Abstract
Anasazi-era archaeology sites have been extremely popular tourist attractions since the 1890s, but one site—the cliff dwellings in Manitou Springs, Colorado—stands apart because it is a fake. The site was constructed at the turn of the twentieth century as a more accessible tourist alternative to Four Corners-area Anasazi ruins. The story of its construction and how it continues to cater to its visitors offers insight into the ways in which archaeology sites function as tourist destination. The Manitou Cliff Dwellings forces scholars to consider questions of authenticity, authority, and how people engage the past.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, E. G. (1999). American Indian Literature and the Southwest, University of Texas Press, Austin.
Barthel, D. (1996). Historic preservation, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.
Berg, C. M. (2002). Manitou Cliff Dwellings: For education or profit? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for America Archaeology, Denver.
Cordell, L. S. (1984). Prehistory of the Southwest, Academic, Orlando.
Cordell, L. S. (1994). Ancient Pueblo Peoples, Smithsonian Books, Washington.
Dilworth, L. (1996). Imaging Indians in the Southwest: Persistent Visions of a Primitive Past, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.
Ellis, R. (1997). The changing image of the Anasazi world in the American imagination. In Morrow, B. H., and Price, V. B. (eds.), Anasazi Architecture and American Design, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. 16–26.
Feder, K. L. (2002). Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology, McGraw-Hill Mayfield, Boston.
Fewkes, J. W. (1919). Prehistoric Villages, Castles, and Towers of Southwestern Colorado. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 70, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Fowler, D. D. (1999). Harvard vs. Hewett: The contest for control of Southwestern archaeology, 1904–1930. In Kehoe, A. B., and Emmerichs, M. B. (eds.), Assembling the Past: Studies in the Professionalization of Archaeology, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. 165–212.
Fowler, D. D. (2000). A Laboratory for Anthropology: Science and Romanticism in the American Southwest, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Glaser, P. (2006). Oasis by the lake: Toronto’s motel strip. Society for Commercial Archaeology Journal 24: 10–17.
Hewett, E. L. (1930). Ancient Life in the American Southwest, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis.
Holtorf, C. (2005). From Stonehenge to Las Vegas: Archaeology as Popular Culture, AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek.
Leonard, R. D. (1999). Tourism-“real” and contrived. http://www.unm.edu/~rleonard/230.htm.
Lipe, W. D. (2002). Public benefits of archaeological research. In Little, B. (ed.), Public Benefits of Archeology, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, pp. 20–30.
Little, B. J. (2004). Is the medium the message? The art of interpreting archaeology in U.S. National Parks. In Rowan, Y., and Baram, U. (eds.), Marketing Heritage: Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past, AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 269–286.
Lovata, T. R. (2004). Why a view from the shovel handle matters. In de Boer, T. (ed.), Shovel Bum: Comix of Archaeological Field Life, AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 115–127.
Lovata, T. R. (2007). Inauthentic Archaeologies: Public Uses and Abuses of the Past, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.
McCannell, D. (1976). The Tourist: A New Theory for the Leisure Class, Schoken, New York.
Monroe, U. (n.d.). The Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum, The Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum, Manitou Springs.
Morrow, B. H., and Price, V. B. (1997). Preface. In Morrow, B. H., and Price, V. B. (eds.), Anasazi Architecture and American Design, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. xv–xviii.
Rothman, H. K. (1996). Selling the meaning of place: Entrepreneurship, tourism, and community transformation in the twentieth-century American West. Pacific Historical Review 65: 525–557.
Rothman, H. K. (2001). Shedding skin and shifting shape: Tourism in the modern West. In Wrobel, D. M., and Long, P. T. (eds.), Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West, University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, pp. 110–120.
Rothwell, H. M. (2000). Landrum’s: The biggest little diner. Society for Commercial Archaeology Journal 18: 9–13.
Rowan, Y. (2004). Repackaging the pilgrimage: Visiting the Holy Land in Orlando. In Rowan, Y., and Baram, U. (eds.), Marketing Heritage: Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past, AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 249–268.
Smith, D. A. (2002). Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries, University of Colorado Press, Boulder.
Stiebing Jr., W. H. (1987). The nature and danger of cult archaeology. In Harrold, F. B., and Eve, R. A. (eds.), Cult Archaeology and Creationism, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, pp. 1–10.
Taylor, J. H., Eve, R. A., and Harrold, F. B. (1995). Why creationists don’t go to psychic fairs: Differential sources of pseudoscientific beliefs. Skeptical Inquirer 19(6): 23–28.
Thomas, D. H. (2002). Roadside ruins: Does America still need archaeology museums? In Little, B. J. (ed.), Public Benefits of Archaeology, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, pp. 130–145.
Torbeck, C. (2004). The National Road and U.S. 40: Main Street of central Illinois. Society for Commercial Archaeology Journal 22: 4–13.
Weixelman, J. O. (2004). Hidden Heritage: Pueblo Indians, National Parks, and the Myth of the ‘Vanishing Anasazi’, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Doctoral dissertation.
Williams, S. (1991). Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lovata, T.R. Archaeology as Built for the Tourists: The Anasazi Cliff Dwellings of Manitou Springs, Colorado. Int J Histor Archaeol 15, 194–205 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-011-0136-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-011-0136-z