!

[Nyxnalia]

Great video my love! Favorited. :)

[qiranger]

Glad you loved it!

[markapsolon]

I was there about 5 years ago :) are you going to sand dunes too

[qiranger]

I really don't have much from my time in Flagstaff with the Painted Desert or Petrified Forest. Lovely areas. I prefer the Badlands though.

[sign543]

Wow, beautiful photographs and wonderful commentary. I really enjoyed this. Hope to visit there someday.

[qiranger]

You'll love it!

[thizizliz]

Steve! Beautifully done - thank you. I believe we'll be adding it to our list of places to check out. And as you so very often do, the travelogue was well prepared, easy to understand and hugely informative. Perhaps I've never mentioned how much I enjoy the sociological info tucked so nicely in with the anthropological. Instead of dead history, it becomes a fascinating story; the PEOPLE come alive.

[qiranger]

Thanks! It's a great park!

[iFukuyama]

what happened to your super hd? =(

[qiranger]

Decided not to do HD for this one, since I'm only using my low res pictures.

[ASECONDCHANCEAROUND]

I love seeing beauty like this.

thank you so much for sharing.

Beauty like this is why I travel for the summer !

**Kisses**

[qiranger]

Thanks Sonia! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[thebigfatlamp]

first. :D this architecture slightly reminds me of back home in new mexico. we have a lot of native american architecture houses and buildings there.

[qiranger]

The Ancestral Puebloans had a huge influence on all people living in the southwest. Probably more so in NM, give that most of the descendants are now located in that state.