As the Developmental Pueblo period ended, thousands of peaceful farming Indians occupied the Mesa Verde and a vast area around it. The population had grown steadily since earliest Basket Maker times and the region may have known its greatest population at this time or in the early part of the following period. Most of the villages were small; usually they consisted of a few living rooms and a single kiva. These villages are often called unit pueblos and it has been suggested that each one may have housed a number of closely related families forming a single clan. That the people were vigorous and ambitious is indicated by the progress which they made. Now we see them nearing their cultural peak and it is time for us to leave the Developmental Pueblo period and move into the golden age of the Pueblos. GREAT, OR CLASSIC PUEBLO PERIOD. 1100 to 1300 A.D. This period has often been called the golden age of the Pueblo people. Before we go into it, however, we should make some mention of the beginning date, 1100 A.D. Usually, in the general Pueblo area, an earlier date is given for the beginning of the period. One may very easily push it back fifty or one hundred years, or even more, depending upon how the period is defined. Recent studies have produced some perplexing problems concerning the architecture, pottery and movements of the people during their last two or three centuries in the Mesa Verde. It is hoped that within a short time some or all of these problems will be solved. Since the uncertainties do exist we shall, for our purposes here, lean rather heavily on the term “classic,” which is often applied to this climax period. The culture reached its classic development during the 1100-1300 A.D. period so we shall use those dates. We saw the beginning of Pueblo development over a thousand years earlier when the first grain of corn was planted somewhere in the Mesa Verde region. From that simple beginning we have seen the culture develop steadily without a backward step. Now it has reached its peak and for two centuries we shall see the people enjoy the results of their long struggle for improvement. It is true that adverse influences will affect the people and will cause a radical change in their way of life. But this adversity will not affect the arts and crafts and superior workmanship will continue to the very end of the Mesa Verde occupation. The massive stone walls were the finest ever built in the Mesa Verde. The stones were carefully cut and were laid in neat even courses. Many of the walls were smoothly plastered and often they were decorated with brightly colored designs. The villages were often very large: sometimes they contained scores of rooms and rose to a height of four stories. Ceremonial rooms were numerous: sometimes there were more than a score in a single village. They were built after a definite pattern, giving evidence of rigid ceremonial practices.