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Archaeological Site

Mesa Verde

Ancestral Puebloan · 600 to 1300 CE, SW Colorado
ON THE CHART
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

Mesa Verde: still unexplained.

600+ cliff dwellings; UNESCO

The law of this ground: PROTECTED federal land, ARPA & the Antiquities Act make collection a federal crime.
The subject
developing the photograph…
Of note
600+ cliff dwellings; UNESCO
The account

Elaborate stone villages tucked into canyon alcoves, abandoned ~1300. The first national park created to protect cultural resources.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on SW Colorado.
  • What you are chasing is 600+ cliff dwellings; UNESCO. Work the documented record of Mesa Verde back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • PROTECTED federal land, ARPA & the Antiquities Act make collection a federal crime.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • Pin down the most specific last-known position in the record before going; the search centers on SW Colorado.
  • What you are chasing is 600+ cliff dwellings; UNESCO. Work the documented record of Mesa Verde back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • PROTECTED federal land, ARPA & the Antiquities Act make collection a federal crime.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 37.230°, -108.460° (approx.) View on the Map