MESA VERDE Archeological Excavations in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado • 1950

During the summer of 1950, six Mesa Verde ruins were excavated by members of the local staff. The results of this research are included in three separate reports which, with the "Introduction to Mesa Verde Archeology," comprise this volume:

1. Excavation of Two Late Basketmaker III Pithouses.
2. Excavation at Site 16 of Three Pueblo II Mesa-top Ruins.
3. Excavation of Sun Point Pueblo.

These excavations, and others previously carried out in the park, have done much to clarify the archeology of Mesa Verde. The investigations are not yet complete, but, with the research which has so far been accomplished, it is now possible to reconstruct, in some detail, the archeological events of the long period of prehistoric occupation.

In the following papers the authors have presented a summary of the archeological data as it exists today for the Mesa Verde area, as well as a detailed and painstaking analysis of the three special excavations mentioned above. The excavations and the analysis of findings add materially to our knowledge of this area, which is so extraordinarily rich in reminders of the long-vanished inhabitants.

Conrad L. Wirth
Director.