Sir: I have the honor to submit the accompanying manuscript entitled 'Antiquities of the Mesa Verde NationalPark: CliffPalace'.
ANTIQUITIES OF THE MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
CLIFF PALACE By Jesse Walter Fewkes
INTRODUCTION
The reader is cautioned that, given the nature of the work at Cliff Palace, very few specimens can be expected in the future and. FEWKE] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PAEK 11 donated some of the photographs used in the preparation of the plates accompanying this report.
CLIFF PALACE A TYPE OF PREHISTORIC CULTURE
Although the name Cliff Palace is not entirely appropriate for this ruin, it is now firmly fixed in cliff literature. There was no water at Cliff Palace ^ when the work was begun, but a good supply was developed in the canyon below the ruins, where there . every reason to believe that the former inhabitants had their own well.
THE SOUTHERN END, AFTER AND BEFORE REPAIRING
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 13
RECENT HISTORY
From the south side of the ruins, which we first reached, trees obscure the northern walls, but still the view. One of the rooms is surrounded by walls three stories high that reach the roof of the cave.
THE ROUND TOWER, FROM THE NORTH
GENERAL VIEW OF THE RUIN, BEFORE REPAIRING
They differ from the estufas in the absence of the characteristic part and also of the six niches. In several of the cliff dwellings, it would appear as if the beams were removed on purpose.
SITE OF CLIFF PALACE
Many newspaper and magazine accounts of the Mesa Verde ruins appeared around the time of Mr. Almost every visitor to Mesa Verde carries a camera, and there are many good postcards on the market with views of the ruins.
SOUTHERN END, AFTER REPAIRING
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OP MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 21 The geological formation of the cave in which Cliff Palace is
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OP MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 21 The geological formation of the cave in which the Cliff Palace is. It is also likely that the afforestation of the talushasbeen is more or less due to shrubs and small trees washed over the cliff from the Mesa summit.
GROUND PLAN
PEEHISTORIC TRAILS TO CLIFF PALACE
GENERAL FEATURES
Torrential rains on the mesa in late summer form streams of water that flow into depressions over the edge of the cave roof and deposit in the trees beyond the lowest terrace of the ruin. The former presence of these streams is indicated by the black discoloration of the cave roof shown in photographs.
MAIN ENTRANCE
SOUTHERN END, SHOWING REPAIRED TERRACES
Hardly any ground was dug in, and some of the most beautiful walls were demolished.” Keeping the walls deep in the cave under the protection of the roof was not a difficult problem.
GENERAL PLAN OF CLIFF PALACE
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 51
The floor of the cave on which the rooms are built is wider at this point, which. Most of the stones used in construction were well dressed before they were laid and polished after they were placed in the wall. Bricks made of clay have been placed in the Avails of the Speaker's House and found in the fallen debris at its base.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 31
Here the residents of Cliff Palace also deposited some of their dead, which were mummified in the cave due to the dryness of the air. In the cliff dwellings of the Navaho Monument, a large majority of the houses have the back wall of the cave as the wall of the building; In some cases it is difficult to distinguish between which of the above classes some rooms belong to.
SQUARE TOWER, AFTER REPAIRING
OLD QUARTER
FEWKESJ ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VEEDE NATIONAL PARK 35 pass through them more readily is not wholly satisfactory, nor does
P^ LOOKS AND KOOFS
In some cases, the unplastered roof of the cave served as the roof of the highest rooms. No evidence of chimneys or chimneys was found in it. any of the Cliff' Palace rooms. The custom was also practiced in the San Pedro and Salt River valleys, and along other tributaries of the Gila River.
ENUMERATION OF THE ROOMS IN CLIFF PALACE
Room 11, which can be called the square tower, is the only four-story building standing in the Cliff Palace, with its walls reaching from the floor to the roof of the cave. In the west wall of the second floor was a small window, and in the north wall of the third floor parts of a large T-shaped clerestory are still visible. A large part of the front walls of rooms 14, 16 and 24 has fallen. being destroyed by fallingAvater.
PEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VEEDE NATIONAL PARK 43
The walls in rooms 41 and 42 are well preserved; the top of the cave served as a roof. In the wall of the last room (Gl) to the south, there is a small peephole which allowed the owners to see. On the western side of the chairman's house, there are two rooms, 79 and 80, also well built.
STONE HATCHETS
FBWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 49 As the kiva is the men's room, and as religions exercises are hirgely
51 glad the}' did, and there may have been a slight elevation of the hatch, as in the Hopi kivas. Ever}^ kiva of the first type has a lateral passage for the admission of air, which generally opens into the room at floor level. The assumed functions of the flue, the vertical passage and the ventilator have been discussed by various archaeologists.
STONE OBJECTS
The position of the entrance to the Cliff Palace kiva has yet to be determined. The height of the top of the pilasters from the floor is 7 feet, and that of the banquette 3 feet 6 inches. The position of the ventilator opening is south to west: its depth 4 feet and height 2 feet 6 inches.
VARIOUS OBJECTS FROM CLIFF PALACE
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VEKDE NATIONAL PAEK '53
Although this kiva was generally in a fair state of preservation, it was necessary to rebuild much of the eastern wall. Kiva E is one of the few Ivivas in Cliff Palace, surrounded by the range of rooms. This side of the kiva is blackened by smoke that predates the construction of the chamber.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VEKDE NATIONAL PAEK 55
The dimensions of the kivaI are as follows: The height of the top of the wall from the floor is 8 feet, and that of the pilasters 6 feet 8 inches. Kiva J is round; it is 14 feet in diameter and measures 8 feet 4 inches from the floor to the top of the wall. The height from the floor to the top of one of the pilasters is 5 feet 10 inches.
VASES AND FOOD BOWLS
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 57
This kiva (pi. 19) is round in shape and measures 8 feet 6 inches from the floor to the top of the wall. The height of the pilasters is 6 feet, and of the top of the banquette 3 feet 3 inches. The fire hole is 22 inches from the deflector; the thickness of the last is 10 inches and its breadth 3 feet 3 inches.
POTTERY
FBWKBS] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 59
The fire hole is 4 inches from the flue; the diameter of the fire-hole is 20 inches, its depth G inches. Since the front wall of the kiva had fallen, it had to be practically rebuilt. This kiva is round and measures 5 feet G inches from the floor to the top of one of the pilasters.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 61
The architecture of the two kivas O and R is so different from those already considered that they differ from the others in a second type. There is little support for the suggestion that a kiva of the second type is simply an unfinished form of the first type, but whether the architectural difference between the two types has any functional importance or significance is unknown. Kukuchomo marks the site of a settlement of the Coyote clan of the Hopi in prehistoric times.
FEWKBS] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 63
Although this kiva is tentatively placed in the second type, mainly because of these high side walls, due to its isolation at the bottom of the Cliff Palace, some observers have not considered it part of the niins. Askiva W is almost entirely unprotected by the roof of the cave, its walls having suffered greatly from the rainfall to which they are exposed.
MINOR ANTIQUITIES
BASKET HOPPER SIDE AND BOTTOM VIEWS
This increase in the complexity of rites can be traced to the amalgamation of clans or to a substitution of the brotherhood of priesthoods for simple clan ancestor worship. This object probably came from near Tokonabi, the old home of the Snake People of Walpi. Fourteen of these tcamahias form part of the Antelope altar in the Snahe dance at Walpi.
POUNDING STONES
SANDALS
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 67
In addition to the limited number of pieces of unbroken pottery, many of the fragments were decorated with new patterns. None of the Cliff' Palace pottery is glazed.'' Some specimens of smooth pottery are coarse in texture and undecorated; others have elaborate geometric shapes; but living objects are almost entirely confined to a few images of birds or other animals and crudely drawn human figures. The pictography of the pottery provides little data relevant to the interpretation of the ancient symbolism of the inhabitants compared to the Sikyatkis, for example in the Hopi.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 69 The basis of the study of symbolism was of course the pottery deco-
None of Cliff Palace's clay discs have a central knob or handle like those from Spruce-tree House. The relationship between the Cliff Palace pottery designs and the symbolism or decorative motifs characteristic of the Gila Valley ruins is tenuous. 34; Sikyatki wares are more closely related to those of the aucient Jeinez and Pajarito sub-.
FEWKBS] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 71 SYMBOLS ON POTTERY
72 OFFICE OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. corners with dots, or even a row of dots alone, are not rare in decoration. There are several wooden objects in the Cliff Palace collection, some of the least problematic being long, pointed rods (fig. 3) with which the ancients probably made the holes. Xo example of the spatulate variety of dibble found by others, and none showing the attachment point of a flat stone blade appears in the collection.
74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL, 51 lion of the dead, situated at the northern end of the large refuse
74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [TYRE,51 lion of the dead, situated at the northern end of the great waste.
BONE IMPLEMENTS
A bone with a hole at one end, similar to those figured by Nordenskiold, is part of the collection. A button made of lignite and beads of the same material were found in the pile of debris in front of the ruins after a heavy rain. Cobs and seeds of corn, squash and pumpkin seeds, beans and gourd fragments give some idea of popular plant products.
76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 51
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 77
HUMAN BURIALS
78 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull.51 belief among primitive people that when the body is returned. The work at Cliff Palace was carried out too late in the day to allow the recovery of any mummified human remains as they had all been removed previously.
CONCLUSIONS
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 79which he has, has not hesitated to express strong views on it.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 79 possessed by him, did not hesitate to express decided views on this
The first difference between Cliff Palace and Spruce-treeHouse, apart from the difference in their size and the relatively large proportion of secular to ceremonial rooms in the latter, is. There are several other ruins in the Mesa Verde Parkin which the configuration of the back of the cave led to the construction of the terraced cliff house. This is well illustrated in the Spring House, where buildings on an upper level occupy much the same.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 81 years old, and some writers have added five centuries to this guess;
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 81 years old, and some writers have added five centuries to this supposition;. This will necessitate the scientific excavation and repair of the last ruin and the comparison of its large and small antiquities with those of the Cliff Palace. Continued research in the Mesa Verde region will no doubt shed light on the relative age of the Cliff Palace and the large pueblo ruins opposite it.