Which UNESCO World Heritage Site includes the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde in Colorado?

Mesa Verde National Park is the UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde in Colorado.

The park preserves archaeological sites built by Ancestral Pueblo people, including multistory dwellings set beneath canyon overhangs. Cliff Palace is the largest known cliff dwelling in North America, while Balcony House and Long House are other prominent structures. The settlements were constructed mainly in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

Mesa Verde's architecture includes stone masonry, plazas, storage rooms, and ceremonial spaces known as kivas. The sites show how communities adapted to a high plateau environment and used both cliff shelters and mesa-top settlements. Ancestral Pueblo people later moved away from the region, contributing to the cultural histories of Pueblo communities elsewhere in the Southwest.

The park was established in 1906 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. Mesa Verde is not simply a natural canyon landscape: its UNESCO significance rests especially on the archaeological remains and the evidence they provide about Ancestral Pueblo culture.