Mesa verde ap world history

Wanted: stunning view


Cliff dwellings, Ancestral Puebloan, 450–1300 C.E., sandstone, Mesa Verde National Park, (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)


Imagine living in a home built into the side of a cliff. The Ancestral Puebloan peoples (formerly known as the Anasazi) did just that in some of the most remarkable structures still in existence today. Beginning after 1000–1100 C.E., they built more than 600 structures (mostly residential but also for storage and ritual) into the cliff faces of the Four Corners region of the United States (the southwestern corner of Colorado, northwestern corner of New Mexico, northeastern corner of Arizona, and southeastern corner of Utah). The dwellings depicted here are located in what is today southwestern Colorado in the national park known as Mesa Verde (“verde” is Spanish for green and “mesa” literally means table in Spanish but here refers to the flat-topped mountains common in the southwest).

 


Ladder to Balcony House, Mesa Verde National Park (photo: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0)


The most famous residential sites date to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The Ancestral Puebloans accessed these dwellings with retractable ladder

AP World 1.4 - State Building in the Americas


Historical Developments

In the Americas, as in Afro-Eurasia, state systems demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity, and expanded in scope and reach.


State systems in the Americas:



Maya city-states

Mexica / Aztecs

Inca

Chaco

Mesa Verde

Cahokia


In the Americas, as in Afro-Eurasia, state systems expanded in scope and reach;  networks of city-states flourished in the Maya region and, at the end of this period, imperial systems were created by the Mexica (Mexicas) and Inca.

Cahokia (North America’s First Society)


largest city ever built north of Mexico before Columbus

120 earthen mounds. - massive, square-bottomed, flat-topped pyramids -- great pedestals atop which civic leaders lived.

Plaza was city's center - largest earthwork in the Americas, the 100-foot Monks Mound.

Farmers grew crops to feed the city-dwellers, government officials and religious leaders, skilled trades workers, artisans & astronomers.

City was center of a trading network linked to other societies over much of North America.

Cahokia was, in short, one of the most advanced civilizations in ancient America.



Nature dictated th

Mesa Verde



Mesa Verde, in southwestern Colorado, is the site of well-preserved ancient American Indian ruins. Here in the 1200s a.d. the Anasazi Indians (also called Cliff Dwellers) built their dwellings into the sides of a plateau. The area was named Mesa Verde (which is Spanish meaning "green table") because the stone cities were carved into the sides of the mesas (flattopped hills) in a region noted for its forests of junipers and pines. The multi-storied dwellings were built for protection from raiding tribes: the inhabitants could retract access ladders in case of attack. The largest and best known of the ruins is the Cliff Palace, which contains more than 200 rooms and was probably inhabited by two to three hundred people at a time. Balcony House and Spruce Tree House are other large, multi-family dwellings.

A National Park since 1906, Mesa Verde provides a historical record of the ancient American Indians who occupied the area for hundreds of years. Nomadic peoples had moved onto the mesa top by the sixth century. As they made the transition from a huntinggathering life style to an agricultural one, they moved from underground pit houses to the cliff dwellings. Over h


The Americas from 1200 to 1450 CE buzzed with political activity. Enormous temples rose toward the sky. Rulers commanded armies and workers. Complex trading networks connected distant regions. In many ways, these American civilizations paralleled the empires of Asia, Africa, and Europe, though they developed independently.

From the Mississippi Valley to the Andes Mountains, sophisticated states evolved, each responding to local environments and challenges. These weren't simple chiefdoms but complex societies with specialized roles, social hierarchies, and impressive technological achievements.

The Development of American States

Continuity and Innovation

Across the Americas, states balanced traditional practices with new political inventions. This mix of old and new strengthened their ability to govern effectively.

Many traditional elements remained important to American states: Religious rituals that reinforced political authority Rule by elite families who claimed special ancestry Collection of tribute from conquered peoples Powerful priests who supported rulers' authority Impressive buildings that demonstrated power

These rulers constantly innovated to solve ne