Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado Part 2

POSSIBLE POPULATION

Because of the fact that Cliff Palace is the largest of all cliff dwellings, its population is of special interest. A close inspection of the rooms in the ruin shows that they are smaller, on the average, than the rooms in any of the other large cliff dwellings. When judged from our modern standards, it is difficult to imagine more than a couple of people living in each one. Our modern ideas, however, will not help us in understanding the people who once lived in Cliff Palace.

More than anything else the cliff dwellers desired security from their enemies. Their next desire was safety from the elements. When it is considered that these were the motivating influences, it can easily be understood that such minor matters as s.p.a.ce and comfort would receive little consideration. Since the inhabitants were an easy-going, peace-loving group it can be imagined that crowded living conditions would not be objectionable. In addition it must be considered that the rooms were used princ.i.p.ally as sleeping quarters. All activities were carried on in the open courts and on the terraced roof tops. Even the cooking was done over open fires outside the houses.

An average of two to the room would give a population of 400; an average of three would place 600 in the cave. If every room were occupied at one time and if the average of two or three to the room is not too high, it would seem that a total population of 500 would not be too great for Cliff Palace.

BALCONY HOUSE

Balcony House lies in Soda Canyon about 2 miles southeast of Spruce Tree Camp, and is reached by a continuation of the Cliff Palace Road. It is one of the most picturesque of the accessible ruins in the park and occupies a better position for defense than most of the other ruins on the mesa. A few defenders could have repelled a large attacking force. Additional precautions have been taken at the south end of the ruin for the strengthening of its defenses, where the only means of reaching it is through a fortified narrow cleft. The south part of the ledge was walled up to a height of about 15 feet, the lower part of the wall closing the cleft being pierced by a narrow tunnel. Through this tunnel a man may creep on hands and knees from the cliff dwelling to the south part of the ledge, which affords a footing, with a precipice to the left and the cliff to the right, for about 100 paces. The ledge here terminates in the perpendicular wall of the canyon. The ruined walls of a defensive structure, built to cut off approach on this side, may still be traced.

At the north end of the ruin the foundation gave the builders considerable trouble, but the difficulties were skillfully overcome. A supporting wall was erected on a lower ledge, to form a stable foundation for the outer wall of the upper rooms, where the higher ledge was too narrow or abrupt for building purposes.

South of the rooms fronted by this wall is a small open court, bounded at the back by a few very regular and well-preserved rooms which rise to the roof of the cave. The poles supporting the floors of these upper-story rooms project about 2 feet to provide support for a balcony. Split poles, laid parallel with the front wall, were covered at right angles with rods of cedar bast and generously plastered with clay to form the floor of the balcony, which served as a means of outside communication between the rooms of the upper story. A low, thick parapet wall built on the edge of the precipice encloses the canyon side of the northern court.

The funds for the excavation and repair of Balcony House in 1911 were largely furnished by the Colorado Cliff Dwellers Society, an organization founded and directed by Mrs. Gilbert McClurg, of Colorado Springs, Colo. The original purpose of this society was to stimulate interest in legislation for the preservation and protection of the prehistoric remains of the Mesa Verde. This society advanced the creation of Mesa Verde National Park in 1906.

SQUARE TOWER HOUSE

Square Tower House Ruin is situated in an eastern spur of Navajo Canyon, opposite a great bluff called Echo Cliff. An ancient approach to the ruin from the canyon rim is visible to the south of the dwelling. Footholes for ascent and descent had been cut in the cliff by the Indians which enabled them to reach the level on which the ruin is situated. The footpath now used by visitors parallels the ancient trail. Along the top of the talus this pathway splits into an upper and lower branch. The former, hugging the cliff, pa.s.ses through the "Eye of the Needle"; the latter is lower down on the talus and is used by the stouter and older visitors.

The Square Tower House cave is shallow, its back wall perpendicular, with roof slightly overhanging. At the extreme eastern end of the ruin the vertical cliff suddenly turns at right angles, forming an angle in which, high above the main ruin, there still remain walls of rooms. To these rooms, which are tucked away just under the canyon rim, with only their front walls visible, the name "Crow's Nest" is given. Logs, with their ends resting in notches cut in the rock actually support walls of masonry, as seen in the angle of this cliff. This is a well-known method of cliff-house construction.

This ruin measures about 138 feet from its eastern to its western end.

There are no streets or pa.s.sageways as at Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace. The rooms are continuous and compactly constructed, the walls being united from one end of the cave to the other, excepting for the s.p.a.ces above the kivas. The absence of a cave recess to the rear of the ruin is significant as it allowed the cliff to be used as the back wall of rooms. Rooms in Square Tower House do not differ radically from those of Spruce Tree House and other cliff dwellings. They have smaller windows, door openings, and supports of balconies. The rectangular rooms were constructed above the ground; the circular rooms were subterranean. The former were devoted to secular and the latter to ceremonial purposes.

THE TOWER

The tower is, of course, the most conspicuous as well as the most interesting architectural feature of the ruin, being visible for a long distance as one approaches Square Tower House. Its foundation rests on a large boulder situated in the eastern section of the cave floor. This tower has three walls constructed of masonry, the fourth being the perpendicular rear wall of the cave. The masonry of the tower stands about 35 feet above the foundation, but the foundation boulder on which it stands increases its height over 5 feet.

On a projecting rock on the west side above the tower is the wall of a small, inaccessible room which may have been used as a lookout or as an eagle house.

The lowest story of the tower is entered from plaza B, and on the east side there are three openings, situated one over another, indicating the first, second, and third stories, but on the south side of the tower there are only two doorways. The roof of the lowest room is practically intact, showing good workmanship, but about half of its floor is destroyed. The upper walls of the second-story room have the original plaster, reddish dado below and white above. Although the third and fourth stories are dest.i.tute of floors, they are plastered.

KIVAS

Some of the best preserved circular ceremonial chambers (kivas) in the Southwest are to be seen in Square Tower House. The majority of the kivas belong to the pure type, distinguished by mural pilasters supporting a vaulted roof.

Kiva A is particularly instructive on account of the good preservation of its roof. Its greatest diameter is 13 feet 6 inches; or, measuring inside the banquettes, 11 feet 1 inch. The interior is well plastered with many layers of brown plaster. The pilasters are six in number, one of which is double. Two depressions are visible in the smooth floor, in addition to a fireplace and a sipapu. These suggest ends of a ladder, but no remains of a ladder were found in the room.

Kiva B is the largest ceremonial chamber in Square Tower House, measuring 16 feet 9 inches in diameter over all. This kiva is not only one of the best preserved, but also one of the most instructive in Square Tower House, since half of the roof, with the original cribbing, is still in place, extending completely around the periphery. It has six pilasters and as many banquettes. Where the plaster had not fallen, it was found to have several layers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SUN TEMPLE, A MYSTERIOUS FORM OF RUIN]

PETROGLYPHS

The perpendicular cliff back of Square Tower House has several different forms of incised petroglyphs. From the fact that these usually occur on the cliff above the kiva roofs, they may be regarded as connected in some way with a religious symbolism. A few petroglyphs are also found on stones set in the walls of the rooms.

OAK TREE HOUSE

The ruin formerly called Willow House, but now known as Oak Tree House, lies on the north side of Fewkes Canyon, in a symmetrical cave and has an upper and a lower part. The two noteworthy features of Oak Tree House are the kivas and the remnant of the wall of a circular room made of sticks plastered with adobe but dest.i.tute of stone masonry.

Oak Tree House has seven kivas and may be called a large cliff dwelling. One of the kivas has a semicircular ground plan with a rectangular room on the straight side. There are no pilasters or banquettes in this kiva. The floor of another kiva was almost wholly occupied by a series of grinding bins, indicating a secondary use. The excavation work on Oak Tree House has not yet been completed, but a small collection of specimens at one end of the ruin shows the nature of the objects thus far found.

SUN SET HOUSE

Looking across Cliff Canyon from Sun Point one can see the fine ruin called Sun Set House, formerly known as Community House. This ruin, like many other cliff dwellings, has an upper and a lower house, the former being relatively larger than is usually the case. Although Sun Set House is accessible, it has never been excavated.

SUN TEMPLE

The cliff houses considered in the preceding pages are habitations.

There are also specialized buildings on the Mesa Verde which were never inhabited but were used for other purposes. Two of these presumably were devoted solely to ceremonial purposes and are known as Sun Temple and Fire Temple.

Sun Temple is situated west of Cliff Palace, on the promontory formed by the confluence of Cliff and Fewkes Canyons. Up to the year 1915 the site of Sun Temple was a mound of earth and stones, all showing artificial working or the pecking of primitive stone hammers. This mound had a circular depression in the middle and its surface was covered with trees and bushes. No high walls projected above the ground nor was there any intimation of the size or character of the buried building. It was believed to be a pueblo or communal habitation. Excavation of this mound brought into view one of the most unusual buildings in the park.

Sun Temple is a type of ruin hitherto unknown in the park. The building excavated shows excellent masonry and is the most mysterious form yet discovered in a region rich in prehistoric remains. Although at first there was some doubt as to the use of this building, it was early recognized that it was not constructed for habitation, and it is now believed that it was intended for the performance of rites and ceremonies; the first of its type devoted to religious purposes yet recognized in the Southwest.

The ruin was purposely constructed on a commanding promontory in the neighborhood of large inhabited cliff houses. It sets somewhat back from the edge of the canyon, but near enough to make it clearly visible from all sides, especially the neighboring mesas. It must have presented an imposing appearance rising on top of a point high above inaccessible, perpendicular cliffs. No better place could have been chosen for a religious building in which the inhabitants of many cliff dwellings could gather and together perform their great ceremonial dramas.

The ground plan of the ruin has the form of the letter D. The building is in two sections, the larger of which, taken separately, is also D-shaped. This is considered the original building. The addition enlarging it is regarded as an annex. The south wall, which is straight and includes both the original building and the annex, is 131.7 feet long. The ruin is 64 feet wide.

There are about 1,000 feet of walls in the whole building. These walls average 4 feet in thickness, and are double, enclosing a central core of rubble and adobe. They are uniformly well made.

The fine masonry, the decorated stones that occur in it, and the unity of plan stamp Sun Temple as the highest example of Mesa Verde architecture.

The walls were constructed of the sandstone of the neighborhood. Many stone hammers and pecking stones were found in the vicinity.

THE SUN SYMBOL

On the upper surface of a large rock protruding from the base of the southwest corner of the building a peculiar depression, surrounded by radiating ridges, was found. To primitive minds, this may have appeared as a symbol of the sun and, therefore, deemed an object of great significance, to be protected as a shrine. This natural impression may have prompted Dr. Fewkes in the naming of this ruin.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES

There are three circular rooms in Sun Temple which from their form may be identified as ceremonial in function, technically called kivas. Two of these, free from other rooms, are situated in the plaza that occupies the central part of the main building, and one is embedded in rooms of the so-called "annex." Adjoining the last mentioned, also surrounded by rooms, is a fourth circular chamber which is not a kiva.

This room, found to be almost completely filled with spalls or broken stones, perhaps originally served as an elevated tower or lookout.

The kiva that is situated in the west section of Sun Temple has a ventilator stack attached to the south side, recalling the typical ventilator of a Mesa Verde cliff kiva, and there are indications of the same structure in the two circular chambers in the court. These kivas, however, have no banquettes or pilasters to support a vaulted roof, and no fragments of roof beams were found in the excavations made at Sun Temple. East of Sun Temple, where formerly there was only a mound of stone and earth, there were found the remains of a low circular structure of undetermined use.

Most of the peripheral rooms of Sun Temple open into adjoining rooms, a few into the central court, but none has external openings. Some of the rooms are without lateral entrances, as if it were intended to enter them through a hatch in the roof.

Not only pits indicative of the stone tools by which the stones forming the masonry of Sun Temple were dressed appear on all the rocks used in its construction, but likewise many bear incised symbols.

Several of these still remain in the walls of the building; others have been set in cement near the outer wall of the eastern kiva. It is interesting to record that some of the stones of which the walls were constructed were probably quarried on the mesa top not far from the building, but as the surface of the plateau is now forested, the quarries themselves are hidden in acc.u.mulated soil and are difficult to discover.

AGE