Mesa Verde Voices

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 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

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 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 Association and the National Park Service.

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. 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 Association and the National Park Service.

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. 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 Association and the National Park Service.

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 learn more at mesaverdevoices.org.

Mesa Verde Voices is produced by KSJD Community Radio in Cortez, Colorado with support from the Mesa Verde Museum Association and the National Park Service.

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 wherever you listen to podcasts, and learn more at mesaverdevoices.org.

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, Zuni people for thousands of years.

Subscribe, rate, and review Mesa Verde Voices wherever you listen to podcasts, and learn more at mesaverdevoices.org.

This is the final episode of our 3rd season, Mesa Verde Voices will be back with more new episodes this fall.

Mesa Verde Voices is produced by KSJD Community Radio in Cortez, Colorado with support from the Mesa Verde Museum Association and the National Park Service.

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 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 Association and the National Park Service.

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 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 Association and the National Park Service.