The Anasazi people mysteriously left Mesa Verde.  Scientists do not know why.  Since the Anasazi people left, no other group of people have lived in Mesa Verde.  Today, Mesa Verde is a place that all people can visit.



Mesa Verde is now taken care of by park rangers and is part of a large park called Mesa Verde National Park.  Since it is part of the park, Mesa Verde is protected from changes, like building skyscrapers and shopping malls.  This way, people can see how Mesa Verde used to be without any changes.  



If you ever visit Mesa Verde, you will see it is a very large park!  It takes 30 minutes to drive from the entrance of the park to the visitor center alone!  A great place to start when you visit Mesa Verde is the museum.  A museum is a place where people can look at objects of art, science, or history.  Then visitors can walk through many different parts of Mesa Verde and see all the homes the Anasazi had built.  

 

When visitors visit Mesa Verde, they are reminded to respect the past.  This means visitors must not take any artifacts from Mesa Verde and must treat the homes as if they were guests, because actually, they are!  Visitors are also reminded that we can learn many things by studying the past.  From studying the Anasazi culture at Mesa Verde, we can learn that we should try to work together in our communities and to use, but respect, the natural resources around us.