By Maryanna Gabriel
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| Cliff Palace |
Once long ago, I stared at a National Geographic article on the "Four Corners" and resolved to go there. Here I was. This famous Mesa Verde National Park, a world heritage UNESCO site was also something I wanted to see. Unbeknownst to me I was arriving the last day the park was open. Mesa Verde is a table top formation that is situated high above a vast plane and is over 210 square kilometers. It is famous for Cliff Palace and there are over 4,000 sites in the park. I was recognizing the sites as I stood on the edge and scanned the cliffs. A new vocabulary was becoming familiar to me as I learned about kivas, kachinas, and skin walkers.
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| Basketmakers |
It is not well understood why the Pueblos left but as they depended on their gardens of squash and corn it was thought that drought was a factor. I went into a museum in the park that contained some of the best preserved artifacts in the United States. I was startled because it seemed to me that the artifacts were familiar to me, the basketry, the clay sculptures, and the tools. I next wandered into a small arroyo where a small village had been and waves of emotion came over me. Why? Was I remembering a past life or was I tuning into the emotion of the people there? I did not know. I was surprised by how deeply the place was effecting me.
