English: Mesa Verde National Park near the American Southwest's Four Corners region was established in 1906 in an effort to preserve and interpret the archaeological heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people. They lived in the area for more than 700 years, from 600 to 1300. The park has nearly 5,000 known archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These are some of the most notable and best preserved cliff dwellings in the U.S. Around 7500 BC, Mesa Verde was occasionally inhabited by nomadic Paleo-Indians, followed by Archaic people and then a Basketmaker culture around 1000 BC.