There seems to be some bad press across a few travel review sites about the Manitou Cliff Dwellings because the Anasazi, also known as the Ancient Ones or the Ancestral Puebloans, did not actually live (or build their dwellings) in the Manitou Springs, Colorado area. In fact, the Anasazi lived and roamed the Four Corners area of the United States from 1200 BC to AD 1300.
The Four Corners area of the southwest United States encompasses what is now northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado.
However, according to the history of the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, they are advertised as “authentic” because the stones used to build the current, reproduced “Anasazi-style” Indian cliff dwelling were relocated from a dwelling in the Mc Elmo Canyon, in the southwest corner of Colorado near Mesa Verde.
Per the Manitou Cliff Dwellings history:
“The process of relocating these cliff dwellings began in 1904 and was completed in 1907 when the preserve was open to the public. William Crosby, the original founder/owner of the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Ruins Company, wanted to preserve and protect these dwellings from looters and relic pot-hunters. His company spent many months mapping out a blueprint of the dwellings in Mc Elmo Canyon.”
“Over a several year period, the ruins from Mc Elmo Canyon were slowly dismantled stone by stone, packaged, and finally moved by oxen out of Mc Elmo Canyon…to Cliff Canyon by horse and wagon. Crosby’s men then, following the blueprints, reassembled the dwellings in dimension and appearance as they found them, only they used a concrete mortar in 1906 as opposed to the adobe mud/clay mortar the Anasazi used.”
Established as a preserve for educational purposes, the cliff dwellings are promoted as the most accessible example of cliff dwelling architecture.
Because of the way the dwellings were reconstructed (with concrete mortar), visitors can truly explore the full-extent of the dwellings on self-guided tours.
The preserve makes it easier for visitors like us to imagine what life might have been like for the Anasazi people.
Not only did we read about the culture, but we could also view different artifacts and artwork, and experience a bit of the Anasazi communal, “apartment” house living.
ducked in and out of…
and squeezed through…
passages and various other areas in the dwellings.
This type of hands-on exploration is irreplaceable.
Thanks to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings our family could begin to imagine what life might have been like for the Anasazi of the Four Corners area of the United States.
The red sandstone that overhangs the current structure serves to protect it.
In these dwellings you will not find any “Do Not Touch” signs.
A small site, the cliff dwellings offer an impressive, tangible educational experience nonetheless.
Here Jeff and the kids are on a ledge overlooking a circular pit called a Kiva.
The Kiva was basically a subterranean community area, sometimes up to 60 feet in diameter, used by the men of the community for ceremonial, religious or celebratory purposes.
Most Kivas had to be entered through a hole in the roof. Near the center was a firepit and though there isn’t one here, we read that often there was a Sipapu (a small hole in the floor that symbolized the people’s connection to the earth).
When the kids crawled-up through the doors on the second level, they found even more rooms used for various purposes.
This room had a pole and bench arrangement used for a turkey roost.
Life was not easy for this people group. The men spent most of their days hunting for meat while the women hand-wove cloth and ground maize into flour with stones. One of the placards said that the grinding went on for hours and sometimes the men would sing to the women to provide entertainment.
The skeletons of many elderly Anasazi women, upon examination, showed signs of severe arthritis; it is thought this was caused by all the constant kneeling and grinding.
While no one knows exactly why the Anasazi built their homes in the cliffs, some archeologists suggest by doing so, they freed up more land for cultivation during a century that endured two major droughts. Others say they built in the cliffs for protection against enemies.
In addition to the actual cliff dwellings, there is an additional outdoor archaeological and natural history preserve in the park. It includes reproductions of a stone mesa-top building and an Anasazi baking oven.
Anyone else reminded of Hansel and Gretel when viewing this photo?
Here Meredith rests near the entrance to the Anasazi museum.
And of course Emelie captured Meredith resting.
We document everything. HA!
The museum and a Southwestern gift shop is inside a three-story, Pueblo-style building constructed in the architectural style of the Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Anasazi.
And yes, we did shop.
The last time we were in Colorado, over 14 years ago, Jeff bought a hat.
He figured it was time for another one.
A nature walk connects the cliff dwellings to the Pueblo structure. The tree above was labeled a Ponderosa Tree. We were encouraged to smell, not taste, its bark.
It smells like vanilla.
You’d have to ask Emelie what it tastes like!
Not sure where Emelie gets her strangeness.
It appears the cliff dwellings bring out the “strange” in all of us.
The Anasazi, though best known for the ruins of their monumental cliff dwellings at places like Mesa Verde, are also a mystery because of how quickly and completely they abandoned their dwellings at the end of the 13th century.
There are several theories as to why they left all their belongings behind when they departed. Some say that severe drought destroyed their crops, causing the animals to migrate. They left everything because it was too much of a burden to take it.
Others propose they were attacked and simply had no time to gather up their belongings before fleeing.
A third group believe some type of social breakdown, including violence, warfare, and even cannibalism occurred among the Anasazi people.
Though they did leave the cliffs, they did not disappear. Today the descendants of the Anasazi, the Pueblo Indians, live in communities along the Rio Grande, in New Mexico and in Northern Arizona.
Though the villages were already abandoned by the time the Anglo explorers arrived in the 1880s, the explorers gave them the name “Cliff Dwellers” after viewing the well-preserved villages.
The Manitou Cliff Dwellings can be explored in under an hour – even if you take time to stop and read everything – and is well worth the time. We’re glad we took the time and hope to see actual cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde one day as well.
Thankfully, Emelie recharged her iPod during our lunch hour in order to capture our Manitou Cliff Dwellings experience on film. Enjoy the video here or below!
(C.A.W.U.S. = Central and Western United States)
Day 6 of our Road Trip brought rain and hail. As a result, the hike through the Garden of the Gods was out, but we did go to the Cave of the Winds (unfortunately it was a bit dark for photography). Next stop? Thermopolis, WY on our way to Yellowstone!
Heather Sanders is a leading homeschooling journalist who inspires homeschooling families across the nation. Married to Jeff, Heather lives in the East Texas Piney Woods and homeschools her three children, Emelie, Meredith and Kenny.