Mesa Verde National Park is over 100 years old. In 1906, then President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill creating the park. Mesa Verde offer visitors a look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people, who lived in the area between 700 and 1,400 years ago. The national park protects almost 5,000 archaeological sites. They are some of the best preserved archeological areas in the country. The term “Mesa Verde” is Spanish for “Green Table.” Early Spanish explorers gave the name to the area. In geology, a “mesa” is a flat-topped highland with steep sides. Mesa Verde is not actually a mesa. It is a cuesta -- a term used to describe a hill with a sharp drop on one side and a soft, gentle slope on the other. A more correct name for the national park, then, would be “Cuesta Verde.”