Cliff dwelling facts for kids

A Sinagua cliff dwelling at Montezuma Castle in Arizona.

Cavates and pathways carved into soft rock at Tsankawi, New Mexico.

Imagine homes built right into the side of a tall cliff! These are called cliff dwellings. Archaeologists, who study old human history, find these special homes in natural caves or ledges high up on cliffs. Sometimes, people even dug into the rock or added stone walls to make them bigger. These amazing structures show how ancient people adapted to their environment.

What Are Cliff Dwellings?

Cliff dwellings are special kinds of homes. They are built within natural openings or caves found in high cliffs. People often added walls made of stone or mud to these natural spaces. This helped create safe and sheltered living areas.

Types of Cliff Dwellings

Archaeologists have identified two main types of cliff dwellings:

• A cliff-house is like a building constructed on different levels within a cliff's natural ledges. Think of it as a multi-story home built right into the rock face.
• A cavate is a home that was mostly dug out of soft rock. People often started from a natural opening and then carved out rooms and passages inside the cliff.

Sometimes, much larger and grander buildings, like temples or tombs, were also carved directly into rock. This is known as Rock-cut architecture. For example, the famous Ajanta Caves in India, built long ago between the 2nd century BCE and 5th century CE, were homes for many Buddhist monks. The Mogao Caves in China are another amazing example of buildings carved into cliffs.

Where Can We Find Cliff Dwellings?

You can find incredible cliff dwellings all over the world! These unique homes show how people in different cultures used their surroundings.

Famous Cliff Dwellings Around the World

• In China, the Guyaju Caves near Beijing are a huge group of homes carved into the rock. They form an entire community, showing how many people lived together in these cliffside structures.
• Many other examples exist globally, showcasing human ingenuity in using natural rock formations for shelter.

Cliff Dwellings in North America

In the southwestern parts of the United States and Mexico, you can find many cliff dwellings. These are in places like Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Chihuahua. Some of these ancient cliff dwellings are still used by Native Americans today.

Scientists have studied these homes for a long time. Modern research shows that many of these ancient cliff dwellings were built by the Ancestral Puebloans. These were the ancestors of today's Pueblo people. These homes are often found in very large natural openings high up on cliffs, sometimes a thousand feet tall! People reached them using steps carved into the rock or ladders made from logs.

See also

• Moki steps
• Tellem
• Timeline of dendrochronology timestamp events
• Water glyphs