Gezicht op het Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park before 1893

This photograph of the Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park was taken by Gustaf Nordenskiöld. He was among the first to document the ancestral Puebloan sites using this relatively new technology. The image captures the intricacies of the architecture, revealing how the dwellings were constructed using sandstone blocks and mortar sourced directly from the surrounding landscape. These materials, abundant in the Mesa Verde region, provided the raw ingredients for a civilization to literally build into the cliffs, to shelter in this natural landscape. The photograph also hints at the intensive labor involved in quarrying, transporting, and shaping these materials. The construction of Cliff Palace was a communal effort, demanding both skill and resilience. By documenting the architecture, Nordenskiöld also inadvertently captured a snapshot of a society deeply intertwined with its environment and its own creative ingenuity. Photography, like other forms of representation, encourages us to consider how we continue to value both art and the context in which it was made.