"I saw a little city of stone asleep — that village sat looking down into the canyon with the calmness of eternity, preserved with the dry air and almost perpetual sunlight, like a fly in amber guarded by the cliff and the river and the desert." — Willa Cather, 20th century American novelist, on Mesa Verde

On a lofty, remote plateau in southwestern Colorado sits Mesa Verde, one of the most unusual gems in the National Park system. This is a park dedicated primarily to the past achievements of mankind — amid a harsh, high-desert environment — rather than a monument to nature's own handiwork.

Mesa Verde — the nation's largest archaeological preserve — was established as a national park on June 29, 1906. Starting Dec. 8 of this year and running through December 2006, it will celebrate its centennial with a multitude of special events.

According to Tessy Shirakawa, public information officer for Mesa Verde, details of the park's 100-year celebration are still being finalized, but special tours, a lecture series and alumni reunions are being planned.

"This is something to look forward to," she said.

Although some other national parks also celebrate American Indian cultures, Mesa Verde looms as the forerunner.

The park has approximately 450,000 visitors a year. Most come in the summer season, but despite elevations that reach 8,500 feet above seal level, the park is open year-round. Spring and fall are particularly good times to come to Mesa Verde — a word that means "green table" in Spanish.

The culture represented by Mesa Verde reflects more than 700 years, from about A.D. 600-1300. The best-known habitations — the cliff dwellings — represent the final 100 years of residence in the area. In the late 1200s, the inhabitants left their homes and moved away.

Why they abandoned Mesa Verde has never been firmly established, but it may have been because of a drought and lack of water.

Some two dozen American Indian tribes in the Southwest have an ancestral affiliation with the sites of Mesa Verde. Thus, unlike the Incas or Aztecs, these inhabitants didn't just vanish — they relocated in the same region.

More than 4,000 known archaeological sites are inside the park, 600 of which are cliff dwellings. Only a small number have been excavated. Most have been weakened by natural forces, and some have been damaged by looters.

Shirakawa said most visitors spend just one day in the park. Since the cliff dwellings are scattered and some 20 miles distant from the park entrance, she strongly suggests visitors plan ahead, read up on the park, and have a good idea of what's available.