The Ute Mountain Tribal Park in southwestern Colorado was created to preserve significant remnants of the Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) people, including spectacular cliff dwellings and rock art. Access to the park which is along the Mancos River and tributary canyons - and adjacent to Mesa Verde National Park - is by guided tour only.
The Ancestral Pueblo inhabitants of Johnson and Lion Canyons lived on the adjacent mesa tops prior to the construction of the cliff dwellings (pottery shards can be seen on the top near the trailhead). The first phase of construction in the rock overhangs took place from 1130 to 1160.
A second and final phase took place from 1195 to 1240. It is thought that the cliff dwellings were at least partially abandoned between these periods, as the second phase work involved some apparent dismantling of the earlier construction. Final abandonment took place around 1250, thirty or forty years before the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings were thought abandoned. Archaeologists closely estimate these dates using tree-ring analysis on the timbers found in the structures.
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