Cliff Palace by Moonlight is a painting by Jerry McElroy which was uploaded on February 21st, 2013.
Title
Cliff Palace by Moonlight
Artist
Jerry McElroy
Medium
Painting - Acrylic On Canvas
Description
Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park.
Cliff Palace, at about 150 rooms, is the largest cliff dwelling in the park. The one-hour, ranger-guided tour involves 120 uneven stone steps and climbing five, 8-10 foot (2.6-3m) ladders on a 100 foot (30m) vertical climb. Total walking distance is about 1/4-mile (400m), round-trip.
Ninety percent of Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings contain 10 rooms or less. One-third have only one or two rooms. This should help to put the more famous cliff dwellings of Cliff Palace (150 rooms), Long House (150 rooms), Spruce Tree House (130 rooms), and Balcony House (40 rooms) into perspective.
Ancestral Puebloans of Mesa Verde
About 1,400 years ago, long before Europeans explored North America, a group of people living in the Four Corners region chose Mesa Verde for their home. For more than 700 years they and their descendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Then, in the late A.D. 1200s, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away. Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular reminder of this ancient culture.
A subterranean kiva remained 50 degrees Fahrenheit all year round. So for the Ancestral Puebloans, it stayed cool in the summer, and only a small fire was needed to keep it warm in the winter.
By 1859, several groups had entered the region, exploring both the north and south sides of Mesa Verde. The first European known to climb onto the mesa, was geologist Dr. John S. Newberry, a member of the 1859 San Juan Exploring Expedition. Although he didn’t record finding any archeological sites, the expedition was the first to officially use the name Mesa Verde. The manner in which it was identified, suggests the name was already in common usage.
Uploaded
February 21st, 2013
Statistics
Viewed 3,910 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/29/2024 at 6:34 AM
Colors
Embed
Share
More from Jerry McElroy
Comments (3)
Nadine and Bob Johnston
Congratulations, on The Publication of your work in - Artist News - an Internet Weekly... http://paper.li/f-1343723559#
Jon Burch Photography
Wow Jerry! Cliff Palace is one of my favorite spots on this planet! Very cool painting! (v)