Manitou Cliff Dwellings, Ancient Native American cliff dwellings in Manitou Springs, Colorado
Manitou Cliff Dwellings consist of around 40 rooms carved into red sandstone cliffs, displaying authentic Pueblo architecture built with traditional masonry techniques. The structures demonstrate how inhabitants used the natural cliff face to create shelter, with carefully shaped rooms stacked across multiple levels.
These structures were built over 800 years ago and served as dwellings for Pueblo communities before being abandoned in ancient times. In the early 1900s, they were carefully moved from southwestern Colorado to their current location and opened as a public site.
The three-level exhibition displays objects from Pueblo daily life, including handmade pottery, hunting weapons, and tools that show their craftsmanship and resourcefulness. You can observe how these communities made use of their natural surroundings and organized their domestic activities.
You can explore the dwellings at your own pace, walking through narrow passages to see the rooms and how they connect. Wearing sturdy shoes is helpful since some paths are uneven and there are steep steps inside the structures.
Visitors are allowed to touch the ancient stone walls and walk through narrow corridors that have existed for centuries, creating a direct connection with how inhabitants once moved through these spaces. This hands-on experience with the actual structures offers insight into both the building methods and the tight living quarters people occupied.
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