Castle Rock Pueblo

Castle Rock Pueblo was a village in the Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado that was constructed during the late Pueblo III period. The village was home to 75 to 150 people from the A.D. 1260s until sometime during the A.D. 1280s. The location of the village—around the base and on top of a prominent sandstone butte—probably was chosen for its defensible qualities. The occupation of Castle Rock Pueblo ended abruptly sometime in the mid-1280s as the result of an enemy attack.
The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center conducted excavations at Castle Rock from 1990 through 1994 focused on the conditions that contributed to the depopulation of the Mesa Verde region by the end of the 13th century.