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 Pueblo: www.visitpicuris.com

Zuni Pueblo: www.ashiwi-museum.org

Acoma Pueblo: www.acomaskycity.org

Hopi: hopi.org/hopi-sites/

Episode sources: www.mesa-verde-voices.org/episodes/s6e5-a-season-of-change

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/s6e4-winter

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.

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Ute Mountain Ute Tribe: www.utemountainutetribe.com

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Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park: www.utemountaintribalpark.info

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Episode sources: www.mesa-verde-voices.org/s6e1-summer

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 released weekly starting on the Spring Equinox - March 20th.

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 information on all the topics discussed in this episode, visit www.mesaverdevoices.org.

For more information about International Dark Sky Parks, visit www.darksky.org.

Mesa Verde Voices is produced by KSJD Community Radio Project in Cortez, Colorado, in collaboration with Mesa Verde National Park and the Mesa Verde Association. This season is made possible through a grant from Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan of 2021.

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 information on all the topics discussed in this episode, visit www.mesaverdevoices.org. For more information about International Dark Sky Parks, visit www.darksky.org.

Mesa Verde Voices is produced by KSJD Community Radio Project in Cortez, Colorado, in collaboration with Mesa Verde National Park and the Mesa Verde Association.

This season is made possible through a grant from Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan of 2021.

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.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information on all the topics discussed in this episode, visit www.mesa-verde-voices.org. For more information about International Dark Sky Parks, visit www.darksky.org.

Mesa Verde Voices is produced by KSJD Community Radio Project in Cortez, Colorado, in collaboration with Mesa Verde National Park and the Mesa Verde Association.

This season is made possible through a grant from Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan of 2021.

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 moon, and the stars, as well as how these traditions live on in their descendants still today.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information on all the topics discussed in this episode, visit www.mesaverdevoices.org.

For more information about International Dark Sky Parks, visit www.darksky.org.

Mesa Verde Voices is produced by KSJD Community Radio Project in Cortez, Colorado, in collaboration with Mesa Verde National Park and the Mesa Verde Association

This season is made possible through a grant from Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan of 2021