Mesa Verde - Balcony House

One of the coolest things I did on my journey was go into the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park.

Since wimpy modern day tourists like me obviously can't use the hand and foot trails of the Ancestral Puebloans, some changes have been made to allow access. Steel stairways have been mounted into the cliffs, and a series of long timber ladders are used to clamber back out of the cliff dwellings. Here our guide explains the proper technique for climbing a 9 metre (30 foot) ladder: "Don't look down."

Getting modern Caucasian tourists around the cliff dwellings was challenging in some other ways as well. The Ancestral Puebloans were small people. The average height of a full grown man was a little shorter than I am, and the average life expectancy of an Ancestral Puebloan was a little younger than I am. The short, slight builders could easily navigate passageways that are a snug fit for today's taller and stockier visitors. Nobody actually got wedged in the passageways during my visit, but I have to admit there was one gentleman of whom I was determined to stay in front.

The first cliff dwelling that I visited was, in fact, not believed to have been a dwelling at all. The Balcony House is believed to have been a site of cultural and religious significance rather than a village like the other cliff dwellings. Archaeologists have identified a number of curious features of this site that suggest this different function. There is no evidence, for example, of the soot residue found at other sites from domestic fires used for warmth in the bitter winters, there is also an absence of domestic debris and some distinctive design elements.

The long, angled pole sticking out of the building in the photograph above is one example. The row of short poles is structurally functional and would normally have supported a balcony. However, the long pole that juts across the right side of this image is structurally irrelevant and appears to have no purpose.

Anthropologists and archaeologists who like to stay up all night at historic sites and note things like the position of the sun at dawn, or key constellations at night, have done exactly that here on numerous occasions. They found that this pole points directly to the spot where the sun rises over the cliffs in the morning. This adds weight to the theory that this site had religious significance.

The remains of some decoration on the walls is also visible at Balcony House. Note the darker red pattern in the photograph above.

The Balcony House site is actually divided into two halves by a large wall. The right side of the wall is true Balcony House, thought to be held sacred for religious purposes. The left side of the wall appears to be a more traditional dwelling, with more of the artifacts and design elements consistent with human habitation. There is a large, sheltered space in the back of the alcove which would have been communal living area. Soot residue on the ceiling and walls suggests regular and prolonged use for domestic purposes.

There is also a kiva, an important gathering place in the community and a crucial shelter during the icy winter months. The purpose of the kiva is understood by a combination of study of surviving descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans in modern pueblos further south, and the physical remains at the site. They were certainly clever builders. Note the fire pit in the centre of the kiva. The low wall behind the fire is an air break, with a vent behind it to bring fresh air into the kiva and promote the exit of smoke through a hole in the kiva roof. Today the roof is gone, but when this area was inhabited, the hole would have been covered over with branches and mud. Entry to the kiva was down a ladder through a hole in the top. Another common feature of the kiva is the "sipapu." Although not visible in the photograph above, the sipapu is a small indentation in the floor which symbolises the path that the ancestors followed to come up out of the earth. Unlike modern monotheistic conceptions of human origins in the sky, the puebloan people, both ancient and modern, believed that our origins are earthly.

Although our guide was friendly, knowledgeable and helpful, it was difficult to get a feel for these extraordinary homes with so many tourists clustered around, speaking many languages and stepping on each other as they try to get photographs that aren't filled with strangers. Yet, in some ways I suppose this was the authentic experience of the Ancestral Puebloans. At the height of these communities there were several thousand people living in these cliff dwellings, and there were certainly more people living in one alcove than were in my tour group. It would have been crowded, and cramped and the opposite of private. This kind of highly organised social group would have difficulty comprehending modern individualism and the highly separate self. I tried to remember that while I was quietly loathing fellow travellers who seemed blithely unaware that they constantly walked into whatever photograph I was just about to take.