YUCCA HOUSE NATIONAL MONUMENT

national monument consisting of the ruins of a prehistoric American Indian village, located 15 miles south of the town of Cortez in the southwestern corner of Colorado, U.S., near Mesa Verde National Park. Occupying about 10 acres (4 hectares), the site was discovered in 1877 by William H. Holmes and, though declared a national monument by the U.S. Park Service in 1919, has remained largely unexplored and unexcavated. It consists of one mound rising as high as 20 feet (6 m), surrounded by smaller mounds. Limestone from the vicinity was used by the Indians to build their settlement. The site is open to the public but is difficult of access.