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National Geographic : 1964 Feb
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FOR FIVE YEARS NOW we have dug and studied. In one of the most thorough explorations of the past ever undertaken in this country, we have peered through the lenses of some 28 different sciences to learn the ways of the prehistoric cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde, Colorado. By studying fecal matter 700 years old, we have learned a great deal about their diet, nutrition, and parasitic diseases. Tree rings in the beams of their cliff-hang ing homes not only enable us to date the ruins, but by comparison with growth rings in trees of today we can get a good idea of their weather. From centuries-old pollen we have found what plants grew here in those days-and gained evidence pointing to hitherto-un known crops in the ancient Indian economy. Cores that give us cross sections of soil combine with the pollen studies to tell a sad story of changing conditions-of growing ero sion, ruined farmland, possibly a prehistoric dust bowl. We can even ache with these vanished peo ple, for their bones show ravages of arthritis as well as decayed and throbbing teeth. Yet the story ends on a happier note, for among the Indians of today in the sunny pueblos far to the south, almost identical arti facts show that many of the ways, if not the blood, of the cliff dwellers survive to this day. Broad-scale Project Begins in 1958 Our opportunity came in 1958, when the National Park Service decided to excavate the pueblos of Wetherill Mesa, a section of Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Col orado. If we could get enough support-both in money and in brains-we could not only dig out and preserve a priceless archeological treasure, but contribute deeply to unraveling mysteries of prehistoric life in America. But the National Park Service has trouble getting funds appropriated for research, and we asked the National Geographic Society for help. It promptly came forward with generous grants of research funds for a major five-year effort. Thus we were able to bring to bear many varied fields of study-from dendro chronology (tree-ring dating) and endopara sitology (study of internal parasites) to archeo entomology (study of ancient insects)-and make this a project of unequaled scope, an archeological model. The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde are, of course, widely known. In fact, they are so popular that they are in danger of being worn February 1964 ^I JAL THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICMAGAZINEVOL. 125, NO. 2 COPYRIGHT© 1964 BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICSOCIETY, WASHINGTON, D. C. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHTSECURED Silent cities clinging to sandstone cliffs yield their secrets to a majorfive-year archeologicaleffort by a NationalPark Service-National GeographicSociety scientific team Solving the Riddles of Wetherill Mesa By DOUGLAS OSBORNE, Ph.D. Supervisory Archeologist National Park Service-National Geographic Society Wetherill Mesa Archeological Project Paintings by PETER V. BIANCHI National Geographic artist 155
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