The Project Gutenberg EBook of Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace, by Jesse Walter Fewkes This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 51, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1911. Author: Jesse Walter Fewkes Release Date: March 5, 2013 [EBook #42266] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MESAVERDE *** Produced by Jana Srna, Carlo Traverso, fh, The Internet Archive and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by Biodiversity Heritage Library.) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 51 ANTIQUITIES OF THE MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK CLIFF PALACE BY JESSE WALTER FEWKES front illustration WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1911 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C., May 14, 1910. Sir: I have the honor to submit the accompanying manuscript, entitled "Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace," by Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes, with the recommendation that it be published, subject to your approval, as Bulletin 51 of this Bureau. Yours, very respectfully, F. W. Hodge, Ethnologist in Charge. Dr. Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. [3] CONTENTS Page Introduction 9 Cliff Palace a type of prehistoric culture 11 Recent history 13 Site of Cliff Palace 20 Prehistoric trails to Cliff Palace 23 General features 23 Destruction by the elements 23 Vandalism 24 Repair of walls 25 Major antiquities 25 General plan of Cliff Palace 26 Terraces and retaining walls 27 Tower quarter 27 Plaza quarter 28 Old quarter 28 Northern quarter 28 Masonry 29 Adobe bricks 30 Plastering 31 Paintings and rock markings 32 Refuse heaps 33 Secular rooms 33 Doors and windows 34 Floors and roofs 35 Fireplaces 36 Living rooms 36 Milling rooms 37 Granaries 38 Crematories 38 Ledge rooms 40 Enumeration of the rooms in Cliff Palace 40 Secular rooms 40 Kivas 48 Kivas of the first type 49 Kiva A 51 Kiva B 52 Kiva C 53 Kiva D 53 Kiva E 53 Kiva F 54 Kiva G 54 Kiva H 55 Kiva I 55 Kiva J 56 Kiva K 57 Kiva L 57 Kiva N 57 Kiva P 58 Kiva Q 58 Kiva S 59 Kiva T 59 [5] [6] Kiva U 60 Kiva V 60 A subtype of kivas (Kiva M) 61 Kivas of the second type 62 Kiva O 63 Kiva R 63 Kiva W 63 Minor antiquities 64 Stone implements 65 Pounding stones 66 Grinding stones 66 Miscellaneous stones 66 Pottery 67 Relations as determined by pottery 70 Symbols on pottery 71 Pottery rests 72 Basketry 72 Sandals 72 Wooden objects 73 Drills 74 Bone implements 74 Turquoise ear pendants and other objects 75 Seeds 75 Textiles 76 Human burials 77 Conclusions 78 [7] ILLUSTRATIONS Page Plate 1. Cliff Palace, from the Speaker-chief's house to the southern end 9 2. Cliff Palace, from the opposite side of the canyon 11 3. The southern end, after and before repairing 12 4. Central part before repairing 15 5. The round tower, from the north. General view of the ruin, before repairing 16 6. Central part, after repairing 19 7. Southern end, after repairing 20 8. Ground plan 22 9. Main entrance. Southern end, showing repaired terraces 24 10. Tower quarter, after repairing. Terraces at southern end, after repairing 27 11. Tower quarter 29 12. The square tower, before and after repairing 31 13. Details of Cliff Palace 33 14. Square tower, after repairing. Old quarter 34 15. Speaker-chief's house, after repairing 36 16. Northern part, from the Speaker-chief's house to the western end 39 17. Details of kiva A 41 18. Kiva H, before repairing 43 19. Southeastern wall of kiva Q, before repairing 45 20. Axe with original handle 47 21. Stone hatchets 48 22. Stone objects 50 23. Various objects from Cliff Palace 52 24. Food bowls 55 25. Vases and food bowls 56 26. Pottery 58 27. Pitch balls and vase 60 28. Rests for jars 63 29. Basket hopper—side and bottom views 64 30. Sandals 66 31. Sandals 66 32. Sandals 66 33. Wooden objects 73 34. Bone implements 74 35. Bone implements 76 Fig. 1. View down Navaho canyon 21 2. Coil of basket plaque 73 3. Planting sticks 74 4. Woven forehead band 76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 51 PLATE 1 [8] PLATE 1 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. K. VREELAND CLIFF PALACE, FROM THE SPEAKER-CHIEF'S HOUSE TO THE SOUTHERN END [9] ANTIQUITIES OF THE MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK CLIFF PALACE By JESSE WALTER FEWKES INTRODUCTION In the summer of 1909 the writer was detailed by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, at the request of the Secretary of the Interior, to continue the excavation and repair of ruins in the Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. This work was placed under his sole charge and continued through the months May to August, inclusive. In that time the writer was able to repair completely this great ruin and to leave it in such condition that tourists and students visiting it may learn much more about cliff-dwellings than was possible before the work was undertaken. The force of laborers, numbering on an average 15 workmen, was from Mancos, Colorado. Many of them had worked on Spruce-tree House during the previous year and had become expert in repairing ruins. By their aid it was possible to accomplish more and at less expense than was expected. It has fallen to the writer to prepare the report on the work which he had the honor to direct, and he is conscious how difficult it is to put it into a form that will adequately express the devotion with which those under him have accomplished their respective tasks. A report on the general results accomplished at Cliff Palace was published by the Secretary of the Interior in 1909; the following account considers in a more detailed way the various scientific phases. The purpose of the present paper is to present a more accurate account of Cliff Palace than was possible before the excavation and repair work was done, and to increase existing knowledge by directing attention to the scientific data revealed by excavations of this largest, most picturesque, and most typical cliff-dwelling in the Southwest. In order to give this account a monographic form there have been introduced the most important descriptions of Cliff Palace previously published. There is also included a description of the few minor antiquities brought to light in the progress of the work. These specimens are now in the United States National Museum, where they form the nucleus of a collection from Cliff Palace. The increasing interest, local and national, in the prehistoric culture of the Southwest and the influence of these antiquities in attracting visitors to localities where they exist, furnish a reason for considering in some detail various other questions of general interest connected with cliff-dwellings that naturally suggest themselves to those interested in the history of man in America. The method of work in this undertaking has been outlined in the report on Spruce-tree House published by the Secretary of the Interior.[1] The primary thought has been to increase the educational value of Cliff Palace by attracting tourists and students of archeology. The reader is reminded that from the nature of the work at Cliff Palace very few specimens can be expected from it in the future, and that so far as the minor antiquities are concerned the objective material from this ruin is now all deposited in public museums or in private collections. Additional specimens can be obtained, however, from other ruins near it which will throw light on the culture of Cliff Palace. It is appropriate, therefore, to point out, at the very threshold of our consideration, that a continuation of archeological work in the Mesa Verde National Park is desirable, as it will add to our knowledge of the character of prehistoric life in these canyons. The next work to be undertaken should be the excavation and repair of a Mesa Verde pueblo. The extensive mounds of stone and earth on the promontory west of Cliff Palace have not yet been excavated, and offer attractive possibilities for study and a promise of many specimens. Buried in these mounds there are undoubtedly many rooms, secular and ceremonial, which a season's work could uncover, thus enlarging indirectly our knowledge of the cliff-dwellers and their descendants.[2] The writer considers it an honor to have been placed in charge of the excavation and repair of Cliff Palace, and takes this occasion to express high appreciation of his indebtedness to both the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Secretary of the Interior for their confidence in his judgment in this difficult undertaking. Maj. Hans M. Randolph, superintendent of the Mesa Verde National Park, gave assistance in purchasing the equipment, making out accounts, and in other ways. During the sojourn at Cliff Palace the writer was accompanied by Mr. R. G. Fuller, of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, a volunteer assistant, who contributed some of the photographs used in the preparation of the plates that accompany this report. The writer is indebted also to Mr. F. K. Vreeland, of Montclair, New Jersey, for several fine photographs of Cliff Palace taken before the repairing was done. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 51 PLATE 2 [10] [11] PLATE 2 CLIFF PALACE, FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE CANYON CLIFF PALACE A TYPE OF PREHISTORIC CULTURE In the following pages the walls and other remains of buildings and the objects found in the rooms have been treated from their cultural point of view. Considering ethnology, or culture history, as the comparative study of mental productions of groups of men in different epochs, and cultural archeology as a study of those objects belonging to a time antedating recorded history, there has been sought in Cliff Palace one type of prehistoric American culture, or rather a type of the mental production of a group of men in an environment where, so far as external influences are concerned, caves, mesas, and cliffs are predominant and aridity is a dominant climatic factor. Primarily archeology is a study of the expression of human intelligence, and it must be continually borne in mind that Cliff Palace was once the home of men and women whose minds responded to their surroundings. It is hoped that this monograph will be a contribution to a study of the influence of environment on the material condition of a group of prehistoric people. The condition of culture here brought to light is in part a result of experiences transmitted from one generation to another, but while this heritage of culture is due to environment, intensified by each transmission, there are likewise in it survivals of the culture due to antecedent environments, which have also been preserved by heredity, but has diminished in proportion, pari passu, as the epoch in which they originated is farther and farther removed in time from the environment that created them. These survivals occur mostly in myths and religious cult objects, and are the last to be abandoned when man changes his environment. It is believed that one advantage of a series of monographic descriptions of these ruins is found in the fact that the characteristics of individual ruins being known, more accurate generalizations concerning the entire culture will later be made possible by comparative studies. There is an individuality in Cliff Palace, not only in its architecture but also in a still greater measure in the symbolism of the pottery decoration. These features vary more or less in different ruins, notwithstanding their former inhabitants were of similar culture. These variations are lost in a general description of that culture. The reader is asked to bear in mind that when the repair of Cliff Palace was undertaken the vandalism wrought by those who had dug into it had destroyed much data and greatly reduced the possibility of generalizations on the character of its culture. The ruin had been almost completely rifled of its contents, the specimens removed, and its walls left in a very dilapidated condition. Much of the excavation carried on under the writer's supervision yielded meager scientific results so far as the discovery of specimens was concerned; throughout the summer earth was being dug over that had already been examined and cult objects removed. Had it been possible to have begun work on Cliff Palace just after the ruin was deserted by the aboriginal inhabitants, or, as that was impossible, at least anticipated only by the destruction wrought by the elements, these explorations might have illumined many difficult problems which must forever remain unsolved. The present monograph is the second in a series dealing with the antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park and opening with the account of the excavation and repair of Spruce-tree House.[3] An exhaustive account of all known antiquities from Cliff Palace is not intended, and no reference is made even to many objects from that ruin now in [12] museums. Discussion of details is not so much aimed at as brevity in the statement of results and a contribution to our knowledge of a typical form of Southwestern culture. Believing that modern Pueblo culture is the direct descendant of that of cliff-dwellers, the writer has not hesitated to make use of ethnology, when possible, in an interpretation of the archeological material. Although the name Cliff Palace is not altogether an appropriate one for this ruin, it is now too firmly fixed in the literature of cliff-dwellings to be changed. The term "palace" implies a higher social development than that which existed in this village, which undoubtedly had a house chief similar to the village chief (kimongwi) of the Hopi, who occupied that position on account of being the oldest man of the oldest clan; but this ruin is not the remains of a "palace" of such a chief. The population of Cliff Palace was composed of many clans, more or less distinct and independent, which were rapidly being amalgamated by marriage; so we may regard the population as progressing toward a homogeneous community. Cliff Palace was practically a pueblo built in a cave; its population grew from both without and within: new clans from time to time joined those existing, while new births continually augmented the number of inhabitants. There was no water at Cliff Palace[4] when work began, but a good supply was developed in the canyon below the ruin, where there is every reason to believe the former inhabitants had their well. In a neighboring canyon, separated from that in which Cliff Palace is situated by a promontory at the north, there is also a meager seepage of water which was developed incidentally into a considerable supply. In the cliff above this water is a large cave in which was discovered the walls of a kiva of the second type, but the falling of a large block of rock upon it—which occurred subsequent to the construction of this kiva—led to its abandonment. This cave is extensive enough for a cliff-house as large as Cliff Palace; but for this accident it might have developed into a formidable rival of the latter. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 51 PLATE 3 PLATE 3 [13] PLATE 3 PHOTOGRAPHED BY R. G. FULLER THE SOUTHERN END, AFTER AND BEFORE REPAIRING RECENT HISTORY It is remarkable that this magnificent ruin (pl. 1) so long escaped knowledge of white settlers in the neighboring Montezuma valley. Cliff Palace is not mentioned in early Spanish writings, and, indeed, the first description of it was not published until about 1890. Efforts to learn the name of the white man who discovered Cliff Palace were not rewarded with great success. According to Nordenskiöld it was first seen by Richard Wetherill and Charley Mason on a "December day in 1888," but several residents of the towns of Mancos and Cortez claim to have visited it before that time. One of the first of these visitors was a cattle owner of Mancos, Mr. James Frink, who told the author that he first saw Cliff Palace in 1881, and as several stockmen were with him at that time it is probable that there are others who visited it the same year. We may conclude that Cliff Palace was unknown to scientific men in 1880, and the most we can definitely say is that it was first seen by white men some time in the decade 1880-1890.[5] While there is considerable literature on the cliff-dwellings of the Mesa Verde, individual ruins have not been exhaustively described. Much less has been published on Spruce-tree House than on Cliff Palace, which latter ruin, being the largest, has attracted more attention than any other in the Park. As every cliff-house has its peculiar architectural features it is well in describing these buildings to refer to the ruins by names. This individuality in architecture pertains likewise to specimens, the majority of which in museums unfortunately are labeled merely "Mancos" or "Mesa Verde." A large number of these objects probably came from Spruce-tree House and Cliff Palace, but it is now impossible to determine their exact derivation. The first extended account of Cliff Palace, accompanied with illustrations, which is worthy of special mention, was published by Mr. F. H. Chapin, and so far as priority of publication is concerned he may be regarded as the first to make Cliff Palace known to the scientific world. Almost simultaneously with his article there appeared an account of the ruin by Doctor Birdsall, followed shortly by the superbly illustrated memoir of Baron Gustav Nordenskiöld. All these writers adopt the name Cliff Palace, which apparently was first given to the ruin by Richard Wetherill, one of the claimants for its discovery. Nordenskiöld's work contains practically all that was known about Cliff Palace up to the beginning of the summer's field work herein described. Mr. Chapin[6] thus referred to Cliff Palace in a paper read before The Appalachian Mountain Club on February 13, 1890: After a long ride we reached a camping-ground at the head of a branch of the left-hand fork of Cliff Cañon. Hurriedly unpacking, we hobbled the horses that were the most likely to stray far, and taking along our photographic kit, wended our way on foot toward that remarkable group of ruins of which I have already spoken, and which Richard has called "the Cliff-Palace." At about three o'clock we reached the brink of the cañon opposite the wonderful structure. Surely its discoverer had not overstated the beauty and magnitude of this strange ruin. There it was, occupying a great oval space under a grand cliff wonderful to behold, appearing like an immense ruined castle with dismantled towers. The stones in front were broken away, but behind them rose the walls of a second story; and in the rear of these, in under the dark cavern, stood the third tier of masonry. Still farther back in the gloomy recess, little houses rested on upper ledges. A short distance down the cañon are cosey buildings perched in utterly inaccessible nooks. The neighboring scenery is marvelous; the view down the cañon to the Mancos is alone worth the journey to see. We stopped to take a few views, and then commenced the descent into the gulf below. What would otherwise have been a hazardous proceeding, was rendered easy by using the steps which had been cut in the wall by the builders of the fortress. There are fifteen of these scouped-out hollows in the rock, which covered perhaps half of the distance down the precipice. At that point the cliff had probably fallen away; but luckily for our purpose, a dead tree leaned against the wall, and descending into its branches we reached the base of the parapet. In the bed of the cañon is a secondary gulch, which required care in descending. We hung a rope or lasso over some steep, smooth ledges, and let ourselves down by it. We left it hanging there and used it to ascend by on our return. Nearer approach increased our interest in the marvel. From the south end of the ruin, which we first attained, trees hide the northern walls, yet the view is beautiful. We remained long, and ransacked the structure from one end to the other. According to Richard's measurements, the space covered by the building is 425 feet long, 80 feet high in front, and 80 feet deep in the centre. One hundred and twenty-four rooms have been traced on the ground floor, and a thousand people may have lived within its confines. So many walls have fallen that it is difficult to reconstruct the building in imagination; but the photographs show that there must have been many stories. There are towers and circular rooms, square and rectangular enclosures; yet all with a seeming symmetry, though in some places the walls look as if they were put up as additions in later periods. One of the towers is barrel-shaped; other circles are true. The diameter of one circular room, or estufa, is sixteen feet and six inches. There are six piers, which are well plastered. There are five recess-holes, which appear as if constructed for shelves. In several rooms we observed good fireplaces. In another room, where the outer walls have fallen away, we found that an attempt had been made at ornamentation: a broad band had been painted across the wall, and above it is a peculiar decoration which shows in one of our photographs. The lines are similar to embellishment on pottery which we found. We observed in one place corn-cobs imbedded in the plaster in the walls, showing that the cob is as old as that portion of the dwelling. The cobs, as well as kernels of corn which we found, are of small size, similar to what the Ute squaws raise now without irrigation. We found a large stone mortar, which may have been used to grind the corn. Broken pottery was everywhere; like specimens in the other cliff houses, it was similar in design to that which we picked up in the valley ruins near Wetherill's ranch, convincing us of the identity of the builders of the two classes of ruins. We also found parts of skulls and bones, fragments of weapons, and pieces of cloth. One nearly complete skeleton lies on a wall waiting for some future antiquarian. The burial-place of the clan was down under the rear of the cave. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 51 PLATE 4 PLATE 4 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. K. VREELAND CENTRAL PART, BEFORE REPAIRING Dr. W. R. Birdsall,[7] who in 1891 gave an account of the cliff-dwellings of the canyons of the Mesa Verde, which contains considerable information regarding these buildings, thus refers specially to Cliff Palace: [14] [15] Richard Wetherill discovered an unusually large group of buildings which he named "The Cliff Palace," in which the ground plan showed more than one hundred compartments, covering an area over four hundred feet in length and eighty feet in depth in the wider portion. Usually the buildings are continuous where the configuration of the cliffs permitted such construction. In the following account Baron Nordenskiöld has given us the most exhaustive description of Cliff Palace yet published:[8] In a long, but not very deep branch of Cliff Cañon, a wild and gloomy gorge named Cliff Palace Cañon, lies the largest of the ruins on the Mesa Verde, the Cliff Palace. Strange and indescribable is the impression on the traveller, when, after a long and tiring ride through the boundless, monotonous piñon forest, he suddenly halts on the brink of the precipice, and in the opposite cliff beholds the ruins of the Cliff Palace, framed in the massive vault of rock above and in a bed of sunlit cedar and piñon trees below (Pl. XII). This ruin well deserves its name, for with its round towers and high walls rising out of the heaps of stones deep in the mysterious twilight of the cavern, and defying in their sheltered site the ravages of time, it resembles at a distance an enchanted castle. It is not surprising that the Cliff Palace so long remained undiscovered. An attempt to follow Cliff Palace Cañon upward from Cliff Cañon meets with almost insurmountable obstacles in the shape of huge blocks of stone which have fallen from the cliffs and formed a barrier across the narrow water course, in most parts of the cañon the only practicable path between the steep walls of rock. Through the piñon forest, which renders the mesa a perfect labyrinth to the uninitiated, chance alone can guide the explorer to the exact spot from which a view of Cliff Palace is possible. The descent to the ruin may be made from the mesa either on the opposite side of the cañon, or on the same a few hundred paces north or south of the cliff-dwelling. The Cliff Palace is probably the largest ruin of its kind known in the United States. I here give a plan of the ruin (Pl. XI) together with a photograph thereof, taken from the south end of the cave (Pl. XII). In the plan, which represents the ground floor, over a hundred rooms are shown. About twenty of them are estufas. Among the rubbish and stones in front of the ruin a few more walls, not marked in the plan, may possibly be distinguished. Plate XIII, as I have just mentioned, is a photograph of the Cliff Palace from the south. To the extreme left of the plate a number of much dilapidated walls may be seen. They correspond to rooms 1-12 in the plan. To the right of these walls lies a whole block of rooms (13-18), several stories high and built on a huge rock which has fallen from the roof of the cave. The outermost room (14 in the plan; to the left in Pl. XIII) is bounded on the outside by a high wall, the outlines of which stand off sharply from the dark background of the cave. The wall is built in a quadrant at the edge of the rock just mentioned, which has been carefully dressed, the wall thus forming apparently an immediate continuation of the rock. The latter is coursed by a fissure which also extends through the wall. This crevice must therefore have appeared subsequent to the building operation. To the right of this curved wall (still in Pl. XIII) lie four rooms (15-18 in the plan), and in front of them two terraces (21-22) connected by a step. One of the rooms is surrounded by walls three stories high and reaching up to the roof of the cave. The terraces are bounded to the north (the left in Pl. XIII) by a rather high wall, standing apart from the remainder of the building. Not far from the rooms just mentioned, but a little farther back, lie two cylindrical chambers (21 a, 23). The wall of 21 a is shown in Pl. XIII with a beam resting against it. The beam had been placed there by one of the Wetherills to assist him in climbing to an upper ledge, where low walls, resembling the fortress at Long House (p. 28), rise almost to the roof of the cave. The round room 23 is joined by a wall to a long series of chambers (26-41), which are very low, though their walls extend to the rock above them. They probably served as storerooms. These chambers front on a "street," on the opposite side of which lie a number of apartments[9] (42-50), among them a remarkable estufa (44) described at greater length below. In front of 44 lies another estufa (51), and not far from the latter a third (52). The "street" leads to an open space. Here lie three estufas (54, 55, 56), partly sunk in the ground. Much lower down is situated another estufa (57) of the same type as 44. It is surrounded by high walls.[10] South of the open space lie a few large rooms (58-61). A tower (63 in the plan; the large tower to the right in Pl. XIII) is situated still farther south, beside a steep ledge. This ledge, north of the tower (to the left in the plate), once formed a free terrace (62), bounded on the outside by a low wall along the margin. South of the tower is an estufa (76) surrounded by an open space, southeast of which are a number of rooms (80-87). In most of them, even in the outermost ones, the walls are in an excellent state of preservation. The wall nearest to the talus slope is 6 metres high and built with great care and skill.[11] South of these rooms and close to the cliff lies a well-preserved estufa (88), and south of the latter four rooms are situated, two of them (90, 92) very small. The walls of the third (91) are very high and rise to the roof of the cave. At one corner the walls have fallen in. This room is figured in a subsequent chapter in order to show a painting found on one of its walls. Near the cliff lies the last estufa (93), in an excellent state of preservation. The rooms south of this estufa are bounded on the outer side by a high wall rising to the rock above it. An excellent defense was thus provided against attack in this quarter. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 51 PLATE 5 [16] PLATE 5 THE ROUND TOWER, FROM THE NORTH PLATE 5 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. K. VREELAND GENERAL VIEW OF THE RUIN, BEFORE REPAIRING Two of the estufas in the Cliff Palace deviate from the normal type. This is the only instance where I have observed estufas differing in construction from the ordinary form described in Chapter III. The northern estufa (44 in the plan) is the better preserved of the two. To a height of 1 meter from the floor it is square in form (3×3 m.) with rounded corners (see figs. 35 and 36). Above it is wider and bounded by the walls of the surrounding rooms, a ledge (b, b) of irregular shape being thus formed a few feet from the floor. In two of the rounded corners on a level with this ledge (a little to the right in fig. 36) niches or hollows (d, d; breadth 48 cm., depth 45 cm.) have been constructed, and between them, at the middle of the south-east wall, a narrow passage (breadth 40 cm.), open at the top. At the bottom of one side of this passage a continuation thereof was found, corresponding probably to the tunnel in estufas of the ordinary type. At the north corner of the room the wall is broken by three small niches (e, e, e) quite close together, each of them occupying a space about equal to that left by the removal of two stones from the wall. The sandstone blocks of which the walls are built are carefully hewn, as in the ordinary cylindrical estufas. Whether the usual hearth, in form of a basin, and the wall beside it, had been constructed here I was unfortunately unable to determine, more than half of the room being filled with rubbish. I give the name of estufas to these square rooms with rounded corners, built as described above, because they are [17] furnished with the passage characteristic of the round estufas in the cliff-dwellings. Perhaps they mark the transition to the rectangular estufa of the Moki Indians. Besides the estufas there are some other round rooms or towers (21 a, 23, 63), which evidently belonged to the fortifications of the village. They differ from the estufas in the absence of the characteristic passage and also of the six niches. Furthermore, they often contain several stories, and in every respect but the form resemble the rectangular rooms. The long wall just mentioned, built on a narrow ledge above the other ruins, and visible at the top of Pl. XIII was probably another part of the village fortifications. The ledge is situated so near the roof of the cave that the wall, though quite low, touches the latter, and the only way of advancing behind it is to creep on hands and knees. A comparison between Pl. VIII and Pl. XIII shows at once that the inhabitants of the Cliff Palace were further advanced in architecture than their more western kinsfolk on the Mesa Verde. The stones are carefully dressed and often laid in regular courses; the walls are perpendicular, sometimes leaning slightly inwards at the same angle all round the room—this being part of the design. All the corners form almost perfect right angles, when the surroundings have permitted the builders to observe this rule. This remark also applies to the doorways, the sides of which are true and even. The lintel often consists of a large stone slab, extending right across the opening. On closer observation we find that in the Cliff Palace we may discriminate two slightly different methods of building. The lower walls, where the stones are only rough-hewn and laid without order, are often surmounted by walls of carefully dressed blocks in regular courses. This circumstance suggests that the cave was inhabited during two different periods. I shall have occasion below to return to this question. The rooms of the Cliff Palace seem to have been better provided with light and air than the cliff-dwellings in general, small peep-holes appearing at several places in the walls. The doorways, as in other cliff-dwellings, are either rectangular or T-shaped. Some of the latter are of unusual size, in one instance 1.05 m. high and 0.81 m. broad at the top. The thickness of the walls is generally about 0.3 m., sometimes, in the outer walls, as much as 0.6 m. As a rule they are not painted, but in some rooms covered with a thin coat of yellow plaster. At the south end of the ruin lies an estufa (93) which is well-preserved (fig. 37). This estufa is entered by a doorway in the wall, one of the few instances where I have observed this arrangement. In most cases, as I have already mentioned, the entrance was probably constructed in the roof. The dimensions of this estufa were as follows: diameter 3.9 m., distance from the floor to the bottom of the niches 1.2 m., height of the niches 0.9 m., breadth of the same 1.3 m., depth of the same 0.5 to 1.3 m., height of the passage at its mouth 0.75 m., breadth of the same 0.45 m. Five small quadrangular holes or niches were scattered here and there in the lower part of the wall. I cannot refrain from once more laying stress on the skill to which the walls of Cliff Palace in general bear witness, and the stability and strength which has been supplied to them by the careful dressing of the blocks and the chinking of the interstices with small chips of stone. A point remarked by Jackson in his description of the ruins of Southwestern Colorado, is that the finger marks of the mason may still be traced in the mortar, and that those marks are so small as to suggest that the work of building was performed by women. This conclusion seems too hasty, for within the range of my observations the size of the finger marks varies not a little. Like Sprucetree House and other large ruins the Cliff Palace contains at the back of the cave extensive open spaces where tame turkeys were probably kept. In this part of the village three small rooms, isolated from the rest of the building, occupy a position close to the cliff; two of them (103, 104), built of large flat slabs of stones, lie close together, the third (105), of unhewn sandstone (fig. 38), is situated farther north. These rooms may serve as examples of the most primitive form of architecture among the cliff people. In the Cliff Palace, the rooms lie on different levels, the ground occupied by them being very rough. In several places terraces have been constructed in order to procure a level foundation, and here as in their other architectural labours, the cliff-dwellers have displayed considerable skill. One very remarkable circumstance in the Cliff Palace is that all the pieces of timber, all the large rafters, have disappeared. The holes where they passed into the walls may still be seen, but throughout the great block of ruins two or three large beams are all that remain. This is the reason why none of the rooms is completely closed. At Sprucetree House there were a number of rooms where the placing of the door stone in position was enough to throw the room into perfect darkness, no little aid to the execution of photographic work. It is difficult to explain the above state of things. I observed the same want of timber in parts of other ruins (at Long House for example). In several of the cliff-dwellings it appears as if the beams had purposely been removed from the walls to be applied to some other use. Seldom, however, have all the rafters disappeared, as in the Cliff Palace. There are no traces of the ravages of fire. Perhaps the inhabitants were forced, during the course of a siege, to use the timber as fuel; but in that case it is difficult to understand how a proportionate supply of provisions and water was obtained. This is one of the numerous circumstances which are probably connected with the extinction or migration of the former inhabitants, but from which our still scanty information of the cliff-dwellers cannot lift the veil of obscurity. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 51 PLATE 6 [18]