Ancestral Puebloans: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Cyark elevation fire temple.jpg|thumb|Section view of Kiva A in [[Mesa Verde]]'s Fire Temple, cut from laser scan data collected by a CyArk/National Park Service partnership. Since Fire Temple was at least partially built to conform to the dimensions of its cliff alcove, it is neither round in form nor truly subterranean like other structures defined as [[kivas]].]]
 
Throughout the southwest Ancestral Puebloan region are buildingbuilt complexes in shallow [[caves]] and under rock overhangs in canyon walls. Unlike earlier structures and villages atop mesas, this was a regional 13th-century trend of gathering the growing populations into close, defensible quarters. There were buildings for housing, defense, and storage. These were built mostly of blocks of hard sandstone, held together and plastered with [[adobe]] mortar. Constructions had many similarities, but unique forms due to the unique rock topography.
 
The best-known site is at Mesa Verde, with a large number of well-preserved cliff dwellings. This area included common Pueblo architectural forms, such as kivas, towers, and pit-houses, but the space restrictions of these alcoves resulted in far denser populations. Mug House, a typical cliff dwelling of the period, was home to around 100 people who shared 94 small rooms and eight kivas, built right up against each other and sharing many walls. Builders maximized space use and no area was off-limits.<ref name="kantner" />