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The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde
Mesa Verde is a high plateau in Colorado where steep canyon walls hold large natural alcoves beneath overhanging rock. The move up into the cliffs is usually read as defensive, and it coincides with signs of rising violence in the region. Tree rings give an unusually precise chronology: the great drought from 1276 to 1299 is dated year by year, and it coincides with the area emptying. The descendants live in the Hopi and Zuni communities and in the Rio Grande pueblos, which still regard Mesa Verde as an ancestral place rather than a ruin.
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