The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-- Sharply focused and dramatic full-page, full-color photographs are an outstanding feature in this book on the Anasazi people of the American Southwest. Mesa Verde serves as the backdrop and focal point. Photos of the spectacular cliff dwellings can be found throughout, but there are also pictures of archaeologists at work and many of the artifacts that have been found there. Chapters include a description of the discovery of the area by ranchers in the late 19th century and the development of the area into a national park. Readers will also see how painstaking archeology has re-created the probable scenario of how people lived when the area was at its height of development and various theories concerning the fate of the Anasazi. An engrossing introduction to the culture, the place, and the time, and how we have learned about them. --David N. Pauli, Missoula Pub . Lib . , MTCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
From roughly A.D. 550 until A.D. 1300, communities flourished in the region where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado now meet. One of the largest was at Mesa Verde, now on the edge of the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation. Called Anasazi- -``ancient ones''--by present-day Navajos, these pastoral, pueblo-dwelling people reached a peak of several thousand and then moved away, leaving cliff dwellings, pots, and the detritus of generations; who they were, where and why they went, and what became of them are mysteries, only slowly yielding to research. Drawing on sources here and abroad, Arnold provides an overview of current knowledge and speculation about the lives and culture of these early people. Aided by Hewett's detailed, beautiful color photos of sites, researchers, and artifacts, she describes their dwellings, tools, crops, and daily living patterns, carefully separating fact from speculation. Attractive and useful. Glossary; index. (Nonfiction. 9+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"Sharply focused and dramatic full-page, full-color photographs are an outstanding feature in this book on the Anasazi people of the American Southwest. Mesa Verde serves as the backdrop and focal point. Photos of the spectacular cliff dwellings can be found throughout, but there are also pictures of archaeologists at work and many of the artifacts that have been found there. . . . An engrossing introduction to the culture, the place, and the time, and how we have learned about them."

Review
"Sharply focused and dramatic full-page, full-color photographs are an outstanding feature in this book on the Anasazi people of the American Southwest. Mesa Verde serves as the backdrop and focal point. Photos of the spectacular cliff dwellings can be found throughout, but there are also pictures of archaeologists at work and many of the artifacts that have been found there. . . . An engrossing introduction to the culture, the place, and the time, and how we have learned about them."

Book Description
Discusses the Native Americans known as the Anasazi, who migrated to southwestern Colorado in the first century A.D.

Card catalog description
Discusses the native Americans known as the Anasazi, who migrated to southwestern Colorado in the first century A.D. and mysteriously disappeared in 1300 A.D. after constructing extensive dwellings in the cliffs of the steep canyon walls.

About the Author
Caroline Arnold always loved books, but as a child she never thought of writing as a career. Born in Pittsburgh, she grew up in Minneapolis and studied art at Grinnell College and the University of Iowa. "It was only after my children were born that I became acquainted with children's books and it occurred to me that I could use my training to become a children's book illustrator. I soon realized that I needed a text to go with the pictures, and the more I wrote, the more I realized that I liked writing as much as or more than drawing. I've always been fascinated by the natural world and love to go to the parks and museums. Perhaps that is why so many of my books are about scientific topics." Arnold lives in Los Angeles with her husband, a neuroscientist, and teaches writing at UCLA Extension.


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Gr 4-6-A thorough and attractive introduction to the Anasazi people with outstanding photographs of the dramatic vistas and ceremonial chambers within this national park. The painstaking work of archaeologists is shown as they try to reconstruct the past and document their findings. (July 1992)


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