Customer Reviews

The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde

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This book is a quick, interesting read for a grade-school kid, but it's coverage of both the history of Mesa Verde and the Anasazi people who lived there is shallow and sheds little light on the subject. Few of the assertations in the book (for example, that the male members of the community built the cliff dwellings and that the kivas were used for ceremonial purposes) are backed up with any documentation or reasoning. The photos are just average in quality, and the reader finishes the book not knowing much more about the cliff dwellers than when she started. Even kids want more info than this!

I am fascinated by the Anasazi people and have visited Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in 2005. I visited Mesa Verde in June of 2008. Although the park rangers who led tours provided a lot of information about the people of Mesa Verde, I wanted to know much more. This book provided much useful information. It was written in language that was easy to understand and any archeologist words used were defined. It was illustrated with frequent high quality photographs.

Fantastic for a quick glimpse or to whet your appetite before a trip. Very informative also at a level that would please most people.