Mesa Verde Voices

While the mission of the National Park Service is to preserve and protect our nation’s natural and cultural resources for future generations, this doesn’t mean that the methods of preservation are stagnant. Over the past decade, park staff at Mesa Verde National Park have taken steps to tell a more accurate, truthful, and equitable story of the people who once lived on this landscape. Picuris Pueb...

Winter is a crucial time of year for both the landscape and humans of Mesa Verde. While this is generally a time for rest, reflection, and community, the people living at Mesa Verde would not have been sitting idly by waiting for spring. Picuris Pueblo: www.visitpicuris.com Zuni Pueblo: www.ashiwi-museum.org Acoma Pueblo: www.acomaskycity.org Episode sources: www.mesa-verde-voices.org/episodes/s6e...

As the autumn winds bring cooler weather and vibrant colors to the Mesa Verde landscape, this seasonal transition also brings a time of harvest, celebration of the growing season, and preparation for the long winter months ahead. Picuris Pueblo: www.visitpicuris.com Zuni Pueblo: www.ashiwi-museum.org Acoma Pueblo: www.acomaskycity.org Episode sources: www.mesa-verde-voices.org/episodes/s6e3-fall

The summer time on the mesa would’ve been a busy time. The Ancestral Pueblo people were skilled farmers, growing staple crops of corn, beans, and squash through the practice of dryland farming - a tradition that has been passed down to their descendants still today. Hopi: https://hopi.org/hopi-sites/ Episode sources: www.mesa-verde-voices.org/episodes/s6e2-summer

In season 6, we're going to be talking about... the seasons. We'll be exploring the landscape of this special place as it transforms throughout the year. From how the plants, animals, and weather change, to how the lives of ancestral people would have shifted alongside these changes in the natural world, starting with Spring. - Ute Mountain Ute Tribe: www.utemountainutetribe.com - Ute Mountain Ute...

In season 6 we'll be talking about... the seasons.  We'll be exploring the Mesa Verde landscape as it transforms throughout the year - from how the plants, animals, and weather change, to how the lives of ancestral people would have shifted alongside these changes in the natural world.  And finally we'll hear about some big changes coming to the museum at Mesa Verde National Park. Episodes will be...

The peoples of the Mesa Verde region and their descendants have found meaning and guidance in the stars for thousands of years. Storytelling is a big part of the descendants’ lives still today. The stars, moon, and sun are key elements of those stories, and their movement through the sky determine when certain stories are told throughout the year. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more i...

There are as many names for the stars, planets, and constellations as there are languages and cultures on Earth. In this episode we hear some of the Navajo/Diné and Zuni names for some of the most prominent stars and constellations, and we hear about the 1054 Supernova that resulted in the Crab Nebula which can still be seen via telescope today. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more inf...

Our moon has a consistent and predictable cycle that repeats every month in the same way that it has for billions of years! But this cycle is more than the 29.5-day pattern of lunar phases. In this episode, we’ll hear about the ways humans have tracked the monthly lunar cycle, as well as the lunar standstill, and the significance that eclipses have for descendants of the Mesa Verde region today. S...

Some of the most well-known celestial alignments within ancestral sites correspond with the annual movement of the sun along the horizon throughout the year - especially on the Solstices and Equinoxes. And one of the most famous is the Sun Dagger at Chaco Canyon. In this season of Mesa Verde Voices, we'll hear about the ways that ancient people observed and tracked the movement of the sun, the moo...

In 2021, Mesa Verde National Park became the 100th International Dark Sky Park. This designation does more than just preserve the natural beauty of the night sky above the park, it also preserves the cultural bond that ancestral people had with the skyscape. In season 5, we'll hear about the ways that ancient people observed and tracked the movement of the sun, the moon, and the stars, as well as...

In this final episode of season four, we look into the myth that first drew explorers, archaeologists, and tourists to these desert canyons just a few centuries ago. Where did the Mesa Verde people go? Why did they move on? And why is this myth that they vanished from their ancestral homelands damaging to descendant communities today? Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voices wherever you list...

The rock art in the Southwest is as iconic to the region as the cliff dwellings themselves. From animal shapes to handprints to intricate spirals, these petroglyphs and pictographs adorn the landscape leaving messages from hundreds and thousands of years in the past. What do these symbols mean? And what might they still communicate today? New episodes of Mesa Verde Voices release every Friday. Sub...

Why did the Ancestral Pueblo people build these world-renowned alcove villages? It’s nearly impossible to go a day at Mesa Verde National Park without hearing someone ask some version of this question. And at the same time, it’s nearly impossible to answer it. In this episode, we explore some of the many theories surrounding this frequently asked question. New episodes will release every Friday. S...

The stunning alcove villages - such as Cliff Palace - are what originally captured the attention of the first European descendant folks to move through the canyons of Mesa Verde. However, these were not the largest communities in the Mesa Verde region… not by a long shot. New episodes will release every Friday. Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voices wherever you listen to podcasts, and lear...

In season 4, we’re digging into some of the most commonly asked questions at Mesa Verde National Park. In this episode, we're talking about how the Ancestral Pueblo people came to be in the Southwest, and how Indigenous and European ways of learning and knowing about the past can complement each other. New episodes will be released every Friday. Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voices wherev...

The fourth season of Mesa Verde Voices begins on April 30th. Learn the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions by park visitors from archeologists and the descendants of the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived in and around what we now called Mesa Verde National Park hundreds of years ago.

Hundreds of years ago, the Ancestral Pueblo people were pouring immense time and energy into weaving intricate items such as clothing and sandals. And while people all across the region seem to have utilized these items, recent studies suggest that a particular group may have been responsible for most of the manufacturing. This specialization has been part of the fabric of society for Hopi, Pueblo...

All across the region in the mid-1100s people began to move closer to water. These movements are reflected in the need to travel great distances, to make strong bonds with different cultures, and to bring home special items – feathers, shells, turquoise, with their bright, vibrant colors, their origins near oceans and rainforests, and their tinkling sounds of rain. New episodes will release every...

For thousands of years, an extensive trade network has bonded the people of Mesoamerica and what is currently the Southwestern United States. Pochtecas - Mesoamerican traders - were responsible for transporting goods and technologies across the landscape, including live birds and their colorful feathers. New episodes will release every Friday. Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voices wherever...

Water has always been precious to the Ancestral Pueblo people, and it is still precious to their descendants today. As dry farmers in an arid region, prayers for moisture and rains have been passed down for thousands of years and often incorporate items that were acquired from faraway places associated with water. New episodes will release every Friday. Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voice...

Pottery is a particularly iconic item in the Southwest, and evidence of its trade across the Four Corners region can be a little surprising… considering moving something fragile and heavy like ceramics would be difficult without carts, wagons, or draft animals. New episodes will release every Friday. Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voices wherever you listen to podcasts, and learn more at m...

What do three pieces of 1000-year-old pottery from the desert of Chaco Canyon have in common with the rainforests of Mexico? New episodes will release every Friday. Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voices wherever you listen to podcasts, and learn more at mesaverdevoices.org. Mesa Verde Voices is produced by KSJD Community Radio in Cortez, Colorado with support from the Mesa Verde Museum Ass...

In season 3, we’re talking all about trade relationships as distant as Mesoamerica and the California coast, and as close-knit as neighboring communities across Montezuma Valley. New episodes will release every Friday. Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voices wherever you listen to podcasts, and learn more at mesaverdevoices.org.

The new season of Mesa Verde Voices launches Friday, May 22.