Pithouse - Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado - New World Ancient Evidence on Waymarking.com

My Commentary:
The pithouse excavation site has been covered by a permanent structure and interpretive signage is provided around the site. Ancient First Nations peoples first settled the mesa before moving to the more protected cliffs. It is just a short 100 yard walk on paved sidewalk from parking to the site.

Most visitors to Mesa Verde arrive in summer, when it’s hard to imagine snow on the ground or freezing temperatures. But Ancestral Pueblo farmers were used to the year-round cycle of seasons. Their first permanent homes were partially underground, so they were cool in the summer and warm in winter.

A family pithouse included a central fire hearth used for cooking, light, and warmth. It was protected by a deflector which reduced air drafts across the fire and onto people sitting, working, or sleeping on mats nearby. It also allowed smoke to rise straight up through the roof vent. Wing walls defined living spaces and may have offered options for privacy. Behind the wing walls were grinding stones, where women spent hours grinding corn into cornmeal, the basis of family meals. Baskets, pottery jars, and bowls held food such as shelled corn, wild fruit, seeds and berries, or stored water. Items such as burden baskets, cradleboards, and capes of twisted yucca fiber wrapped with rabbit fur or turkey feathers hung from the roof or main posts.

- National Park Service website

Trailhead: N 37° 10.141 W 108° 29.365 Type: Ruins How did you find this "Ancient Evidence": Deliberately Searching Terrain Rating:

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Date Logged Log User Rating   12/25/2023 Vinceo visited it 03/14/2022 Don.Morfe visited it 04/09/2021 sara et gege visited it

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