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Welcome to Badger House Community. This group of ruins covers nearly seven acres. Your walk through this area is a journey through 600 years of prehistory.......

Archeologists learn about past human behavior mostly through studying technology. As archeologists uncover settlements of different ages, as here on Wetherill Mesa, they can compare patterns in architecture, tools, and village layout and note how these changed through time. From these things, archeologists can infer how societies organized to carry out the tasks of life and how they reorganized when necessary to meet life’s challenges. In their interpretations of the past, archeologists do not a

Archeologists call the prehistoric Indians of the Mesa Verde “Anasazi.” Anasazi peoples once lived over a vast area of the northern Southwest, from the Four Corners to southern Nevada. The Anasazi were descended from nomadic hunting and gathering peoples who occupied the Southwest several thousand years before the time of Christ. Food plants, originally domesticated in Mexico, spread to the Southwest through trade. People were then able to produce food as well as collect it. Although the Anasazi

Pithouses were structures with their floors and lower walls below ground surface. Large posts set into holes in the floor supported a flat roof and sloping sidewalls of poles, juniper bark, sage, and plaster. The sidewalls rested on the low bench around the inside of the pit, where impressions of the poles can still be seen. Pithouse floor plans of this period resembled a figure-eight. The large room was the living and sleeping area. It was equipped with a firepit or hearth, usually located near

This dense pinyon-juniper forest indicates deep, well-watered soil. Some of the best farm land on the Mesa Verde was to be found here around Badger House Community. Today the Mesa Verde looks much as it did when the Anasazi arrived. The birds and mammals you may see during your walk—mule deer, ravens, turkey vultures, jays—would have been familiar to the prehistoric people. The conspicuous hills you will see in several places along the trail are anthills. Modern Pueblo potters sometimes collect

The Anasazi occupied this site continuously for over 300 years. Archeologists know of several other room-blocks and a few pithouses in this area. This room-block was the last to be built. The pattern seen here—a long arc of single-room houses—appeared after 800. Note the sunken floors. Plan of early Pueblo, after AD 800. These houses were built over shallow trenches. The walls were constructed using an interesting mixture of materials and techniques. Most were built of adobe, sometimes with ston

Fire destroyed this entire block, and claimed a life. In one of these rooms, archeologists found the skeleton of an adult sprawled across the floor. An adobe wall had toppled onto the body, and it appeared that this person was overcome by flames before this hapless victim could escape the flames....

This large underground room was a great kiva or ceremonial chamber. Here, perhaps, people from this community and others nearby gathered for rituals marking events important in the lives of all, such as planting and harvest. In this kiva, you will recognize a familiar combination of pithouse features: central hearth, bench, and postholes. Through time, the pithouse was devoted more and more to religious activities. The history of this kiva can be read in the stratigraphy, or layers of colored so

More towers have been found in the Mesa Verde-Montezuma Valley area than in any other part of the Southwest. Most of these were located near kivas, and many were connected to kivas by tunnels. This suggests that towers were important in Anasazi ceremonial life, but archeologists are not sure how. A tunnel extended 41 feet between a hatchway in the floor of this tower and an opening in the wall of a kiva at the far end of Badger House. This is the longest kiva-tower tunnel yet discovered in the S

This site was first occupied from about 900 through 1100. People returned in the 1200’s, built the kiva and tower and a room-block, but soon after abandoned the site for good. The earliest houses here were so disturbed by later construction that archeologists could not get a clear idea of their number or extent. Badger House as it may have appeared in the 1200’s. The ruins exhibited here are the remains of two room blocks built at different times, one partially over the rubble of the other. The

After about 900, Mesa Verde communities were dotted with kivas like this one. Small kivas probably were used by several related families or by secret religious societies whose members specialized in performing certain types of ceremonies. The roof was at ground surface. Kiva roofs were supported by an ingenious cribbed framework of logs. The ends of the logs rested on the pilasters or columns along the kiva wall. Note the large rectangular pit or vault in the floor. The ends of this vault were s

Archeology can tell us much about how human activities alter the natural environment. Consider this tale of two rabbits: When the Anasazi settled on the Mesa Verde, it looked much as it does today. Cottontails are now very common in the mesas while jackrabbits are rare. Yet the animal bone recovered from sites like Badger House included as much jackrabbit as cottontail. Cottontail In clearing land for farming, the Anasazi converted areas of the mesa tops into the sort of open habitat jackrabbits

The sides and floor of this pit were fire-reddened, and archeologists believe it was used as an oven. Food probably was placed on a bed of hot stones, covered with earth, and allowed to bake for several hours....

This small underground room was among the last structures built on this site. Archeologists do not know its purpose, but it resembles a miniature kiva. The last building on this site was a small pueblo. From the time the Anasazi began to live in above-ground dwellings, their villages usually included open courtyards or plazas. The kivas were located in this area. Modern Pueblo Indians use the plaza as a work area, a place to socialize, and a stage for the dances that are often a part of religiou

A palisade, or fence of posts and brush, partially enclosed the plaza of Two Raven House. Archeologists speculate that such structures may have been windbreaks to shelter the plaza or even barriers to keep Anasazi turkeys in (or out) of the village. Although palisades have been discovered at only a few other sites in the Southwest, they may have been common features of Anasazi villages. Archeologists seldom have the time (or money) to spend stripping away the topsoil in search of the telltale ro

Between 1280 and 1300, the Anasazi left Mesa Verde and moved south. Some of the people may have joined the Hopi in northern Arizona, but most probably settled among the Pueblos in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. Archeologists are still not certain why the Anasazi abandoned much of their homeland at this time. Drought conditions, which began around 1276 and persisted for nearly a generation, may have been partly to blame. Yet, the Anasazi had survived several previous droughts. By 1280, howe

These stones are the remains of toppled walls. They were removed from in and around the rooms during excavation. A key ingredient in making a house into a ruin is neglect. Nature does the rest. Walls and roofs of abandoned houses sag and fall. Soil, moved by water and wind, builds up against the foundations. Plants with shallow roots sprout, anchoring the soil, which eventually becomes deep enough to support brush cover. Given time, the result is a mound—one littered with lichen-covered stones,

Wetherill Mesa offers a variety of sights, from cliff dwellings to mesa top ruins. From the parking area, walk to the information kiosk and mini-train loading area. There the Ranger will help you plan your visit to the ruins. Step House Ruin: The ½-mile self-guided walk takes 45 minutes to complete. Guidebooks are available on the trail to the ruin. A Ranger is on duty in the dwelling to answer any questions. This ruin may be visited anytime between 9:15 a.m. and 5:15 p.m....

Departs from the kiosk area every ½-hour from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There may be an hour wait for tours. You must ride the mini-train to visit: Long House: This Ranger guided tour of the Park’s second largest dwelling leaves every ½-hour from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the trail head. The total round trip walking distance is ½-mile and takes approximately one hour. Note: Tours are limited to 50 people on a first come, first served basis. This tour is not recommended for those with a heart condit