Cliff dwelling: Quick Facts

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Cliff Palace, a large complex of ancient stone cliff dwellings built by Ancestral Puebloans, is nestled beneath a rock overhang in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.

Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace

Mesa Verde National Park

Cliff dwellings at Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, U.S.; photograph by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1873.

Ancient stone ruins known as White House Ruins are built into a sheer red sandstone cliff at Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona.

Ancient stone dwellings of Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, Colorado, show multistory rooms, round kivas, and towers built into a cliff alcove.

Southwest architecture

The intricate cliff dwellings of Ancestral Puebloans

Uncovering the history of Ancestral Puebloans at Mesa Verde

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