Sometimes visitors to the Mesa Verde find it difficult to see the Indians who once lived in the cliff dwellings. It is not always easy for the imagination to carry one back through the centuries to the time when there was life in the caves. Minds geared to the frantic pace of modern times are not always able to see the thousands of Indians who once lived in the cliff dwellings.

In order to make it easier for visitors to see the people, dioramas like the one pictured are displayed in the museum. The ancient villages have been reproduced in miniature. In them are not only the people, engaged in their many activities, but all the things they used in their daily lives. The diorama pictured below is a reproduction of Spruce Tree House, one of the largest of the cliff dwellings. One-half of the thirteenth century village has been reproduced as accurately as possible. In it 50 people are engaged in the various activities that occupied the inhabitants of the village seven centuries ago. The adult human figures are four inches high and all objects are on the same scale.

As one stands in front of this diorama it is no longer necessary to try to imagine the life of ancient times. Here in miniature is a cliff dwelling and its people. Houses and kivas are being built—some of the men work diligently while others sit on the walls and criticize. Some of the men are making tools and weapons—one is telling stories to a group of boys—another has just returned from the hunt with a fat rabbit. Several old men bask in the sun and talk of bygone times when things were better. Some of the women are cooking over flickering fires—others care for tiny babies. Some of the young women are grinding corn while others are returning from the spring with great jars of water on their heads. Children are playing in the courts and one youngster is helping a baby brother take his first toddling steps. Since it is harvest time the products of the farms are being brought to the village. Brightly colored ears of corn are being spread out on the roofs to dry and piles of yellow squashes may be seen in the courts.

Dioramas like this one provide for visitors the most important part of the Mesa Verde Story, the part that is so often missed. The excavated cliff dwellings that visitors enter are empty. Seven centuries ago the Indians themselves walked away, driven to the south by enemies and a great drouth. Most of their belongings were left behind but the early explorers and later archeologists removed them.

Because of this a cliff dwelling may seem, at first glance, to be an empty house. Too often visitors see only the stone walls and fail to see the people who built them. One must always remember that a cliff dwelling is the architectural expression of a settled, industrious agricultural people. For a thousand years they lived in the Mesa Verde region. From a simple beginning their culture developed steadily and the cultural peak was reached during the thirteenth century. This was the century of the cliff dwellings. Because of strong enemy pressure the people moved to the caves and built the cliff dwellings for which the Mesa Verde is famous.