# @nationalparkservice on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/COB9Qpdjs7Q
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/21101965-nationalparkservice-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/f9dcfefd38.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-04-24T01:39:32.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** National Park Service (@nationalparkservice) — https://gondola.cc/nationalparkservice

## Caption

Mesa Verde National Park is located in the high plateau country of southwestern Colorado. The park was established in 1906 to preserve the spectacular archeological remnants of the thousand-year-old culture of the Ancestral Pueblo people. For more than 700 years their descendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone villages in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Today, scientists study the dwellings of Mesa Verde, in part, by making comparisons between the Ancestral Pueblo people and their contemporary indigenous descendants who still live in the Southwest today. Twenty-four tribes in the southwest have an ancestral affiliation with the sites at Mesa Verde.⁣
⁣
Did you know Mesa Verde National Park has also been designated as the world’s 100th International Dark Sky Park? When we look up at a dark night sky, we are essentially seeing the same sky that humans have looked upon for thousands of years.⁣
⁣
Image: A nighttime view of a dark mesa and forested hills with the center of the Milky Way over Point Lookout, Mesa Verde National Park (NPS/Jacob W. Frank).⁣
⁣
#NationalParkWeek #nightskies #mesaverdenationalpark #colorado #milkyway #indigenous

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 61,295
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 183

## Credits

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| National Park Service | @nationalparkservice | https://gondola.cc/nationalparkservice | Government Organization |

## Tags

mesaverdenationalpark, colorado, milkyway, indigenous, nightskies, nationalparkweek

---
Copyright (c) Gondola