Discover mesa verde national park a unesco world heritage site since 1978 and considered the largest archaeological preserve and first cultural national park in the country created in 1906 by president roosevelt mesa verde spanish for green table offers a spectacular look into the lives of the ancestral pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years from ad 600 to 1300 today the park protects nearly 5 000 known archaeological sites including 600 cliff dwellings these sites are so