Photos

One of the many 'kivas', at Mesa Verde, in south western Colorado. I thought the car was a good 'old vs the new' inclusion, and it also adds scale, seeing as the original inhabitants are long gone.

"The pithouse represents the beginning of a settled way of life based on agriculture. Its basic features were a living room, squarish in shape and sunk down a few feet into the ground, four main timbers at the corners to support the roof, a fire pit with an air deflector, an antechamber, which might contain storage bins or pits, and a sipapu. Pithouses evolved into kivas of later times. In Mesa Verde, the people lived in this type of dwelling from about 550 to 750.

These were fairly prosperous times for the Basketmakers, and their population multiplied. About 750 they began building houses above ground, with upright walls made out of poles and mud. They built these houses one against another in long, curving rows, often with a pithouse or two in front. The pithouses were probably the forerunners of the kivas of later time. From then on, these people were known as Pueblos, a Spanish word for village dwellers.

By 1000, the people of Mesa Verde had advanced from pole-and-adobe construction to skillful stone masonry. Their walls of thick, double-coursed stone often rose two or three stories high and were joined together into units of 50 rooms or more. Pottery also changed, as black drawings on a white background replaced simple designs on dull gray. Farming provided more of the diet than before and much mesatop land was cleared for that purpose.

The years from 1100 to 1300 were Mesa Verde's Classic Period. The population may have reached several thousand. It was mostly concentrated in compact villages of many rooms, often with the kivas built inside the enclosing walls rather than out in the open. Round towers began to appear, and there was a rising level of craftsmanship in masonry work, pottery, weaving, jewelry, and even tool making. The stone walls of the large pueblos are regarded as the finest ever built in Mesa Verde; they are made of carefully shaped stones laid up in straight courses. The mortar between blocks was a mix of mud and water. Rooms averaged about 6 foot by 8 foot, space enough for two or three persons. Isolated rooms in the rear and on the upper levels were generally used for storing crops."

Source: http://www.mesa.verde.national-park.com/info.htm

A combination of a 300 year long mega drought, & the arrival of the Navaho Indian tribes, effectively sealed the end of this unique civilization.