Far View Group, Mesa Verde National Park, CO
Posted by: 
94RedRover
N 37° 14.267 W 108° 30.385
12S E 721195 N 4124164
Mesa Top ruins such as the Far View Sites, range in date from 750 AD, earlier than the reknown cliff dwellings in the area, but just as impressive. Mesa Verde National Park offers visitors a trip into the past...
Waymark Code: WM5Q24
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 02/01/2009
Views: 9
Left on this road to the FAR VIEW GROUP of ruins, 0.2 m, also known as the Mummy Lake Group for the reservoir-like depression on the slope above them. Mummy Lake was not used as a reservoir by the Pueblo, but drainage ditches leading into it indicate that early cowmen attempted to store water here for their stock. The Far View ruins are closely grouped, probably for protection. Although surface structures, they are of the same culture as the cliff dwellings, but pottery found in them shows them to be of earlier construction.
Colorado A Guide to the Highest State, 1941
On the east side of Chapin Mesa, the Far View sites includes five villages and an impressive, mesa-top reservoir. This is a self-guided tour of a one of the most densely populated areas of the mesa, showing inhabitation from AD 750 to 1300. Within a half mile of this site, nearly 50 villages have been identified.
Unlike the cliff dwellings, these structures were open pueblos, some even standing two stories! The elevation here, 7,700 feet is higher than the other areas, which would have affected the growing season, but increased the moisture available to support agriculture.
The first sites you'll see are the Far View House, boasting 40 rooms and Pipe Shrine House, with 20 rooms...both show signs of remodeling and additions over the years. The larger size of the Far View Site may reveal that is was a multi-community gathering place...
Take the short path to Coyote Village, one of the earliest structures here, with 30 ground-floor rooms, five kivas and a tower. A pithouse from even earlier occupants is beneath the tower...