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Morning News

Archaeologists Join Fight to Save Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park from Wildfires

Aired July 25, 2000 - 9:33 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to another story in Colorado. Archaeologist have joined hundreds of firefighters at Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park. They are trying there to save the country's largest archaeological preserve from going up in smoke. One-fourth of the preserve has already been scorched in the 222,000-acre wildfire.

By phone now with us, archaeologist Linda Towle in that region.

Linda, where are you specifically? are you in Cortez or in the park itself?

LINDA TOWLE, ARCHAEOLOGIST: I am in Cortez, which is the town that is nine miles from the entrance to the park.

HEMMER: Well understood. Are you aware of any damage right now to any archaeological site in Mesa Verde?

TOWLE: No, I am not. The world famous cliff dwellings, that so many people have visited, such as Cliff Palace and Balcony House, are still probably a good 4-4 1/2 miles away from the leading edge of the fire.

HEMMER: Let's talk worst case scenario. Can these sites survive a fire, if indeed that happened?

TOWLE: Yes they can survive. I am sure that there have been several woodland fires that have passed over them since the occupants left around 1300 A.D. However, the vegetation is more dense now than it was when this area was occupied; because, of course, the trees, the wood would have been used for building, for fuel, and the fields would have been cleared of vegetation for planting.

So, our concern would be, if the fire did run up canyon, towards these sites that are in natural alcoves, that the original wood, which is still in these sites, could very well burn. This wood can be very accurately dated, to not only the year it was cut, but sometimes the season it was cut.

And although we have done tree-ring dating on a good number of the beams in these major site, we don't have a complete sample, which we would very much like to get.

HEMMER: Linda, it is also my understanding that, as that fire burns and a lot of that vegetation is burned away, that new sites are actually being discovered within the park. What do you know about these new sites thus far?

TOWLE: Well, so far, in this fire, I would say that we have found maybe a handful of new sites.

HEMMER: And when you talk about new sites, are you talking about cliff dwellings themselves, or are you talking about other artifacts?

TOWLE: No, not cliff dwellings. What we are talking about are what we would call rubble mounds, sites that were perhaps surfaced pueblos, out on the top of a mesa. And they were no longer used, the walls, the ceilings, the roofs fell in, the walls collapsed, and the dirt blew over it. And what we have now is sort of a mound, an unnatural mound, with stones, some pot shards, some broken tool. And all we've done, and in working with the fire crews, is to flag them, put them on the map, and when this is all over, we will have an opportunity to go back and look at those sites and better understand what they are telling us.

HEMMER: We will keep our fingers crossed for you and the firefighters out there. Linda Towle, archaeologist in the city of Cortez in southwestern Colorado, a great park, wonderful place to visit. Linda, best of luck, OK? She's not there. Linda, thanks.

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