Using the word centennial in the same sentence as Mesa Verde seems to miss the concept of 1,500 years.
But the yearlong celebration now under way does suit the national park there, which was designated in 1906 to manage and preserve an array of cliff dwellings and kivas that once supported a bustling culture. It now lures visitors charmed by the architecture and lore of a moment frozen in time.
Or perhaps not so frozen: For more than a century, much of the viewing of Mesa Verde has come via photography, an art form that grew up alongside the science of archaeology, compliments of those who wielded cameras along with shovels.
Okay, not treasure. It's an exhibition on photography of the Mesa Verde area.