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Title: Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park : Spruce-tree house
Author: Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Language: English
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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41
ANTIQUITIES OF THE MESA VERDE
NATIONAL PARK
SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE
BY
JESSE WALTER FEWKES
[Illustration]
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1909
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY,
_Washington, D. C., January 4, 1909_.
SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith for publication, with your
approval, as Bulletin 41 of this Bureau, the report of Dr. Jesse
Walter Fewkes on the work of excavation and repair of Spruce-tree
cliff-ruin in the Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. This was
undertaken, pursuant to your instructions, under the direction of
the Secretary of the Interior, and a résumé of the general results
accomplished is published in the latter’s annual report for 1907-8.
The present paper is more detailed, and deals with the technical
archeological results.
It is gratifying to state that Doctor Fewkes was able to complete
the work assigned him, and that Spruce-tree House—the largest ruin
in Mesa Verde Park with the exception of the Cliff Palace—is now
accessible for the first time, in all its features, to those who
would view one of the great aboriginal monuments of our country.
This is the more important since Spruce-tree House fulfills the
requirements of a “type ruin,” and since, owing to its situation, it
is the cliff-dwelling from which most tourists obtain their first
impressions of structures of this character.
Respectfully, yours, W. H. HOLMES, _Chief_.
THE SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
_Washington, D. C._
CONTENTS
Page
Site of the ruin 1
Recent history 2
General features 7
Major antiquities 8
Plazas and courts 8
Construction of walls 9
Secular rooms 10
Balconies 15
Fireplaces 16
Doors and windows 16
Floors and roofs 17
Kivas 17
Kiva A 20
Kiva B 21
Kivas C and D 21
Kiva E 22
Kiva F 22
Kiva G 23
Kiva H 23
Circular rooms other than kivas 23
Ceremonial room other than kiva 24
Mortuary room 24
Small ledge-houses 24
Stairways 25
Refuse-heaps 25
Minor antiquities 25
Pottery 28
Forms 29
Structure 30
Decoration 32
Ceramic areas 34
Hopi area 35
Little Colorado area 36
Mesa Verde area 37
Stone implements 38
Axes 38
Grinding stones 40
Pounding stones 41
Cylinder of polished hematite 41
Basketry 42
Wooden objects 42
Sticks tied together 42
Slabs 43
Spindles 43
Planting-sticks 44
Miscellaneous objects 44
Fabrics 44
Bone implements 48
Fetish 49
Lignite gorget 49
Corn, beans, and squash seeds 50
Hoop-and-pole game 50
Leather and skin objects 51
Absence of objects showing European culture 51
Pictographs 51
Conclusions 53
Index 55
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE 1. Ground-plan of Spruce-tree House.
2. The ruin, from the northwest and the west.
3. Plaza D.
4. The ruin, from the south end.
5. The ruin, from the south.
6. Rooms 11-24.
7. The ruin, from the north end.
8. North end of the ruin, showing masonry pillar.
9. A roof and a street.
10. The ruin from the south end, showing rooms and plaza.
11. Kiva D.
12. Kiva D, from the north.
13. Interiors of two kivas.
14. Central part of ruin, and kiva.
15. Diagrams of kiva, showing construction.
16. Decorated food-bowls.
17. Decorated food-bowls.
18. Decorated food-bowls.
19. Decorated vase and mugs.
20. Decorated bowl and canteen.
21. Stone implements.
Page
FIGURE 1. Lid of jar 29
2. Repaired pottery 29
3. Handle with attached cord 30
4. Ladle 30
5. Handle of mug 30
6. Fragment of pottery 32
7. Zigzag ornament 32
8. Sinistral and dextral stepped figures 32
9. Triangle ornament 32
10. Meander 33
11. Stone axes 39
12. Stone ax with handle 40
13. Stone pigment-grinder 41
14. Fragment of basket 42
15. Sticks tied together 42
16. Wooden slab 43
17. Spindle and whorl 43
18. Ceremonial sticks 44
19. Primitive fire-stick 44
20. Wooden needle 44
21. Belt 44
22. Headband 45
23. End of headband 45
24. Head ring 45
25. Yucca-fiber cloth with attached feathers 46
26. Woven cord 46
27. Agave fiber tied in loops 47
28. Woven moccasin 47
29. Fragment of sandal 47
30. Hair-brush 47
31. Bone implements 48
32. Dirk and cedar-bark sheath 48
33. Bone implement 49
34. Bone scraper 49
35. Bone scraper 49
36. Hoop used in hoop-and-pole game 50
37. Portion of leather moccasin 51
ANTIQUITIES OF THE MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE
By JESSE WALTER FEWKES
SITE OF THE RUIN
Spruce-tree House (pls. 1, 2)[1] is situated in the eastern side of
Spruce-tree canyon, a spur of Navaho canyon, which at the site of the
ruin is about 150 feet deep, with precipitous walls. The canyon ends
blindly at the northern extremity, where there is a spring of good
water; it is wooded with tall piñons, cedars, and stately spruces,
the tops of which in some cases reach from its bed to its rim. The
trees predominating on the rim of the canyon are cedars and pines.
The rock out of which the canyon is eroded is sandstone of varying
degrees of hardness alternating with layers of coal and shale. The
water percolating through this sandstone, on meeting the harder
shale, seeps out of the cliffs to the surface. As the water permeates
the rock it gradually undermines the harder layers of sandstone,
which fall in great blocks, often leaving arches of rock above deep
caves. One of these caves is situated at the end of the canyon where
the rim rock overhangs the spring, which is filled by water seeping
down from above the shale. Another of these caves is that in which
Spruce-tree House is situated. Several smaller caves, and ledges of
rock harder than that immediately above, serve as sites for small
buildings.
The wearing away of the fallen fragments of the cliffs is much
hastened by the waterfalls which in time of heavy rains fall over
the rim rock, their force being greatly augmented by the height from
which the water is precipitated. The fragments continually falling
from the roofs of the caves form a talus that extends from the floors
of the caves down the side of the cliff. The cliff-dwellings are
erected on the top of this talus.
RECENT HISTORY
Although there was once an old Spanish trail winding over the
mountains by way of Mancos and Dolores from what is now New Mexico to
Utah, the early visitors to this part of Colorado seem not to have
been impressed with the prehistoric cliff-houses in the Montezuma
valley and on the Mesa Verde; at least they left no accounts of them
in their writings. It appears that these early Spanish travelers
encountered the Ute, possibly the Navaho Indians, along this trail,
but the more peaceable people who built and occupied the villages
now ruins in the neighborhood of Mancos and Cortez had apparently
disappeared even at that early date. Indian legends regarding the
inhabitants of the cliff-dwellings of the Mesa Verde are very limited
and indistinct. The Ute designate them as the houses of the dead,
or _moki_, the name commonly applied to the Hopi of Arizona. One
of the Ute legends mentions the last battle between the ancient
house-builders of Montezuma valley and their ancestors, near Battle
Rock, in which it is said that the former were defeated and turned
into fishes.
The ruins in Mancos canyon were discovered and first explored in 1874
by a Government party under Mr. W. H. Jackson.[2] The walls of ruins
situated in the valley have been so long exposed to the weather that
they are very much broken down, being practically nothing more than
mounds. The few cliff-dwellings in Mancos canyon which were examined
by Jackson are for the most part small; these are found on the west
side. One of the largest is now known as Jackson ruin.
In the year 1875 Prof. W. H. Holmes, now Chief of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, made a trip through Mancos canyon and examined
several ruins. He described and figured several cliff-houses
overlooked by Jackson and drew attention to the remarkable stone
towers which are so characteristic of this region.[3] Professor
Holmes secured a small collection of earthenware vessels, generally
fragmentary, and also a few objects of shells, bone, and wood,
figures and descriptions of which accompany his report. Neither
Jackson nor Holmes, however, saw the most magnificent ruins of the
Mesa Verde. Had they followed up the side canyon of the Mancos
they would have discovered, as stated by Nordenskiöld, “ruins so
magnificent that they surpass anything of the kind known in the
United States.”
The following story of the discovery of the largest two of these
ruins, one of which is the subject of this article, is quoted from
Nordenskiöld:[4]
The honour of the discovery of these remarkable ruins belongs to
Richard and Alfred Wetherill of Mancos. The family own large herds
of cattle, which wander about on the Mesa Verde. The care of these
herds often calls for long rides on the mesa and in its labyrinth
of cañons. During these long excursions ruins, the one more
magnificent than the other, have been discovered. The two largest
were found by Richard Wetherill and Charley Mason one December day
in 1888, as they were riding together through the piñon wood on the
mesa, in search of a stray herd. They had penetrated through the
dense scrub to the edge of a deep cañon. In the opposite cliff,
sheltered by a huge, massive vault of rock, there lay before their
astonished eyes a whole town with towers and walls, rising out of
a heap of ruins. This grand monument of bygone ages seemed to them
well deserving of the name of the Cliff Palace. Not far from this
place, but in a different cañon, they discovered on the same day
another very large cliff-dwelling; to this they gave the name of
Sprucetree House, from a great spruce that jutted forth from the
ruins. During the course of years Richard and Alfred Wetherill have
explored the mesa and its cañons in all directions; they have thus
gained a more thorough knowledge of its ruins than anyone. Together
with their brothers John, Clayton, and Wynn, they have also carried
out excavations, during which a number of extremely interesting
finds have been made. A considerable collection of these objects,
comprising skulls, pottery, implements of stone, bone, and wood,
etc., has been sold to “The Historical Society of Colorado.” A
still larger collection is in the possession of the Wetherill
family. A brief catalogue of this collection forms the first
printed notice of the remarkable finds made during the excavations.
Mr. F. H. Chapin visited the Mesa Verde ruins in 1889 and published
illustrated accounts[5] of his visit containing much information
largely derived from the Wetherills and others. Dr. W. R. Birdsall
also published an account of these ruins,[6] illustrated by several
figures. Neither Chapin nor Birdsall gives special attention to the
ruin now called Spruce-tree House, and while their writings are
interesting and valuable in the general history of the archeology
of the Mesa Verde, they are of little aid in our studies of this
particular ruin. The same may be said of the short and incomplete
notices of the Mesa Verde ruins which have appeared in several
newspapers. The scientific descriptions of Spruce-tree House as well
as of other Mesa Verde ruins begin with the memoir of the talented
Swede, Baron Gustav Nordenskiöld, who, in his work, “The Cliff
Dwellers of the Mesa Verde”, gives the first comprehensive account
of the ruins of this mesa. It is not too much to say that he has
rendered to American archeology in this work a service which will be
more and more appreciated in the future development of that science.
In order to make more comprehensive the present author’s report on
Spruce-tree House, the following description of this ruin is quoted
from Nordenskiöld’s memoir (pp. 50-56):
A few hundred paces to the north along the cliff lead to a large
cave, in the shadow of which lie the ruins of a whole village,
_Sprucetree House_. This cave is 70 m. broad and 28 m. in depth.
The height is small in comparison with the depth, the interior
of the cave thus being rather dark. The ground is fairly even and
lies almost on a level, which has considerably facilitated the
building operations. A plan of the ruins is given in Pl. IX. A
great part of the house, or rather village, is in an excellent
state of preservation, both the walls, which at some places are
several stories high and rise to the roof of rock, and the floors
between the different stories still remaining. The architecture
is the same as that described in the ruins on Wetherill’s Mesa.
In some parts more care is perhaps displayed in the shape of
the blocks and in the joints between them. The walls, here as
in other cliff-dwellings, are about 0.3 m. thick, seldom more.
A point which immediately strikes the eye in Pl. IX, is that no
premeditated design has been followed in the erection of the
buildings. It seems as if only a few rooms had first been built,
additions having subsequently been made to meet the requirements
of the increasing population. This circumstance, which I have
already touched upon when describing other ruins, may be observed
in most of the cliff-dwellings. There is further evidence to
show that the whole village was not erected at the same time. At
several places it may be seen that new walls have been added to
the old, though the stones of both walls do not fit into each
other, as is the case when two adjacent walls have been constructed
simultaneously. The arrangement of the rooms has been determined
by the surrounding cliff, the walls being generally built either
at right angles or parallel to it. At some places the walls
of several adjoining apartments of about equal size have been
consistently erected in the same direction, some blocks of rooms
thus possessing a regularity which is wanting in the cliff-village
as a whole. This is perhaps the first stage in the development of
the cliff-dwellings to the villages whose ruins are common in the
valleys and on the mesa, and which are constructed according to a
fixed design.
In the plan (Pl. IX) it may be seen that the cave contains two
distinct groups of rooms. At about the middle of the cliff-village
a kind of passage (23), uninterrupted by any wall, runs through
the whole ruin. We found the remains, however, of a cross wall
projecting from an elliptical room (14 in the plan) in the south
part of the village. Each of these two divisions of the ruin
contains an open space (16 and 28) at the back of the cave, the
ground in both these places being covered with bird droppings. It
is probable that this was the place where tame turkeys were kept,
though it can not have been a very pleasant abode for them, for
at least in the north of the ruin this part of the cave is almost
pitch dark, the walls of the inner court (28), rising up to the
roof of rock. In each of the two divisions of the cliff-village a
number of estufas were built, in the north at least five, in the
south at least two; while several more are, no doubt, buried in
the heaps of ruins. These estufas preserve to the least detail
the ordinary type (diam. 4-5 metres) fully described above. They
are generally situated in front of the other rooms, with their
foundations sunk deeper in the ground, and have never had an
upper story. Even their site suggests that they were used for
some special purpose, probably as assembly-rooms at religious
festivities held by those members of the tribe who lived in the
adjacent rooms. In all the estufas without exception the roof has
fallen in. It is probable, as I have mentioned before, that the
entrance of these rooms, as is still the case among the Pueblo
Indians, was constructed in the roof. The other rooms were entered
by narrow doorways (breadth 40-55 cm., height 65-80 cm.). These
doorways are generally rectangular, often somewhat narrower at the
top; the sill consists, as already described, of a long stone slab,
the lintel of a few sticks a couple of centimetres in thickness,
laid across the opening to support the wall above them. The arch
was unknown to the builders of these villages, even in the form
common among the ruins of Central America, and constructed by
carrying the walls on both sides of the doorway nearer to each
other as each course of stones was laid, until they could be
joined by a stone slab placed across them. Along both sides of the
doorway and under the lintel a narrow frame of thin sticks covered
with plaster was built (see fig. 28 to the left). This frame,
which leant inwards, served to support the door, a thin, flat,
rectangular stone slab of suitable size. Through two loops on the
outside of the wall, made of osiers inserted in the chinks between
the stones, and placed one on each side of the doorway, a thin
stick was passed, thus forming a kind of bolt. Besides this type of
door most cliff-villages contain examples of another. Some doorways
present the appearance shown in fig. 28 to the right (height 90
cm., breadth at the top, 45 cm., at the bottom 30 cm.) They were
not closed with a stone slab. They probably belonged to the rooms
most frequented in daily life, and were therefore fashioned so as
to admit of more convenient ingress and egress. The other doorways,
through which it is by no means easy to enter, probably belonged in
general to storerooms or other chambers not so often visited and
requiring for some reason or other a door to close them. It should
be mentioned that the large, =T=-shaped doors described above are
rare in the ruins on Wetherill’s Mesa which both in architecture
and in other respects bear traces of less care and skill on the
part of the builders, and are also in a more advanced stage of
decay, thus giving the impression of greater age than the ruins
treated of in the present chapter, though without showing any
essential differences.
The rooms, with the exception of the estufas, are nearly always
rectangular, the sides measuring seldom more than two or three
metres. North of the passage (23) which divides the ruin into two
parts, a whole series of rooms (26, 29-33) still extends outwards
from the back of the cave, their walls reaching up to the roof of
rock, and the floors between the upper and lower stories being in
a perfect state of preservation. The lower rooms are generally
entered by small doors opening directly on the “street.” In the
interior the darkness is almost complete, especially in room 34,
which has no direct communication with the passage. It must be
approached either through 35, which is a narrow room with the short
side towards the “street” entirely open, or through 33. We used 34
as a dark room for photographic purposes.
The walls and roof of some rooms are thick with soot. The
inhabitants must have had no great pretensions as regards light
and air. The doorways served also as windows, though at one or two
places small, quadrangular loop-holes have been constructed in
the walls for the passage of light. Entrance to the upper story
is generally gained by a small quadrangular hole in the roof at a
corner of the lower room, a foothold being afforded merely by some
stones projecting from the walls. This hole was probably covered
with a stone slab like the doors. Thick beams of cedar or piñon
and across them thin poles, laid close together, form the floors
between the stories. In some cases long sticks were laid in pairs
across the cedar beams at a distance of some decimeters between the
pairs, a layer of twigs and cedar bast was placed over the sticks,
and the whole was covered with clay, which was smoothed and dried.
In several other parts of the ruin besides this the walls still
reach the roof of the cave. These walls are marked in the plan.
In all the estufas and in some of the other rooms, perhaps the
apartments of chiefs or families of rank, the walls are covered
with a thin coat of yellow plaster. In one instance they are
even decorated with a painting, representing two birds, which is
reproduced in one of the following chapters. Pl. X: 2 shows a part
of the ruin, situated in the north of the cave. The spot from which
the photograph was taken, as well as the approximate angle of view,
is marked in the plan. The left half of the photograph is occupied
by a wall with doorways, rising to a height of three stories and
up to the roof of the cave; within the wall lies a series of five
rooms on the ground floor; behind these rooms the large open space
mentioned above (28) occupies the depths of the cavern. Here the
beams are all that remains of the floors of the upper stories,
their ends projecting a foot or two beyond the wall between the
second and third stories, where support was probably afforded in
this manner to a balcony, as an easier means of communication
between the rooms of the upper stories. In front of this part of
the building, but not visible in the photograph, lie two estufas
and outside the latter is a long wall. To judge by the ruins, the
roofs of these estufas once lay on a level with the floors of the
adjoining rooms, so that over the estufas, which were sunk in the
ground, only the roofs being left visible, the inhabitants had an
open space, bounded on the outside by the said long wall, which
formed a rampart at the edge of the talus. The same method of
construction is employed by the Moki Indians in their estufas; but
these rooms are rectangular in form.—Farther north lies another
estufa. Its site, nearest to the cliff wall, would seem to indicate
that it is the oldest. The walls in the north of the ruin still
rise to a height of 6 metres.
The south part of the ruin is similar in all respects to the north.
Its only singularity is a room of elliptical shape (axes 3.6 and
2.9 m.); from this room a wall runs south, enclosing a small open
space (16) where, as at the corresponding place in the north of the
ruin, the ground is covered with bird droppings mixed with dust and
refuse. At one end there are two semicircular enclosures (17, 18)
of loose stones forming low walls. In a pentagonal room (8) south
of this open space one corner contains a kind of closet (height 1.2
m., length and breadth O.9 m.) composed of two large upright slabs
of stone, with a third slab laid across them in a sloping position
and cemented fast (see fig. 29). Of the use to which this “closet”
was put, I am ignorant. Farther south some of the rooms are
situated on a narrow ledge, along which a wall has been erected,
probably for purposes of defense.
Plate X: 1 is a photograph of Sprucetree House from the opposite
side of the cañon. The illustrations give a better idea of the
ruin’s appearance than any description could do.
Our excavations in Sprucetree House lasted only a few days. This
ruin will certainly prove a rich field for future researches.[7]
Some handsome baskets and pieces of pottery were the best finds
made during the short period of our excavations. In a room (69)
belonging to the north part of the ruin we found the skeletons of
three children who had been buried there.
A circumstance which deserves mention, and which was undoubtedly
of great importance to the inhabitants of Sprucetree House, is the
presence at the bottom of the cañon, a few hundred paces from the
ruin, of a fairly good spring.
Near Sprucetree House there are a number of very small, isolated
rooms, situated on ledges most difficult of access. One of these
tiny cliff-dwellings may be seen to the left in fig. 27. It is
improbable that these cells, which are sometimes so small that one
can hardly turn in them, were really dwelling places; their object
is unknown to me, unless it was one of defense, archers being
posted there when danger threatened, so that the enemy might have
to face a volley of arrows from several points at once. In such a
position a few men could defend themselves, even against an enemy
of superior force, for an assailant could reach the ledge only by
climbing with hands and feet. Another explanation, perhaps better,
was suggested to me by Mr. Fewkes. He thinks that these small
rooms were shrines where offerings to the gods were deposited. No
object has, however, been found to confirm this suggestion.
To the right of fig. 27 a huge spruce may be seen. Its roots lie
within the ruins of Sprucetree House, the trunk projecting from the
wall of an estufa. In Pl. X: 1 the tree is wanting. I had it cut
down in order to ascertain its age. We counted the rings, which
were very distinct, twice over, the results being respectively 167
and 169. I had supposed from the thickness of the tree that the
number of the rings was much greater.
GENERAL FEATURES
Like the majority of cliff-dwellings in the Mesa Verde National
Park, Spruce-tree House stands in a recess protected above by an
overhanging cliff. Its form is crescentic, following that of the cave
and extending approximately north and south.
The author has given the number of rooms and their dimensions in his
report to the Secretary of the Interior (published in the latter’s
report for 1907-8) from which he makes the following quotation:
The total length of Spruce-tree House was found to be 216 feet,
its width at the widest part 89 feet. There were counted in the
Spruce-tree House 114 rooms, the majority of which were secular,
and 8 ceremonial chambers or kivas. Nordenskiöld numbered 80 of
the former and 7 of the latter, but in this count he apparently
did not differentiate in the former those of the first, second and
third stories. Spruce-tree House was in places 3 stories high;
the third-story rooms had no artificial roof, but the wall of the
cave served that purpose. Several rooms, the walls of which are
now two stories high, formerly had a third story above the second,
but their walls have now fallen, leaving as the only indication of
their former union with the cave lines destitute of smoke on the
top of the cavern. Of the 114 rooms, at least 14 were uninhabited,
being used as storage and mortuary chambers. If we eliminate these
from the total number of rooms we have 100 enclosures which might
have been dwellings. Allowing 4 inhabitants for each of these 100
rooms would give about 400 persons as an aboriginal population of
Spruce-tree House. But it is probable that this estimate should
be reduced, as not all the 100 rooms were inhabited at the same
time, there being evidence that several of them had occupants long
after others were deserted. Approximately, Spruce-tree House had a
population not far from 350 people, or about 100 more than that of
Walpi, one of the best-known Hopi pueblos.[8]
In the rear of the houses are two large recesses used for
refuse-heaps or for burial of the dead. From the abundance of guano
and turkey bones it is supposed that turkeys were kept in these
places for ceremonial or other purposes. Here have been found several
desiccated human bodies commonly called mummies.
The ruin is divided by a street into two sections, the northern and
the southern, the former being the more extensive. Light is prevented
from entering the larger of these recesses by rooms which reach the
roof of the cave. In front of these rooms are circular subterranean
rooms called _kivas_, which are sunken below the surrounding level
places, or plazas, the roofs of these kivas having been formerly
level with the plazas.
The front boundary of these plazas is a wall[9] which when the
excavations were begun was buried under débris of fallen walls, but
which formerly stood several feet above the level of the plazas.
MAJOR ANTIQUITIES
Under this term are included those immovable prehistoric remains
which, taken together, constitute a cliff-dwelling. The architectural
features—walls of rooms and structures connected with them, as beams,
balconies, fireplaces—are embraced in the term “major antiquities.”
None of these can be removed from their sites without harm, so they
must be protected in the place where they now stand.
In a valuable article on the ruins in valley of the San Juan and
its tributaries, Dr. T. Mitchell Prudden[10] recognizes in this
region what he designates a “unit type;” that is, a ruin consisting
of a kiva backed by a row of rooms generally situated on its north
side, with lateral extensions east and west, and a burial place
on the opposite, or south, side of the kiva. This form of “unit
type,” as he points out, is more apparent in ruins situated in an
open country than in those built in cliffs. The same form may be
recognized in Spruce-tree House, which is composed of several “unit
types” arranged side by side. The simplicity of these “unit types”
is somewhat modified, however, in this as in all cliff-dwellings, by
the form of the site. The author would amend Prudden’s definition of
the “unit type” as applied to cliff-houses by adding to the latter’s
description a bounding wall connecting the two lateral extensions of
the row of rooms, thus forming the south side of the enclosure of the
kiva. For obvious reasons, in this amended description the burial
place is absent, as it does not occur in the position assigned to it
in the original description.
PLAZAS AND COURTS
As before stated, the buildings of Spruce-tree House are divided into
a northern and a southern section by a street which penetrates from
plaza G to the rear of the cave. (Pl. 1.) The northern section is not
only the larger, but there is evidence that it is also the older. It
is bounded by some of the best-constructed buildings, situated along
the north side of the street. The rooms of the southern section are
less numerous, although in some respects more instructive.
There are practically the same number of plazas as of kivas in this
ruin. With the exception of C and D, each plaza is occupied by a
single kiva, the roof of which constitutes the central part of the
floor of the square enclosure (plaza). The plazas commonly contain
remnants of small shrines, fireplaces, and corn-grinding bins, and
are perforated by mysterious holes evidently used in ceremonies.
Their floors are hardened by the tramping of the many feet that
passed over them. The best preserved of all the plazas is that which
contains kiva G. It can hardly be supposed that the roof of kiva A
served as a dance place, which is the ordinary office of a plaza, but
it may have been used in ceremonies. The largest plaza of the series,
in the rear of which are rooms while the front is inclosed by the
bounding wall, is that containing kivas C and D. The appearance of
this plaza before and after clearing out and repairing is shown in
plate 3; the view was taken from the north end of the ruin.
From the number of fireplaces and similar evidences it may be
concluded that the street already mentioned as dividing the village
into two sections served many purposes. Most important of these was
its use as the open-air dwellings of the villagers. Its hardened
clay floor suggests the constant passage of many feet. Its surface
slopes gradually downward from the back of the cave, ending at a step
near the round room in the rear of kiva G. This step marks also the
eastern boundary of the plaza (G) which contains the best preserved
of all the ceremonial rooms of Spruce-tree House.
The discovery by excavation of the wall that originally formed the
front of the village was important. In this way was revealed a
correct ground plan of the ruin (pl. 1) which had never before been
traced by archeologists. When the work began, this wall was deeply
buried under accumulated débris, its course not being visible to
any considerable extent. By removing the fallen stones composing
the débris the wall could be readily traced. In the repair work
the original stones were replaced in the structure. As in the
first instance this wall was probably about as high as the head,
it may have been used for protection. The only openings are small
rectangular orifices, the presence of one opposite the external
opening of the air flue of each kiva suggesting that formerly these
flues opened outside the wall. Two kivas, B and F, are situated west
of this wall and therefore outside the village. There are evidences
of a walk on top of the talus along the front of the pueblo outside
the front wall, and of a retaining wall to prevent the edge of the
talus from wearing away. (Pls. 4, 5.)
CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS
The walls of Spruce-tree House were built of stones generally laid in
mortar but sometimes piled on one another, the joints being pointed
later. Sections of walls in which no mortar was used occur on the
tops of other walls. These dry walls served among other purposes to
shield the roofs of adjacent buildings from snow and rain. Whenever
mortar was used it appears that a larger quantity was employed than
was necessary, the effect being to weaken the wall since the pointing
washed out quickly, being less capable than stone of resisting
erosion. When the mortar wore away, the wall was left in danger of
falling of its own weight. The pointing was generally done with the
hands, the superficial impressions of which show in several places.
Small flakes of stone or fragments of pottery were sometimes inserted
in the joints, serving both as a decoration, and as a protection by
preventing the rapid wearing away of the mortar. Little pellets of
clay were also used in the joints for the same purpose.
The character of masonry in different rooms varies considerably, in
some places showing good, in others poor, workmanship. As a rule
the construction of the corners is weak, the stones forming them
being rarely bonded or tied. Component stones of the walls seldom
break joints; thus a well-known device by means of which walls are
strengthened is lacking, and consequently cracks are numerous and
the work is unstable. Fully half the stones used in construction
were hammered or dressed into desirable shapes, the remainder being
laid as they were gathered, with their flat surfaces exposed when
possible. (Pls. 6, 7.)
Some of the walls were out of plumb when constructed and the faces
of many were never straight. The walls show evidences of having been
repeatedly repaired, as indicated by a difference in color of the
mortar used.
Plasters of different colors, as red, white, yellow, and brown, were
used. The lower half of the wall of a room was generally painted
brownish red, the upper half often white. There are evidences of
several coats of plastering, especially on the walls of the kivas,
some of which are much discolored with smoke.
The replastering of the walls of Hopi kivas is an incident of the
_Powamû_ festival, or ceremonial purification of the fields commonly
called the “Bean planting,” which occurs every February. On a certain
day of this festival girls thoroughly replaster the four walls of the
kivas and at the close of the work leave impressions of their hands
in white mud on the kiva beams.
The rooms of Spruce-tree House may be considered under two headings:
secular rooms, and ceremonial rooms, or kivas. The former are
rectangular, the latter circular, in form.
SECULAR ROOMS
The secular rooms are the more numerous in Spruce-tree House. In
order to designate them in future descriptions they were numbered
from 1 to 71, in black paint, in conspicuous places on the walls.
(Pl. 1.) This enumeration begins at the north end and passes thence
to the south end of the ruin, but in one or two instances this order
is not followed. The author has given below a brief reference to some
of the important secular rooms in the series.
The foundations of room 1 were apparently built on a fallen bowlder,
the entrance being reached by means of a series of stone steps built
into the side hill. The floor of this room is on the level of the
second story of other rooms, being continuous with the top of kiva
A. It is probable that when this kiva was constructed it was found
impossible to make it subterranean on account of the solid rock. A
retaining wall was built outside the kiva and the intervening space
was filled with earth in order to impart to the room a subterranean
character.
Room 2 has three stories, or tiers, of rooms. The floor of the second
story, which is the roof of the first, is well preserved, the sides
of the hatchway, or means of passage from one room to the one below
it, being almost entire. This room possesses a feature which is
unique. The base of its south wall is supported by curved timbers,
whose ends rest on walls, while the middle is supported by a pillar
of masonry. (Pl. 8.) The =T=-shaped door in this wall faces south. It
is difficult to understand how the aperture could have been of any
use as a doorway unless there was a balcony below it, and no sign of
such structure is now visible. The west wall of rooms 2 and 3 was
built on top of a fallen rock from which it rises precipitously to a
considerable height. The floor of room 4, which lies in front of kiva
A, is on a level with the roof of the kiva, and somewhat higher than
the surface of the neighboring plaza but not higher than the roof
of the first story. As the floors of room 1 and room 4 are on the
same level, it would appear that both were considerably elevated or
so constructed otherwise that the kiva should be subterranean. This
endeavor to render the kiva subterranean by building up around it,
when conditions made it impossible to excavate in the solid rock, is
paralleled in some other Mesa Verde ruins.
The ventilator of kiva A, as will be seen later, does not open
through the front wall, as is usually the case, but on one side. This
is accounted for by the presence of a room on this side of the kiva.
Rooms 2, 3, 4 were constructed after the walls of kiva A were built,
hence several modifications were necessary in the prescribed plan of
building these rooms.
The foundation of the inclosure, 5, conforms on one side to the
outer wall of the village, and on the other to the curvature of kiva
B. As this inclosure does not seem ever to have been roofed, it is
probable that it was not a house. A fireplace at one end indicates
that cooking was formerly done here. It is instructive to note that
the front wall of the ruin begins at this place.
Rooms 6, 7, 8, which lie side by side, closely resemble one another,
having much in common. They were evidently dwellings, and may have
been sleeping-places for families. Rooms 7 and 8 were two stories
high, the floor of no. 8 being on a level with the adjoining plaza.
Room 9 is so unusual in its construction that it can not be regarded
as a living room. It was used as a mortuary chamber, evidences being
strong that it was opened from time to time for new interments. Room
12 also was a ceremonial chamber, and, like the preceding, will be
considered later at greater length. The walls of the two rooms, 10
and 11, are low, projecting into plaza C, of whose border they form
a part. Near them, or in one corner of the same plaza, is a bin, the
sides of which are formed of stone slabs set on edge. The use of this
bin is problematical.
The front wall of room 15 had been almost wholly destroyed before
the repair work began, and was so unstable that it was necessary to
erect a buttress to support it. This room, which is one story high,
is irregular in shape; its doorways open into rooms 14 and 16. The
walls of rooms 16 and 18 extend to the roof of the cave, shutting out
the light on one side from the great refuse-place in the rear of the
cliff-dwellings. The openings through the walls of these rooms into
this darkened area have been much broken by vandals, and the walls
greatly damaged. Room 17, like 16 and 18, is somewhat larger than
most of the apartments in Spruce-tree House.
Theoretically it may be supposed that when Spruce-tree House was
first settled it had one clan occupying a cluster of rooms, 1-11,
and one ceremonial room, kiva A. As the place grew three other “unit
types” centering about kivas C-H were added, and still later each of
these units was enlarged and new kivas were built in each section.
Thus A was enlarged by addition of B; C by addition of D; E by
addition of F; and G was subordinated to H. In this way the rooms
near the kivas grew in numbers. The block of rooms designated 50-53
is not accounted for, however, in this theory.
Rooms numbered 19-22 are instructive. Their walls are well preserved
and form the east side of plaza C. These walls extend from the level
of the plaza to the top of the cavern, and in places show some of the
best masonry in Spruce-tree House. Just in front of room 19, situated
on the left-hand side as one enters the doorway, is a covered recess,
where probably ceremonial bread was baked or otherwise cooked. This
place bears a strong resemblance to recesses found in Hopi villages,
especially as in its floor is set a cooking-pot made of earthenware.
Rooms 19-21 are two stories high; there are fireplaces in the corners
and doorways on the front sides. The upper stories were approached
and entered by balconies. The holes in which formerly rested the
beams that supported these balconies can be clearly seen.
Rooms 21 and 22 are three stories high, the entrances to the three
tiers being seen in the accompanying view (pl. 6). The beams that
once supported the balcony of the third story resemble those of the
first story; they project from the wall that forms the front of room
29.
The external entrance to room 24 opens directly on the plaza. Some of
the rafters of this room still remain, and near the rear door is a
projecting wall, in the corner of which is a fireplace. Although room
25 is three stories high, it does not reach to the cave top. None of
the roofs of the rooms one over another are intact, and the west side
of the second and third stories is very much broken. The plaster of
the second-story walls is decorated with mural paintings that will
be considered more fully under Pictographs. It is not evident how
entrance through the doorway of the second story was made unless we
suppose that there was a notched log, or ladder, for that purpose
resting on the ground. In order to strengthen the north wall of room
25 it was braced against the walls of outer rooms by constructing
masonry above the doorway that leads from plaza D to room 26. This
tied all three walls together and imparted corresponding strength to
the whole.
The lower-story walls of room 26 are in fairly good condition, having
needed but little repair. There is a good fireplace in the floor at
the northeast corner. Excavations revealed a passageway from kiva D
into room 26, the opening into the upper room being situated near its
north wall. The west wall of room 26 is curved. The walls of rooms
27 and 28 are much dilapidated, the portion of the western section
that remains being continuous with the front wall of the pueblo. A
small mural fragment ending blindly arises from the outside of the
west wall of room 27. This is believed to have been part of a small
enclosure used for cooking purposes. Much repairing was necessary
in the walls of rooms 27 and 28, since they were situated almost
directly in the way of torrents of water which in time of rains fall
over the rim of the canyon.
The block of rooms numbered 30-44, situated east of kiva E, have
the most substantial masonry and are the best constructed of any in
Spruce-tree House. (Pl. 9.) As room 45 is only a dark passageway
it should be considered more a street than a dwelling. Rooms 30-36
are one story each in height, rectangular in shape, roofless, and
of about the same dimensions; of these room 35 is perhaps the best
preserved, having well-constructed fireplaces in one corner. Rooms
37, 38, 39 are built deep in the cavern; their walls, especially
those of 38, are very much broken down. There would seem to be hardly
a possibility that these rooms were inhabited, especially after the
construction of the rooms in front of the cave which shut off all
light. But they may easily have served as storage places. Their walls
were constructed of well-dressed stones and afford an example of
good masonry work.
Here and there are indications of other rooms in the darker parts of
the cave. In some instances their walls extended to the roof of the
cave where their former position is indicated by light bands on the
sooty surface.
Rooms 40-47 are among the finest chambers in Spruce-tree House. Rooms
48 and 49 are very much damaged, the walls having fallen, leaving
only the foundations above the ground level. Several rooms in this
part of the ruin, especially rooms 43 (pl. 9) and 44, still have
roofs and floors as well preserved as when they were built, and
although dark, owing to lack of windows, they have fireplaces in
the corners, the smoke escaping apparently through the diminutive
door openings. The thresholds of some of the doorways are too high
above the main court to be entered without ladders or notched poles,
but projecting stones or depressions for the feet, still visible,
apparently assisted the inhabitants, as they do modern visitors, to
enter rooms 41 and 42.
Each of the small block of rooms 50-53 is one story and without a
roof, but possessing well-preserved ground floors. In room 53 there
is a depression in the floor at the bottom of which is a small
hole.[11]
In the preceding pages there have been considered the rooms of the
north section of Spruce-tree House, embracing dwellings, ceremonial
rooms, and other enclosures north of the main court, and the space
in the rear called the refuse-heap—in all, six circular ceremonial
rooms and a large majority of the living and storage rooms. From all
the available facts at the author’s disposal it is supposed that
this portion is older than the south section, which contains but two
ceremonial rooms and not more than a third the number of secular
dwellings.[12]
The cluster of rooms connected with kivas G and H shows signs of
having been built by a clan which may have joined Spruce-tree House
subsequent to the construction of the north section of the village.
The ceremonial rooms in this section differ in form from the others.
Here occur two round rooms or towers, duplicates of which have not
been found in the north section.
Room 61 in the south section of Spruce-tree House has a closet made
of flat stones set on edge and covered with a perforated stone slab
slightly inclined from the horizontal.
The inclosures at the extreme south end, which follow a narrow ledge,
appear to have been unroofed passages rather than rooms. On ledges
somewhat higher there are small granaries each with a hole in the
side, probably for the storage of corn.
It will be noticed that the terraced form of buildings, almost
universal in modern three-story pueblos and common in pictures of
ruins south of the San Juan, does not exist in Spruce-tree House. The
front of the three tiers of rooms 22, 23, as shown in plate 3, is
vertical, not terraced from foundation to top. Whether the walls of
rooms now in ruins were terraced or not can not be determined, for
these have been washed out and have fallen to so great an extent that
it is almost impossible to tell their original form. Rooms 25-28,
for instance, might have been terraced on the front side, but it is
more reasonable to suppose they were not;[13] from the arrangement of
doors it would seem that there was a lateral entrance on the ground
floor rather than through roofs.
BALCONIES
Balconies attached to the walls of buildings below rows of doors
occurred at several places. On no other hypothesis than the presence
of these structures can be explained the elevated situation of
entrances opening into the rooms immediately above rooms 20, 21,
22. In fact, there appear to have been two balconies at this place,
one above the other, but all now left of them is the projecting
floor-beams, and a fragment of a floor on the projections at the
north end of the lower one, in front of room 20. These balconies (pl.
3) were apparently constructed in the same way as the structure that
gives the name to the ruin called Balcony House; they seem to have
been used by the inhabitants as a means of communication between
neighboring rooms.
Nordenskiöld writes:[14]
The second story is furnished along the wall just mentioned, with
a balcony; the joists between the two stories project a couple of
feet, long poles lie across them parallel to the walls, the poles
are covered with a layer of cedar bast, and, finally with dried
clay.
FIREPLACES
There are many fireplaces in Spruce-tree House, in rooms, plazas, and
courts. From their number it is evident that most of the cooking must
have been done by the ancients in the courts and plazas, rather than
in the houses. The rooms are so small and so poorly ventilated that
it would not be possible for any one to remain in them when fires are
burning.
The top of the cave in which Spruce-tree House is built is covered
with soot, showing that formerly there were many fires in the courts
and other open places of the village. In almost every corner of the
buildings in which a fire could be made the effect of smoke on the
adjoining walls is discernible, while ashes are found in a depression
in the floor. These fireplaces are very simple, consisting simply
of square box-like structures bounded by a few flat stones set on
edge. In other instances a depression in the floor bordered with
a low ridge of adobe served as a fireplace. There remains nothing
to indicate that the inhabitants were familiar with chimneys or
firehoods as is the case among the modern pueblos. Certain small
rooms suggest cook-houses, or places where _piki_, or paper bread,
was fried by the women on slabs of stone over a fire, but none of
these slabs were found in place. The fireplaces of the kivas are
considered specially in an account of the structure of those rooms
(see p. 18).
No evidence that Spruce-tree House people burnt coal was observed,
although they were familiar with lignite and seams of coal underlie
their mesa.
DOORS AND WINDOWS
There are both doors and windows in the secular houses of Spruce-tree
House, although the two rarely exist together. The windows, most of
which are small square peep-holes or round orifices, look obliquely
downward, as if their purpose was rather for outlook than for air,
the latter being admitted as a rule through the doorway. (Pls. 10,
11.)
The two types of doorways differ more in shape than in any other
feature. These types may be called the rectangular and the =T=-shaped
form. Both are found at a high level, but it can not be discovered
how they could have been entered without ladders or notched logs.
Although these modes of entrance were apparently often used it is
remarkable that no traces of the logs have yet been found in the
extensive excavations at Spruce-tree House. The =T=-shaped doorways
are often filled in at the lower or narrow part, sometimes with
stones rudely placed, oftentimes with good masonry, by which a
=T=-shaped door is converted into one of square type. Doorways
of both types are often completely filled in, leaving only their
outlines on the sides of the wall.
FLOORS AND ROOFS
The floors of the rooms are all smoothly plastered and, although
purposely broken through in places by those in search of specimens,
are otherwise in fairly good condition. In one of the rooms at the
left of the main court is a small round hole at the bottom of a
concave depression like a fireplace, the use of which is not known.
Many of the floors sound hollow when struck, but this fact is not
an indication of the presence of cavities below. In tiers of rooms
that rise above the first story the roof of one room forms the floor
of the room above it. Wherever roofs still remain they are found to
be well constructed (pl. 9) and to resemble those of the old Hopi
houses. In Spruce-tree House the roofs are supported by timbers laid
from one wall to another; these in turn support crossbeams on which
were placed layers of cedar bark covered with a thick coating of mud.
In several roofs hatchways are still to be seen, but in most cases
entrances are at the sides. One second-story room has a fireplace
constructed like those on the ground floor or on the roof. Several
fireplaces were found on the roofs of buildings one story high.
The largest slabs of stone used in the construction of the rooms of
Spruce-tree House were generally made into lintels and thresholds.
The latter surfaces were often worn smooth by those crawling through
the opening and in some cases they show grooves for the insertion
of the door slabs. Although the sides of the door are often upright
slabs of stone these may be replaced by boards set in adobe plaster.
Similar split boards often form lintels.
The door was apparently a flat stone set in an adobe casing on the
inside of the frame where it was held in position by a stick. Each
end of this stick was inserted into an eyelet made of bent osiers
firmly set in the wall. Many of these broken eyelets can still be
seen in the doorways and one or two are still entire. A slab of stone
closing one of the doorways is still in place.
KIVAS
There are eight circular subterranean rooms identified as ceremonial
rooms, or _kivas_, in Spruce-tree House (pls. 12, 13). Beginning on
the north these kivas are designated by letters A-H. When excavation
began small depressions full of fallen stones, with here and there
a stone buttress projecting out of the débris, were the only
indications of the sites of these important chambers. The walls of
kiva H were the most dilapidated and the most obscured of all, the
central portion of the front wall of rooms 62 and 63 having fallen
into this chamber; added to the débris were the high walls of the
round room, no. 69. Kiva G is the best-preserved kiva and kiva A the
most exceptional in construction. Kiva B, never seen by previous
investigators, was in poor condition, its walls being almost
completely broken down. Part of the wall of kiva A is double (pl.
13), indicating a circular room built inside another room the shape
of which inclines to oval, the former utilizing a portion of the wall
of the latter. This kiva is also exceptional in being surrounded on
three sides by rooms, the fourth side being the wall of the cavern.
From several considerations the author regards this as the oldest
kiva in Spruce-tree House.
The typical structure of a Spruce-tree House kiva is as follows: Its
form is circular or oval; the site is subterranean, the roof being
level with the floor of the surrounding plaza. (Pls. 13-15.) Two
walls, an outer and an inner, inclose the room, the latter forming
the lower part. Upon the top of this lower wall rest six pedestals,
which support the roof beams; the outer wall braces these pedestals
on one side. The spaces between these pedestals form recesses in
which the floors extend a few feet above the floor of the room.
The floor of the kiva is generally plastered, but in some cases is
solid rock. The fireplace is a circular depression in the floor, its
purpose being indicated by the wood ashes found therein. Its lining
is ordinarily made of clay, which in some instances is replaced by
stones set on edge.
The other important opening in the floor is one called _sipapû_, or
symbolic opening into the underworld. This is generally situated near
the center of the room, opposite the fireplace. This opening into the
underworld is barely large enough to admit the human hand and extends
only about a foot below the floor surface. It is commonly single, but
in one kiva two of these orifices were detected. A similar symbolic
opening occurs in modern Hopi kivas, as has been repeatedly described
in the author’s accounts of pueblo ceremonials. An important
structure of a Spruce-tree House kiva is an upright slab of rock, or
a narrow thin wall of masonry, placed between the fireplace and the
wall of the kiva. This object, sometimes called an altar, serves as
a deflector, its function being to distribute the air which enters
the kiva at the floor level through a vertical shaft, or ventilator.
Every kiva has at least one such deflector, a single fireplace, and
the sipapû, or ceremonial opening mentioned above.
Several small cubby-holes, or receptacles for paint or small
ceremonial objects, generally occur in the lower walls of the kiva.
In addition to these there exist openings ample in size to admit
the human body, which serve different purposes. The first kind
communicate directly with passageways through which one can pass from
the kiva into a neighboring room or plaza. Such a passageway in kiva
E has steps near the opening in the floor of room 35. This entrance
is not believed, however, to be the only way by which one could enter
or leave this room, but was a private passage, the main entrance
being through the roof. Another lateral passageway is found in kiva
D, where there is an opening in the south wall communicating with
the open air by means of an exit in the floor of room 26; another
opening is found in the wall on the east side. Kiva C has a lateral
opening communicating with a vertical passageway which opens in the
middle of the neighboring plaza. In addition to lateral openings all
kivas without exception have others that serve as ventilators, as
before mentioned, by which air is introduced on the floor level of
the kivas. The opening of this kind communicates through a horizontal
passage with a vertical flue which finds its way outside the room
on a level with the roof. In cases where the kiva is situated near
the front wall these ventilators open through this wall by means of
square apertures. All ventilator openings are in the west wall except
that of kiva A, which is the only one that has rooms on that side.
The construction of kiva roofs must have been a difficult problem
(pls. 14, 15). The beams (L-1 to L-4) are supported by the six
pedestals (C) which stand upon the banquettes (A), and in turn are
supported by the outer wall (B) of the kiva. On top of each of these
pedestals is inserted a short stick (H) that served as a peg on
which the inmates hung their ceremonial paraphernalia. The supports
of the roof were cedar logs cut in suitable lengths by stone axes.
Three logs were laid, connecting adjacent pedestals upon which they
rested. These logs, which were large enough to support considerable
weight, had been stripped of their bark. Upon these six beams were
laid an equal number of beams, spanning the intervals between those
first placed, as shown in the illustration (pl. 15). Upon the
last-mentioned beams were still other logs extending across the kiva,
as also shown in the plate.
The main weight of the roof was supported by two large logs which
extended diametrically across the kiva from one wall to the wall
opposite; they were placed a short distance apart, parallel with
each other. The distance between these logs determines the width of
the doorway, two sides of which they form. The other two sides are
formed by two beams (L-4) of moderate size, laid across these logs,
the space between them and the two beams being filled in with other
logs, forming a compact framework. No nails are necessary in a roof
constructed in this way.
The smaller interstices between the logs were filled in with small
sticks and twigs, thus preventing soil from dropping into the room.
Over the supports of the roof was spread a layer of cedar bark (M)
covered with mud (N), laid deep enough to bring the top of the roof
to the level of the plaza in which the kiva is situated.
No kiva was found in which the plastering of the walls was supported
by sticks, as sometimes occurs here, according to Nordenskiöld, and
in one or more of the Hopi kivas. The plastering of the walls was
placed directly on the masonry.
It is probable that the kiva walls were painted with various devices
before their roofs fell in and other mutilation of the walls took
place. Among these designs parallel lines in white were common.
Similar lines are still made with meal on kiva walls in Hopi
ceremonies, as the author has often described. One of the pedestals
of kiva A is decorated with a triangular figure on the margin of the
dado, to which reference will be made later.
The author has found no conclusive answer to the question why
the kivas are built under ground and are circular in form. He
believes both conditions to be survivals of ancient “pit-houses,”
or subterranean dwellings of an antecedent people. In this
explanation the kiva is regarded as the oldest form of building in
the cliff-dwellings. We have the authority of observation bearing
on this point. Pit-dwellings are recorded from several ruins. In a
recent work Dr. Walter Hough figures and describes certain dwellings
of subterranean character that are sometimes found in clusters,[15]
while the present author has observed subterranean rooms so situated
as to leave no doubt of their great antiquity.[16]
The form of the kiva is characteristic and may be used as a basis of
classification of pueblo culture. The people whose kivas are circular
inhabited villages now ruins in the valley of the San Juan and its
tributaries, in Chelly canyon, Chaco canyon, and on the western
plateau of the Rio Grande.
The rectangular kiva is a structure altogether different from a
round kiva, morphologically, genetically, and geographically. It
is peculiar to the southern and western pueblo area, and while
of later growth, should not be regarded as an evolution from the
circular kiva. Several authors have found in circular kivas survivals
of nomadic architectural conditions, while the position of these
rooms, in nearly every instance in front of the other rooms of
the cliff-dwelling, has led others to accept the theory that they
were later additions to the village, which should be ascribed to a
different race. It would seem that this hypothesis hardly conforms
to facts, as some kivas have secular rooms in front of them which
show evidences of later construction. The strongest objection to the
theory that kivas are modified houses of nomads is the style of roof
construction.
KIVA A
This room (pl. 13), which is the most northerly of all of the
ceremonial rooms of Spruce-tree House, is, the author believes, the
oldest. In construction this is a remarkable chamber. It is built
directly under the cliff, which forms part of its walls. In addition
to its site the remarkable features are its double walls, and its
floor on the level of the roofs of the other kivas. Although this
kiva is not naturally subterranean, the earth and walls built up
around it make it to all intents below the surface of the ground.
It appears from the arrangement of walls and banquettes that there is
here presented an example of one room constructed inside of another,
the inner room utilizing for its wall a portion of the outer. The
inner room is more nearly circular than the outer in which it was
subsequently built. In this inner room as in other kivas there are
six banquettes, and the same number of pedestals to support the roof.
Three of these pedestals are common to both rooms. The floor of this
room shows nothing peculiar. It has a fire hole, a sipapû, and a
deflector, or low wall between the fire hole and the entrance into
the horizontal passageway of the ventilator. The ventilator itself
opens just outside the west wall through a passageway, the walls
of which stand on the wall of a neighboring room. No plaza of any
considerable size surrounded the top of this kiva.
In order to get an idea as to how many rectangular rooms naturally
accompany a single kiva, the author examined the ground plans of
such cliff-dwellings as are known to have but one circular kiva,
the majority of these being in the Chelly canyon. While it was not
possible to determine the point satisfactorily, it was found that in
several instances the circular kiva lies in the middle of several
rooms, a fact which would seem to indicate that it was built first
and that the square rooms were added later. Several clusters of
rooms, each cluster having one kiva, closely resemble kiva A and its
surroundings, in both form and structure.
KIVA B
The walls of this subterranean room had escaped all previous
observers. They are very much dilapidated, being wholly concealed
when work of excavation began. A large old cedar tree growing in
the middle of this room led the author to abandon its complete
excavation, which promised little return either in enlarging our
knowledge of the ground plan of Spruce-tree House or in shedding
additional light on the culture of its prehistoric inhabitants.
KIVAS C AND D
The two kivas, C and D, the roofs of which form the greater part of
plaza C, logically belong together in our consideration. One of these
rooms, C, was roofed over by the author, who followed as a model the
roofs of the two kivas of the House with the Square Tower (Peabody
House); the other shows a few log supports of an original roof—the
only Spruce-tree House kiva of which this is true.
Not only was the roof of the kiva restored but its walls were well
repaired, so that it now presents all the essential features of
an ancient kiva. On one of the banquettes of this room the author
found a vase which was evidently a receptacle for pigments or other
ceremonial paraphernalia.
Kiva D has a passageway leading into room 26 and a second opening in
the west wall on the floor level, besides a ventilator of the type
common to all kivas. The top of the opening in the west wall appears
covered with a flat stone in one of the photographic views (plate 11).
The wall in front of the village in the neighborhood of kivas C and
D was wholly concealed by débris when work was begun on this part of
the ruin. Excavation of this débris showed that opposite each kiva
there was an opening with which the ventilator is believed formerly
to have been connected. There seems to have been a low-storied house,
possibly a cooking-place, provided with a roof, in an interval
between kivas C and D; in the floor of the plaza at this point a
well-made fire hole was uncovered.
KIVA E
Kiva E is one of the finest which was excavated, showing all the
typical structures of these characteristic rooms; it almost fills
the plaza in which it is situated. The exceptional feature of this
room is a passageway through the west wall. Room 35 may have been the
house of a chief or of a priest who kept in it his masks or other
ceremonial paraphernalia. A similar opening in the wall of one of the
Hopi kivas communicates with a dark room in which are kept altars and
other ceremonial objects. When such a passageway into a dark chamber
is not in use it is closed by a slab of stone.
KIVA F
Kiva F might be designated the Spruce-tree kiva from the large
spruce tree that formerly grew near its outer wall. Its stump is now
visible, but the tree lies extended in the canyon.
The walls of this kiva were poorly preserved, and only two of the
pedestals were in place. The walls were repaired and the roof
restored. This room is situated outside the walls, and in that
respect recalls kiva B, described above. The ventilator opening of
this kiva is situated on the south instead of on the west side of
the room, as is the rule in other kivas. The large size of this room
would indicate that it was of great importance in the religious
ceremonials of the prehistoric inhabitants of Spruce-tree House, but
all indications point to its late construction.[17]
KIVA G
Kiva G was so well preserved that its walls were thoroughly restored;
it now stands as typical of one of these rooms in which the several
characteristic features may be seen. For the guidance of visitors,
letters or numbers accompanied by explanatory labels were painted by
the author on the walls of the kiva.
Kiva G lies just below and in front of the round tower of Spruce-tree
House, which is situated in the neighborhood of the main court, and
may therefore be looked on as one of the most important kivas in the
cliff-dwelling.[18] The solid stone floor of this room had been cut
down about 8 inches.
KIVA H
Kiva H, the largest in Spruce-tree House, contained some of the best
specimens excavated by the author. Its shape is oval rather than
circular, and it fills the whole space inclosed by walls of rooms
on three sides. In the neighborhood of kiva H is a comparatively
spacious plaza which is bounded on the front by a low wall, now
repaired, and on the other sides are high rooms. The plaza containing
this kiva was ample for ceremonial dances which undoubtedly formerly
occurred in it. The walls of kiva H formerly had a marked pinkish
color, showing no sign of blackening by smoke except in places.
Charred roof beams were excavated at one place, however, and charcoal
occurred deep under the débris that filled this room.
CIRCULAR ROOMS OTHER THAN KIVAS
There are two rooms (nos. 54, 69) of circular shape in Spruce-tree
House, one of which resembles the “tower” in the Cliff Palace. This
room (no. 54) is situated to the right hand of the main court above
referred to, into which it projects without attachment except on one
side. Its walls have two small windows or openings which have been
called doorways, and are of a single story in height. This tower was
apparently ceremonial in character.
It is instructive to mention that remains of a fire hole containing
wood ashes occur in the floor on one side of this room, and that the
walls are pierced with several small holes opening at an angle. Only
foundations remain of the other circular room. It was situated on the
south side of the open space containing kiva H and formed a bastion
at the north end of the front wall. The floor of this room was wholly
covered with fallen débris and its ground plan was wholly concealed
when the excavations began; it was only with considerable difficulty
that the foundation walls could be traced.
CEREMONIAL ROOM OTHER THAN KIVA
While the circular subterranean rooms above mentioned are believed
to be the most common ceremonial chambers, there are others in the
cliff-dwellings which were undoubtedly used for similar purposes.
One of these, designated room 12, adjoins the mortuary room (11) and
opens on the plaza C, D. In some respects the form of this room is
similar to an “estufa of singular construction” described and figured
in Nordenskiöld’s account of Cliff Palace. Certain distinctive
characters of this room separate it on one side from a kiva and on
the other from a dwelling. In the first place, it lacks the circular
form and subterranean site. The six pedestals which universally
support the roofs are likewise absent. In fact they are not needed
because in this room the top of the cave serves as the roof. A
bank extends around three sides of the room, the fourth side being
the perpendicular wall of the cliff. In the southeast corner is an
opening, which recalls that in the “estufa of singular construction”
described by Nordenskiöld.[19]
MORTUARY ROOM
Room 9 may be designated a mortuary room from the fact that at least
four human skeletons and accompanying offerings have been found in
its floor. Three of those, excavated several years ago, were said
to have been infants; the skull of one of these was figured and
described by Prof. G. Retzius, in Nordenskiöld’s memoir. The skeleton
found by the author was that of an adult and was accompanied by
mortuary offerings. The skull and some of the larger bones were well
preserved.[20] Evidently the doorway of this room had been walled up
and there are indications that the burials took place at intervals,
the last occurring before the desertion of the village.
The presence of burials in the floors of rooms in Spruce-tree House
was to be expected, as the practice of thus disposing of the dead
was known from other ruins of the Park, but it has not been pointed
out that we have in this region good evidence of several successive
interments in the same room. The existence of this intramural burial
room in the south end of the ruin is one of the facts that can be
adduced pointing to the conclusion that this part of the ruin is very
old.
SMALL LEDGE-HOUSES
Not far from the Spruce-tree House, situated in the same canyon,
there are small one-room houses perched on narrow ledges situated
generally a little higher than the cave containing the main ruin.
Although it is difficult to enter some of these houses, members of
the author’s party visited all of them, and two of the workmen slept
in a small ledge-house on the west side of the canyon. Except in rare
cases these smaller houses can not be considered dwellings; they may
have been used for storage, although it is more than likely that they
were resorted to by priests when they wished to pray for rain or to
perform certain ceremonies. The ledge-houses form a distinct type
of ruin; they are rarely multiple-chambered and therefore are not
capacious enough for more than one family.
STAIRWAYS
There are two or three old stairway trails in the neighborhood of
Spruce-tree House. These consist of a succession of holes for hands
and feet, or of a series of pits cut in the face of the cliff at
convenient distances. One of these ancient trails is situated on the
west side of the canyon not far from the modern trail to the spring;
the other lies on the east side a few feet north of the ruin. Both
of these trails were appropriately labeled for the convenience of
future visitors. There is still another ancient trail along the east
canyon wall south of the ruin. Although all these trails are somewhat
obscure, it is hoped that they can be readily found by means of the
labels posted near them.
REFUSE-HEAPS
In the rear of the buildings are two large open spaces which, from
their positions relative to the main street, may be called the
northern and southern refuse-heaps. They merit more than passing
consideration. The former, being the larger, has not yet been
thoroughly cleared out, although pretty well dug over before the
repair work was begun. The author completely cleared out the southern
refuse-heap and excavated to its floor.[21]
The southern recess opens directly into the main street and is
flooded with light. Its floor is covered with large fragments of
rock that have fallen from the cliff above. The spaces between these
bowlders were filled with débris and the bowlders themselves were
covered with the same accumulations the removal of which was no small
task.
MINOR ANTIQUITIES
The rooms and refuse-heaps of Spruce-tree House had been pretty
thoroughly ransacked for specimens by those who preceded the author,
so that few minor antiquities were expected to come to light in the
excavation and repair work. Notwithstanding this, however, a fair
collection, containing some unique specimens and many representative
objects, was made, and is now in the National Museum where it will
be preserved and be accessible to all students. Considering the
fact that most of the specimens previously abstracted from this
ruin have been scattered in all directions and are now in many
hands, it is doubtful whether a collection of any considerable size
from Spruce-tree House exists in any other public museum. In order
to render this account more comprehensive, references are made in
the following pages to objects from Spruce-tree House elsewhere
described, now in other collections. These references, quoted from
Nordenskiöld, the only writer on this subject, are as follows:
Plate XVIII: 2. a and b. Strongly flattened cranium of a child.
Found in a room in Sprucetree House.
Plate XXXIV: 4. Stone axe of porphyrite. Sprucetree House.
Plate XXXV: 2. Rough-hewn stone axe of quartzite. Sprucetree House.
Plate XXXIX: 6. Implement of black slate. Form peculiar (see the
text). Found in Sprucetree House.
[In the text the last-mentioned specimen is again referred to, as
follows:]
I have still to mention a number of stone implements the use of
which is unknown to me, first some large (15-30 cm.), flat, and
rather thick stones of irregular shape and much worn at the edges
(Pl. XXXIX: 4, 5), second a singular object consisting of a thin
slab of black slate, and presenting the appearance shown in Pl.
XXXIX: 6. My collection contains only one such implement, but among
the objects in Wetherill’s possession I saw several. They are all
of exactly the same shape and of almost the same size. I cannot
say in what manner this slab of slate was employed. Perhaps it is
a last for the plaiting of sandals or the cutting of moccasins. In
size it corresponds pretty nearly to the foot of an adult.
Plate XL: 5. Several _ulnæ_ and _radii_ of birds (turkeys) tied
on a buckskin string and probably used as an amulet. Found in
Sprucetree House.
Plate XLIII: 6. Bundle of 19 sticks of hard wood, probably employed
in some kind of knitting or crochet work. The pins are pointed at
one end, blunt at the other, and black with wear. They are held
together by a narrow band of yucca. Found in Sprucetree House.
Plate XLIV: 2. Similar to the preceding basket, but smaller. Found
in Sprucetree House....
[The “preceding basket” is thus described in explanation of the
figure (Pl. XLIV: 1):] Basket of woven yucca in two different
colors, a neat pattern being thus attained. The strips of yucca
running in a vertical direction are of the natural yellowish brown,
the others (in horizontal direction) darker....
Plate XLV: 1(95) and 2(663): Small baskets of yucca, of plain
colour and of handsomely plaited pattern. Found: 1 in ruin 9, 2 in
Sprucetree House.
Plate XLVIII: 4(674). Mat of plaited reeds, originally 1.2 × 1.2
m., but damaged in transportation. Found in Sprucetree House.
It appears from the foregoing that the following specimens have been
described and figured by Nordenskiöld, from Spruce-tree House: (1)
A child’s skull; (2) 2 stone axes; (3) a slab of black slate; (4)
several bird bones used for amulet; (5) bundle of sticks; (6) 2 small
baskets; (7) a plaited mat.
In addition to the specimens above referred to, the majority of
which are duplicated in the author’s collection, no objects from
Spruce-tree House are known to have been described or figured
elsewhere, so that there are embraced in the present account
practically all printed references to known material from this ruin.
But there is no doubt that other specimens as yet unmentioned in
print still exist in public collections in Colorado, and later these
also may be described and figured. From the nature of the author’s
excavations and method of collecting, little hope remains that
additional specimens may be obtained from rooms in Spruce-tree House,
but the northern refuse-heap situated at the back of the cavern may
yet yield a few good objects. This still awaits complete scientific
excavation.
The author’s collection from Spruce-tree House, the choice specimens
of which are now in the National Museum, numbers several hundred
objects. All the duplicates and heavy specimens, about equal in
number to the lighter ones, were left at the ruin where they are
available for future study. These are mostly stone mauls, metates
and large grinding implements, and broken bowls and vases. The
absence from Spruce-tree House of certain characteristic objects
widely distributed among Southwestern ruins is regarded as worthy
of comment. It will be noticed in looking over the author’s
collection that there are no specimens of marine shells, or of
turquoise ornaments or obsidian flakes, from the excavations made at
Spruce-tree House. This fact is significant, meaning either that the
former inhabitants of this village were ignorant of these objects or
that the excavators failed to find what may have existed. The author
accepts the former explanation, that these objects were not in use by
the inhabitants of Spruce-tree House, their ignorance of them having
been due mainly to their restricted commercial dealings with their
neighbors.
Obsidian, one of the rarest stones in the cliff-dwellings of the Mesa
Verde, as a rule is characteristic of very old ruins and occurs in
those having kivas of the round type, to the south and west of that
place.
It is said that turquoise has been found in the Mesa Verde ruins.
The author has seen a beautiful bird mosaic with inlaid turquoise
from one of the ruins near Cortez in Montezuma valley. This specimen
is made of hematite with turquoise eyes and neckband of the same
material; the feathers are represented by stripes of inlaid
turquoise. Also inlaid in turquoise in the back is an hourglass
figure, recalling designs drawn in outline on ancient pottery.
The absence of bracelets, armlets, and finger rings of sea shells,
objects so numerous in the ruins along the Little Colorado and the
Gila, may be explained by lack of trade, due to culture isolation.
The people of Mesa Verde appear not to have come in contact with
tribes who traded these shells, consequently they never obtained
them. The absence of culture connection in this direction tells
in favor of the theory that the ancestors of the Mesa Verde
people did not come from the southwest or the west, where shells
are so abundant. Although not proving much either way by itself,
this theory, when taken with other facts which admit of the same
interpretation, is significant. The inhabitants of Spruce-tree House
(the same is true of the other Mesa Verde people) had an extremely
narrow mental horizon. They obtained little in trade from their
neighbors and were quite unconscious of the extent of the culture of
which they were representatives.
POTTERY
The women of Spruce-tree House were expert potters and decorated
their wares in a simple but artistic manner. Until we have more
material it would be gratuitous to assume that the ceramic art
objects of all the Mesa Verde ruins are identical in texture, colors,
and symbolism, and the only way to determine how great are the
variations, if any, would be to make an accurate comparative study of
pottery from different localities. Thus far the quantity of material
available does not justify comparison even of the ruins of this
mesa, but there is a good beginning of a collection from Spruce-tree
House. The custom of placing in graves offerings of food for the
dead has preserved several good bowls, and although whole pieces are
rare fragments are found in abundance. Eighteen earthenware vessels,
including those repaired and restored from fragments, rewarded the
author’s excavations at Spruce-tree House. Some of these vessels bear
a rare and beautiful symbolism which is quite different from that
known from Arizona. The few plates (16-20) here given to illustrate
these symbols are offered more as a basis for future study and
comparisons than as an exhaustive representation of ceramics from one
ruin.
The number and variety of pieces of pottery figured from the Mesa
Verde cliff-dwellings have not been great. An examination of
Nordenskiöld’s memoir reveals the fact that he represents about 50
specimens of pottery; several of these were obtained by purchase, and
others came from Chelly canyon, the pottery of which is strikingly
like that of Mesa Verde. The majority of specimens obtained by
Nordenskiöld’s excavations were from Step House, not a single ceramic
object from Spruce-tree House being figured. So far as the author
can ascertain, the ceramic specimens here considered are the first
representatives of this art from Spruce-tree House that have been
described or figured, but there may be many other specimens from this
locality awaiting description and it is to be hoped that some day
these may be made known to the scientific world.
FORMS
Every form of pottery represented by Nordenskiöld, with the exception
of that which he styles a “lamp-shaped” vessel and of certain platter
forms with indentations, occurs in the collection here considered.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. Lid of jar.]
Nordenskiöld figures a jar provided with a lid, both sides of which
are shown.[22] It would seem that this lid (fig. 1),[23] unlike those
provided with knobs, found by the author, had two holes near the
center. The decoration on the top of the lid of one of the author’s
specimens resembles that figured by Nordenskiöld, but other specimens
differ from his as shown in figure 1. The specimens having raised
lips and lids are perforated in the edges of the openings, with one
or more holes for strings or handles. As bowls of this form are found
in sacred rooms they would seem to have been connected with worship.
The author believes that they served the same purposes as the netted
gourds of the Hopi. Most of the ceramic objects in Spruce-tree House
were in fragments when found.[24] Some of these objects have been
repaired and it is remarkable that so much good material for the
study of the symbolism has been obtained in this way.
[Illustration: FIG. 2. Repaired pottery.]
Black-and-white ware is the most common and the characteristic
painted pottery, but fragmentary specimens of a reddish ware occur.
One peculiarity in the lips of food bowls from Spruce-tree House
(pls. 16-18) is that their rims are flat, instead of rounded as in
more western prehistoric ruins, like Sikyatki. Food bowls are rarely
concave at the base.
No fragments of glazed pottery were found, although the surfaces of
some species were very smooth and glossy from constant rubbing with
smoothing stones. Several pieces of pottery were unequally fired,
so that a vitreous mass, or blotch, was evident on one side. Smooth
vessels and those made of coiled ware, which were covered with soot
from fires, were evidently used in cooking.
Several specimens showed evidences of having been broken and
afterwards mended by the owners (fig. 2); holes were drilled near
the line of fracture and the two parts tied together; even the yucca
strings still remain in the holes, showing where fragments were
united. In figure 3 there is represented a fragment of a handle of an
amphora on which is tied a tightly-woven cord.
[Illustration: FIG. 3. Handle with attached cord.]
Not a very great variety of pottery forms was brought to light in
the operations at Spruce-tree House. Those that were found are
essentially the types common throughout the Southwest, and may be
classified as follows: (1) Large jars, or ollas; (2) flat food bowls;
(3) cups and mugs; (4) ladles or dippers (fig. 4); (5) canteens; (6)
globular bowls. An exceptional form is a globular bowl with a raised
lip like a sugar bowl (pl. 19, _f_). This form is never seen in other
prehistoric ruins.
[Illustration: FIG. 4. Ladle.]
STRUCTURE
Classified by structure, the pottery found in the Spruce-tree
House ruin falls into two groups, coiled ware and smooth ware, the
latter either with or without decoration. The white ware has black
decorations.
[Illustration: FIG. 5. Handle of mug.]
The bases of the mugs (pl. 19) from Spruce-tree House, like those
from other Mesa Verde ruins, have a greater diameter than the lips.
These mugs are tall and their handles are of generous size. One of
the mugs found in this ruin has a =T=-shaped hole in its handle (fig.
5), recalling in this particular a mug collected in 1895 by the
author at Awatobi, a Hopi ruin.
The most beautiful specimen of canteen found at Spruce-tree House is
here shown in plate 20.
The coiled ware of Spruce-tree House, as of all the Mesa Verde ruins,
is somewhat finer than the coiled ware of Sikyatki. Although no
complete specimen was found, many fragments were collected, some of
which are of great size. This kind of ware was apparently the most
abundant and also the most fragile. As a rule these vessels show
marks of fire, soot, or smoke on the outside, and were evidently
used as cooking vessels. On account of their fragile character they
could not have been used for carrying water, for, with one or two
exceptions, they would not be equal to the strain. In decoration of
coiled ware the women of Spruce-tree House resorted to an ingenious
modification of the coils, making triangular figures, spirals, or
crosses in relief, which were usually affixed to the necks of the
vessels.
The symbolism on the pottery of Spruce-tree House is essentially that
of a cliff-dwelling culture, being simple in general characters.
Although it has many affinities with the archaic symbols of the
Pueblos, it has not the same complexity. The reason for this can be
readily traced to that same environmental influence which caused the
communities to seek the cliffs for protection. The very isolation of
the Mesa Verde cliff-dwellings prevented the influx of new ideas and
consequently the adoption of new symbols to represent them. Secure
in their cliffs, the inhabitants were not subject to the invasion
of strange clans nor could new customs be introduced, so that
conservatism ruled their art as well as their life in general. Only
simple symbols were present because there was no outside stimulus or
competition to make them complex.
On classification of Spruce-tree House pottery according to
technique, irrespective of its form, two divisions appear: (1)
Coiled ware showing the coils externally, and (2) smooth ware with
or without decorations. Structurally both divisions are the same,
although their outward appearance is different.
The smooth ware may be decorated with incised lines or pits, but is
painted often in one color. All the decorated vessels obtained by the
author at Spruce-tree House belong to what is called black-and-white
ware, by which is meant pottery having a thin white slip covering the
whole surface upon which black pictures are painted. Occasionally
fragments of a reddish brown cup were found, while red ware bearing
white decorative figures was recovered from the Mesa Verde; but none
of these are ascribed to Spruce-tree House or were collected by the
author. The general geographical distribution of this black-and-white
ware, not taking into account sporadic examples, is about the same
as that of the circular kivas, but it is also found where circular
kivas are unknown, as in the upper part of the valley of the Little
Colorado.
The black-and-white ware of modern pueblos, as Zuñi and Hano, the
latter the Tewan pueblo among the Hopi, is of late introduction from
the Rio Grande; prehistoric Zuñi ware is unlike that of modern Zuñi,
being practically identical in character with that of the other
ancient pueblos of the Little Colorado and its tributaries.
DECORATION
[Illustration: FIG. 6. Fragment of pottery.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7. Zigzag ornament.]
As a rule, the decoration on pottery from Spruce-tree House is
simple, being composed mainly of geometrical patterns. Life forms
are rare, when present consisting chiefly of birds or rude figures
of mammals painted on the outside of food bowls (fig. 6). The
geometrical figures are principally rectilinear, there being a great
paucity of spirals and curved lines. The tendency to arrange rows of
dots along straight lines is marked in Mesa Verde pottery and occurs
also in dados of house walls. There are many examples of stepped
or terraced figures which are so arranged in pairs that the spaces
between the terraces form zigzag bands, as shown in figure 7. A band
extending from the upper left hand, to the lower right hand, angle
of the rectangle that incloses the two terraced figures, may be
designated a sinistral, and when at right angles a dextral, terraced
figure (fig. 8). Specimens from Spruce-tree House show considerable
modification in these two types.
[Illustration: FIG. 8. Sinistral and dextral stepped figures.]
With exception of the terrace the triangle (fig. 9) is possibly the
most common geometrical decoration on Spruce-tree House pottery. Most
of the triangles may be bases of terraced figures, for by cutting
notches on the longer sides of these triangles, sinistral or dextral
stepped figures (as the case may be) result.
[Illustration: FIG. 9. Triangle ornament.]
The triangles may be placed in a row, united in hourglass forms, or
distributed in other ways. These triangles may be equilateral or
one of the angles may be very acute. Although the possibilities of
triangle combinations are almost innumerable the different forms can
be readily recognized. The dot is a common form of decoration, and
parallel lines also are much used. Many bowls are decorated with
hachure, and with line ornaments mostly rectilinear.
The volute plays a part, although not a conspicuous one, in
Spruce-tree House pottery decoration. Simple volutes are of two
kinds, one in which the figure-coils follow the direction of the
hands of the clock (dextral); the other, in which they take an
opposite direction (sinistral). The outer end of the volute may
terminate in a triangle or other figure, which may be notched,
serrated, or otherwise modified. A compound sinistral volute is one
which is sinistral until it reaches the center, when it turns into
a dextral volute extending to the periphery. The compound dextral
volute is exactly the reverse of the last-mentioned, starting as
dextral and ending as sinistral. If, as frequently happens, there is
a break in the lines at the middle, the figure may be called a broken
compound volute. Two volutes having different axes are known as a
composite volute, sinistral or dextral as the case may be.
[Illustration: FIG. 10. Meander.]
The meander (fig. 10) is also important in Spruce-tree House or Mesa
Verde pottery decoration. The form of meander homologous to the
volute may be classified in the same terms as the volute, into (1)
simple sinistral meander; (2) simple dextral meander; (3) compound
sinistral meander; (4) compound dextral meander; and (5) composite
meander. These meanders, like the volutes, may be accompanied by
parallel lines or by rows of dots enlarged, serrated, notched, or
otherwise modified.
In some beautiful specimens a form of hachure, or combination of
many parallel lines with spirals and meanders, is introduced in a
very effective way. This kind of decoration is very rare on old Hopi
(Sikyatki) pottery, but is common on late Zuñi and Hano ceramics,
both of which are probably derived from the Rio Grande region.
Lines, straight or zigzag, constitute important elements in
Spruce-tree House pottery decoration. These may be either parallel,
or crossed so as to form reticulated areas.
Along these lines rows of dots or of triangular enlargements may
be introduced. The latter may be simply serrations, dentations, or
triangles of considerable size, sometimes bent over, resembling
pointed bands.
Curved figures are rarely used, but such as are found are
characteristic. Concentric rings, with or without central dots, are
not uncommon.
Rectangles apparently follow the same general rules as circles, and
are also sometimes simple, with or without central dots.
The triangle is much more common as a decorative motive than
the circle or the rectangle, variety being brought about by the
difference in length of the sides. The hourglass formed by two
triangles with one angle of each united is common. The quail’s-head
design, or triangle having two parallel marks on an extension at one
angle, is not as common as on Little Colorado pottery and that from
the Gila valley.
As in all ceramics from the San Juan area, the stepped figures are
most abundant. There are two types of stepped figures, the sinistral
and the dextral, according as the steps pass from left to right or
vice versa. The color of the two stepped figures may be black, or
one or both may have secondary ornamentation in forms of hachure or
network. One may be solid black, the other filled in with lines.
In addition to the above-mentioned geometrical figures, the S-shaped
design is common; when doubled, this forms the cross called swastika.
The S figure is of course generally curved but may be angular, in
which case the cross is more evident. One bowl has the S figure on
the outside. All of the above-mentioned designs admit of variations
and two or more are often combined in Spruce-tree House pottery,
which is practically the same in type as that of the whole Mesa Verde
region.
CERAMIC AREAS
While it is yet too early in our study of prehistoric pueblo
culture to make or define subcultural areas, it is possible to
recognize provisionally certain areas having features in common,
which differ from other areas.[25] It has already been shown that
the form of the subterranean ceremonial room can be used as a basis
of classification. If pottery symbols are taken as the basis, it
will be found that there are at least two great subsections in the
pueblo country coinciding with the two divisions recognized as the
result of study of the form of sacred rooms—the northeastern and the
southwestern region or, for brevity, the northern and the southern
area. In the former region lie, besides the Mesa Verde and the San
Juan valley, Chaco and Chelly canyons; in the latter, the ruins of
“great houses” along the Gila and Salt rivers.
From these two centers radiated in ancient times two types of pottery
symbols expressive of two distinct cultures, each ceremonially
distinct and, architecturally speaking, characteristic. The line of
junction of the influences of these two subcultural areas practically
follows the Little Colorado river, the valley of which is the site
of a third ceramic subculture area; this is mixed, being related on
one side to the northern, on the other to the southern, region. The
course of this river and its tributaries has determined a trail of
migration, which in turn has spread this intermingled ceramic art far
and wide. The geographical features of the Little Colorado basin have
prevented the evolution of characteristic ceramic culture in any part
of the region.
Using color and symbolism of pottery as a basis of classification,
the author has provisionally divided the sedentary people of the
Southwest into the following divisions, or has recognized the
following ceramic areas: (1) Hopi area, including the wonderful
ware of Sikyatki, Awatobi, and the ruins on Antelope mesa, at old
Mishongnovi, Shumopavi and neighboring ruins; (2) Casa Grande area;
(3) San Juan area, including Mesa Verde, Chaco canyon, Chelly canyon
as far west as St. George, Utah, and Navaho mountain, Arizona; (4)
Little Colorado area, including Zuñi. The pottery of Casas Grandes in
Chihuahua is allied in colors but not in symbols to old Hopi ware. So
little is known of the old Piros ceramics and of the pottery from all
ruins east of the Rio Grande, that they are not yet classified. The
ceramics from the region west of the Rio Grande are related to the
San Juan and Chaco areas.
The Spruce-tree House pottery belongs to the San Juan area, having
some resemblance and relationship to that from the lower course of
the Little Colorado. It is markedly different from the pottery of
the Hopi area and has only the most distant resemblance to that from
Casas Grandes.[26]
HOPI AREA
The Hopi area is well distinguished by specialized symbols which
are not duplicated elsewhere in the pueblo area. Among these may be
mentioned the symbol for the feather, and a band representing the sky
with design of a mythic bird attached. As almost all pueblo symbols,
ancient and modern, are represented on old Hopi ware, and in addition
other designs peculiar to it, the logical conclusion is that these
Hopi symbols are specialized in origin.
The evolution of a ceramic area in the neighborhood of the modern
Hopi mesas is due to special causes, and points to a long residence
in that locality. It would seem from traditions that the earliest
Hopi people came from the east, and that the development of a purely
Hopi ceramic culture in the region now occupied by this people
took place before any great change due to southern immigration had
occurred. The entrance of Patki and other clans from the south
strongly affected the old Hopi culture, which was purest in Sikyatki,
but even there it remained distinctive. The advent of the eastern
clans in large numbers after the great rebellion in 1680, especially
of the Tanoan families about 1710, radically changed the symbolism,
making modern Hopi ware completely eastern in this respect. The old
symbolism, the germ of which was eastern, as shown by the characters
employed, almost completely vanished, being replaced by an introduced
symbolism.
In order scientifically to appreciate the bearing on the migration of
clans, of symbolism on pottery, we must bear in mind that a radical
difference in such symbolism as has taken place at the Hopi villages
may have occurred elsewhere as well, although there is no evidence of
a change of this kind having occurred at Spruce-tree House.
The author includes under Hopi ware that found at the Hopi ruins
Sikyatki, Shumopavi, and Awatobi, the collection from the first-named
being typical. Some confusion has been introduced by others into the
study of old Hopi ware by including in it, under the name “Tusayan
pottery,” the white-and-black ware of the Chelly canyon.[27] There
is a close resemblance between the pottery of Chelly canyon and
that of Mesa Verde, but only the most distant relationship between
true Hopi ware and that of Chelly canyon. The latter belong in fact
to two distinct areas, and differ in color, symbolism, and general
characters. In so far as the Hopi ware shares its symbolism with the
other geographical areas of the eastern region, to the same extent
there is kinship in culture. In more distant ruins the pottery
contains a greater admixture of symbols foreign to Mesa Verde. These
differences are due no doubt to incorporation of other clans.
The subceramic area in which the Mesa Verde ruins lie embraces the
valleys of the San Juan and its tributaries, Chelly canyon, Chaco
canyon, and probably the ruins along the Rio Grande, on both sides
of the river. Whether the Chaco or the Mesa Verde region is the
geographical center of this subarea, or not, can not be determined,
but the indications are that the Mesa Verde is on its northern
border. Along the southwestern and western borders the culture of
this area mingles with that of the subcultural area adjoining on the
south, the resultant symbolism being consequently more complex. The
ceramic ware of ruins of the Mesa Verde is little affected by outside
and diverse influences, while, on the contrary, similar ware found
along the western and southern borders of the subcultural area has
been much modified by the influence of the neighboring region.
LITTLE COLORADO AREA
Although the decoration on pottery from Spruce-tree House embraces
some symbols in common with that of the ruins along the Little
Colorado, including prehistoric Zuñi, there is evidence of a mingling
of the two ceramic types which is believed to have originated in
the Gila basin. The resemblance in the pottery of these regions
is greater near the sources of the Little Colorado, differences
increasing as one descends the river. At Homolobi (near Winslow) and
Chevlon, where the pottery is half northern and half southern in
type, these differences have almost disappeared.
This is what might be expected theoretically, and is in accordance
with legends of the Hopi, for the Little Colorado ruins are more
modern than the round-kiva culture of Chaco canyon and Mesa Verde,
and than the square-ceremonial-house culture of the Gila. The
indications are that symbolism of the Little Colorado ruins is a
composite, representative in about equal proportions of the two
subcultures of the Southwest.[28]
As confirmatory of this suggested dual origin we find that the
symbolism of pottery from ruins near the source of the Little
Colorado is identical with that of the Salt, the Verde, and the
Tonto basins, from which their inhabitants originally came in larger
numbers than from the Rio Grande. In the ruins of the upper Salt
and Gila the pottery is more like that of the neighboring sources
of the Little Colorado because of interchanges. On the other hand,
the ancient Hopi, being more isolated than other Pueblos, especially
those on the Little Colorado, developed a ceramic art peculiar to
themselves. Their pottery is different from that of the Little
Colorado, the upper Gila and its tributary, the Salt, and the San
Juan including the Mesa Verde.
The Zuñi valley, lying practically in the pathway of culture
migration or about midway between the northern and southern
subceramic areas, had no distinctive ancient pottery. Its ancient
pottery is not greatly unlike that of Homolobi near Winslow but has
been influenced about equally by the northern and the southern type.
Whatever originality in culture symbols developed in the Zuñi valley
was immediately merged with others and spread over a large area.[29]
MESA VERDE AREA
While there are several subdivisions in the eastern subcultural area,
that in which the Mesa Verde ruins are situated is distinctive. The
area embraces the ruins in the Montezuma valley and those of Chelly
canyon, and the San Juan ruins as far as Navaho mountain, including
also the Chaco and the Canyon Largo ruins. Probably the pottery of
some of the ruins east of the Rio Grande will be found to belong
to the same type. That of the Hopi ceramic area, the so-called
“Tusayan,” exclusive of Chelly canyon, is distinct from all others.
The pottery of the Gila subculture area is likewise distinctive but
its influence made its way up the Verde and the Tonto and was potent
across the mountains, in the Little Colorado basin. Its influence is
likewise strong in the White Mountain ruins and on the Tularosa, and
around the sources of the Gila and Salt rivers.
An examination of the decoration of pottery from Spruce-tree House
fails to reveal a single specimen with the well-known broken
encircling line called “the line of life.” As this feature is
absent from pottery from all the Mesa Verde ruins it may be said
provisionally that the ancient potters of this region were unfamiliar
with it.
This apparently insignificant characteristic is present, however,
in all the pottery directly influenced by the culture of the
southwestern subceramic area. It occurs in pottery from the Gila
and the Salt River ruins, in the Hopi area, and along the Little
Colorado, including the Zuñi valley, and elsewhere. Until recorded
from the northeastern subceramic area, “the line of life” may be
considered a peculiarity of ceramics of the Gila subarea or of the
pottery influenced by its culture.
Among the restored food bowls from Spruce-tree House, having
characteristic symbols, may be mentioned that represented in plate
16, _d_, _d′_, which has on the interior surface a triangular design
with curved appendages to each angle. The triangular arrangement of
designs on the interior surface of food bowls is not uncommon in the
Mesa Verde pottery.
Another food bowl has two unusual designs on the interior surface, as
shown in plate 18, _c_, _c′_. The meaning of this rare symbolism is
unknown.
In plates 16-19 are represented some of the most characteristic
symbols on the restored pottery.
The outer surfaces of many food bowls are elaborately decorated with
designs as shown, while the rims in most cases are dotted.
STONE IMPLEMENTS
Stone implements from Spruce-tree House include axes, mauls, stone
hammers, and grinding stones, in addition to other objects of unknown
uses. As a rule these stone implements are rudely made, although
some of them are as fine as any known from the Southwest. It is but
natural that these implements should have been manufactured from more
compact and harder rock than that of which the walls of the buildings
were constructed. Apparently these objects were not picked up in
the neighborhood but brought to the site of the ruin from a great
distance.
AXES
The author collected several stone axes (pl. 21 and fig. 11) from
Spruce-tree House, some of which (_a_-_f_) are fine specimens. These
are all of the same general type, sharpened at one end and blunt at
the opposite end, with a groove midway for attachment of the handle.
In no case is there a ridge bordering this groove which in one
specimen (pl. 21, _g_) is partially duplicated.
One ax has a cutting edge at each end, while another (fig. 12) has
the handle still attached, recalling the two specimens figured by
Nordenskiöld.
[Illustration: FIG. 11. Stone axes.]
Among the objects of stone taken from Spruce-tree House are several
similar to those called by the Hopi _tcamahias_ (pl. 21, _h_).
These implements are as a rule long, with smooth surfaces; they are
sharpened at one end and pointed at the opposite end. Generally they
have no groove for the attachment of a handle; in one instance,
however, there is an indentation on opposite borders. The use
of these objects is unknown; they may have been axes or planting
implements.
Stone objects of precisely the same type are highly prized by the
Hopi and play important parts in their ceremonials. A number of these
objects are arranged about the sand picture of the Antelope altar in
the Snake dance at Walpi.[30]
[Illustration: FIG. 12. Stone ax with handle.]
Similar specimens are attached by the Hopi to their most sacred
palladium, called the _tiponi_, or badge of office of the chief of
a priesthood. The tiponi of the Antelope society has one of these
projecting from its top. The meaning of this association may be even
greater than at first would be suspected, for according to legends
the Snake family, which is the guardian of the fetishes used in the
snake ceremonies, originally lived at Tokonabi, near Navaho mountain,
at the mouth of the San Juan river. The culture of the ancient
inhabitants of the ruins at that place was not very different from
that of the people of the Mesa Verde.
GRINDING STONES
Both pestles and hand stones used in grinding maize were excavated,
the latter in considerable numbers. There were found also many
stone slabs having rounded depressions, or pits, on opposite sides,
evidently similar to those now used by the Hopi in grinding the
paints for their ceremonials. In some places peckings or grooves in
the surfaces of the rocks show where these grinding stones were used,
and perhaps flattened to the desired plane. These grinding places are
found in the plazas, on the sides of the cave back of the village,
and elsewhere. A number of these grooves in a lower ledge of rock at
the spring indicate that this was a favorite spot for shaping the
hand grinders, possibly for grinding corn or other seeds.
The hand stones are of several types: (1) Polygonal, having corners
somewhat worn, but flat on both sides, and having grooves on opposite
edges to insure a firm hold for the hand; (2) convex on one face and
flat on the opposite; (3) having two faces on each side, separated by
a sharp ridge. The third type represents apparently the last stage in
the life of a grinding stone the surfaces of which have been worn to
this shape by constant use.
Several flat stones, each having a slight depression on one side,
were found to be covered with pigments of various colors, which were
ground on their surfaces by means of conical stones, as shown in
figure 13. Two rectangular flat stones (pl. 21, _i_, _j_) with finely
polished surfaces and rounded edges have a notch on the rim. Their
use is unknown. Nordenskiöld refers to similar stones as “moccasin
lasts,” but there seems no valid reason thus to identify these
objects except that they have the general form—although larger—of
the sole of the foot. The Spruce-tree House aborigines wore sandals
and had no need for lasts. Moreover, so far as known, the Pueblo
Indians never made use of an object of this kind in fashioning their
moccasins.
POUNDING STONES
[Illustration: FIG. 13. Stone pigment-grinder.]
In the course of the excavations a large number of stones having pits
in the sides were exhumed, but these are so heavy that they were not
sent to Washington. Several of these stones are cubical in form and
have lateral pits, one on each of four faces. Some are thick, while
others are thin and sharpened at the end like an ax. These stones
are probably the mauls with which the masons dressed the rocks used
in the construction of the buildings. With such mauls the surfaces
of the floors of some ceremonial rooms were cut down several inches
below the original level. Some of the pounding stones resemble in
a measure the grinding stones, but in them pits replace grooves
commonly found in the edge of the latter.
Corn was usually ground on flat stones called _metates_ which were
found in considerable numbers. These metates commonly show wear on
one or both surfaces, and a few specimens have a ridge on each border
resulting from the wearing down of the middle of the stone.
CYLINDER OF POLISHED HEMATITE
Among the objects from the ruins of Mesa Verde figured by
Nordenskiöld is one designated a “cylinder of polished hematite,
perhaps a fetish.” Another stone cylinder closely resembling this was
found by the present author at Spruce-tree House. This object closely
resembles a bead, but as the author has seen similar stones used on
Hopi altars, especially on the altar to the cardinal points, he is
inclined to accept the identification suggested by Nordenskiöld. On
altars to the cardinal points small stones of different shapes and
colors are arranged near ears of corn surrounding a medicine bowl.
As black is the symbolic color of the underworld, a stone of this
color is found on the black ear of corn representing the nadir. If
this cylinder is a fetish it may have been somewhat similarly used.
BASKETRY
[Illustration: FIG. 14. Fragment of basket.]
Not a single entire basket was found, although a few fragments of
baskets made of woven rushes or osiers were obtained (fig. 14). It
would appear, however, from a fine basket figured by Nordenskiöld,
which he ascribes to Spruce-tree House and from other known
specimens, figured and unfigured, that the Mesa Verde people were
skillful basket makers. None of the fragments obtained by the author,
and the same holds true regarding the basket figured by Nordenskiöld,
are decorated.
WOODEN OBJECTS
Few objects made of wood were obtained at Spruce-tree House, but
those which were found are well made and reveal the existence of
interesting aboriginal customs. Wooden objects closely resembling
some of these were used until a few years ago by the Hopi and other
Pueblo tribes.
STICKS TIED TOGETHER
[Illustration: FIG. 15. Sticks tied together.]
Among the wooden objects found are many perforated sticks tied
together by strings. This specimen (fig. 15) is not complete, but
enough remains to show that it is not unlike the covering in which
the Hopi bride rolls her wedding blankets. From the place where
the object was found, it appears that the dead were wrapped in
coverings of this kind. Although the specimen is much damaged, it is
not difficult to make out from the remaining fragment the mode of
construction of the object.
SLABS
[Illustration: FIG. 16. Wooden slab.]
Nordenskiöld figures a wooden object of rectangular shape, slightly
concave on one side and more or less worn on the edges. Two similar
wooden slabs (fig. 16) were found at Spruce-tree House. The objects
occasioned much speculation, as their meaning is unknown. It has been
suggested they are cradle-boards, a conjecture which, in view of the
fact that similar specimens are sometimes found in child burials, is
plausible. In this interpretation the holes which occur on the sides
may have served for attachment of blankets or hoops. These boards, it
may be said, are small even for the most diminutive Indian baby.
Another suggestion not without merit is that these boards are
priest’s badges and were once carried in the hands suspended by
strings tied to the holes in their edges.
Still another theory identifies them as parts of head dresses called
tablets, worn in what the Pueblos call a _tablita_ dance.
The upright portions of some of the Hopi altars have similar wooden
slabs painted with symbolic figures and tied together. Altars having
slabs of the same description are used in ceremonials of certain
Tewan clans living in New Mexico.
SPINDLES
[Illustration: FIG. 17. Spindle and whorl.]
There were found at Spruce-tree House a complete spindle with stick
and whorl (fig. 17), and a whorl without the spindle, both of which
are practically identical in type with the spinning apparatus of
the Hopi Indians. When in use this spindle was made to revolve by
rubbing it on the thigh with one hand, while the other held the
unspun cotton, the fiber being wound on one end of the spindle. This
implement affords still another indication that the arts of the
people of Spruce-tree House were similar to those still practised by
the Pueblos.
PLANTING-STICKS
A few sticks which resemble those used by the Hopi as dibbles were
collected at Spruce-tree House. These measure several feet in length;
they are flat at one end, while the opposite end is pointed and
rubbed down to a sharp edge. Some of these implements were slightly
bent at one extremity.
MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS
[Illustration: FIG. 18. Ceremonial sticks.]
Among various wooden objects found at Spruce-tree House may be
mentioned sticks resembling prayer offerings and others which may
have been employed in ceremonials (fig. 18.)
A fragment of a primitive fire-stick (fig. 19) was obtained from
the northern refuse-heap and near it were straight sticks that
undoubtedly served as fire-drills. There were one or two needles
(fig. 20), made of hard wood, suggesting weaving or some similar
process. A fragment of an arrow was unearthed in the débris of the
northern refuse-heap.
[Illustration: FIG. 19. Primitive fire-stick.]
[Illustration: FIG. 20. Wooden needle.]
FABRICS
[Illustration: FIG. 21. Belt.]
The yucca plant, which grows wild in the canyons and level places of
the Mesa Verde, furnishes a tough fiber which the prehistoric people
of Spruce-tree House used in the manufacture of various fabrics.
Small packages of this fiber and cords made of the same material were
found in the refuse-heap and in the houses; these were apparently
obtained by heating and chewing the leaves, after which the fiber was
drawn out into cords or braided into strings.
A braided cord was also found attached to the handles of jars, and
this fiber was a favorite one in mending pottery. It was almost
universally employed in weaving cloth netting and other fabrics,
where it was combined with cotton fiber. Belts (fig. 21) or headbands
(figs. 22, 23) show the best examples of this weaving. Native cotton
fiber is not as common as yucca, being more difficult apparently to
procure. There is some doubt regarding the cultivation of the cotton
plant, and no cotton seeds were identified; the cloth woven from this
fiber shows great skill in weaving.
[Illustration: FIG. 22. Headband.]
The bark of willows and alders was utilized for fabrics, but this
furnished material for basketry rather than for cloth.
[Illustration: FIG. 23. End of headband. FIG. 24. Head ring.]
One of the most beautiful specimens of woven cloth yet obtained in
the Mesa Verde ruins was taken from room 11; this is apparently a
headband for carrying bundles.
Among the objects obtained in the northern refuse-heap were rings
made of the leaf and fiber of yucca and other plants, sometimes
blackened as if by fire (fig. 24). These rings may have been used
for carrying jars on the head, although some are too large and flat
for that purpose. It has been suggested that the largest were used in
some game, but this theory lacks confirmation.
Small fragments of matting were found, but no complete specimen came
to light. These fragments resemble those referred to by Nordenskiöld
as “objects used in carpeting the floors.” It was customary
among some of the sedentary Indians of the Southwest to sleep on
rectangular mats, and in one building of compound B of Casa Grande
impressions of these mats were found on the floor.
[Illustration: FIG. 25. Yucca-fiber cloth with attached feathers.]
Fragments of cloth made of yucca fiber (fig. 25), in which feathers
are woven, are abundant in the refuse-heaps of Spruce-tree House.
There were found also many strings in which feathers were woven (fig.
26), but of these nothing but the midribs remain.
[Illustration: FIG. 26. Woven cord.]
The object shown in figure 27 is made of agave fiber tied in a series
of loops. Its use is unknown.
Several sandals were excavated at Spruce-tree House, the majority
from the refuse-heap in the rear of the dwellings. One of these
specimens, figure 28, is in good condition; it is evidently a
mortuary object, being found near a skeleton. The other specimen
(fig. 29) is fragmentary, consisting of a sole of a sandal with
attached toe cords.
[Illustration: FIG. 27. Agave fiber tied in loops.]
[Illustration: FIG. 28. Woven moccasin.]
[Illustration: FIG. 29. Fragment of sandal.]
[Illustration: FIG. 30. Hair-brush.]
Several specimens of slender yucca leaves bound in a bundle were
found. One of these (fig. 30) served as a hair-brush, or was used in
stirring food. One brush made of finer material was collected.
BONE IMPLEMENTS
[Illustration: FIG. 31. Bone implements.]
A large collection of beautiful bone implements (see fig.
31)—needles, awls, tubes, and dirks—rewarded the work at Spruce-tree
House. Some of these show the effects of fire throughout their
length, while others are smoked only at one end. When unearthed, one
of these dirks was still in the original sheath of cedar bark (fig.
32).
[Illustration: FIG. 32. Dirk and cedar-bark sheath.]
Most of the needles, bodkins, and awls are made of bones of birds or
small animals. These were apparently rubbed down and pointed on stone
implements or on the sides of the cliff, where grooves are often
found (fig. 33).
[Illustration: FIG. 33. Bone implement.]
[Illustration: FIG. 34. Bone scraper.]
Several fine bone scrapers (figs. 34, 35) were dug out of the débris
covering the floors of the rooms. These are beveled to a sharp edge
at one end, the trochanter of the bone serving as a handle.
[Illustration: FIG. 35. Bone scraper.]
FETISH
Only one fetish in the form of a human being was obtained at
Spruce-tree House, this being found in the débris near the floor of
kiva G. So far as the objects from Mesa Verde ruins have been figured
or described, this is the first record of the finding of a fetish
of human shape in any of these ruins. Moreover, such a fetish is a
rarity in cliff-house ruins elsewhere in the Southwest, a fact which
imparts to this specimen more than usual interest.
LIGNITE GORGET
In the author’s account of his excavations in ruins in the Little
Colorado valley there was figured a large fragment of a disk made
of cannel coal or lignite. This disk is convex on one side and
plain on the side opposite, the latter having an eyelet, or two
holes for suspension. A lignite gorget, similar for the most part
to the above-mentioned specimen, but differing therefrom in having
the eyelet in the convex instead of in the flat side, was found
at Spruce-tree House. Probably both objects were formerly used as
ornaments, being suspended about the neck. No similar specimen has
thus far been described from Mesa Verde ruins.
CORN, BEANS, AND SQUASH SEEDS
All indications point to maize, or Indian corn, as the chief food
plant of the prehistoric people of this cliff-dwelling. This is
evident not only from the presence in the ruins of metates and
grinding stones, but also from the abundance of corn ears and other
fragments discovered; corn husks and seed corn were especially
plentiful in rooms and in the refuse-heaps. As in the case of the
modern Pueblos, the corn appears to have been of several colors,
while the size of the cobs indicates that the ears were small with
but few rows of seeds. In addition to cobs, fragments of corn stalks,
leaves, and even tassels were found in some of the rooms. Beans of
the brown variety, specimens of which were numerous in one room,
were the most esteemed. There were obtained also stalks and portions
of gourds some of which are artificially perforated, as well as a
gourd the rind of which is almost complete. Apparently these gourds
were used for ceremonial rattles and for drinking vessels. The form
suggests that of a Hopi netted gourd in which sacred water is brought
from distant springs for use in the kivas, or ceremonial rooms.
HOOP-AND-POLE GAME
[Illustration: FIG. 36. Hoop used in hoop-and-pole game.]
It appears from the discovery of a small wooden hoop in one of the
rooms that the prehistoric people of Spruce-tree House were familiar
with the hoop-and-pole game (fig. 36) so popular among several of our
aboriginal tribes. But whether or not the individual hoop obtained
was used in a secular game or a ceremony may be open to differences
of opinion. The author is inclined to connect the specimen above
referred to with basket dances, one of which is called by the Hopi
the _Owakulti_.[31] In this dance the hoop is rolled on the ground
and the players throw or attempt to throw darts through it.
LEATHER AND SKIN OBJECTS
[Illustration: FIG. 37. Portion of leather moccasin.]
Fragments of leather or dressed skin (fig. 37) were found in several
of the rooms. These are apparently parts of moccasins or sandals,
but may have been pouches or similar objects. A strip of rawhide by
means of which an ax was lashed to its handle was picked up in the
dump, where also was a fragment of what may have been a leather pouch
with a thong of hide woven in one edge. If skins of animals were used
for clothing, as they probably were, but slight evidence of the fact
remains.
ABSENCE OF OBJECTS SHOWING EUROPEAN CULTURE
In the excavations which were necessary to clean out the rooms of
Spruce-tree House no object of European make was discovered. There
was no sign of any metal, even copper being unrepresented; no object
discovered shows traces of cutting by knives or other implements made
of metal. Evidently European culture exerted no influence on the
aborigines of Spruce-tree House.
PICTOGRAPHS
Near Spruce-tree House, as elsewhere on the Mesa Verde, are
found examples of those rock-etchings and other markings known
as pictographs. Some of these represent human beings in various
attitudes, and animals, as deer, mountain sheep, snakes, and other
subjects not yet determined. As seems to be true of the other
rock-inscriptions just mentioned, some of those near Spruce-tree
House are religious symbols, some are totems, while others are mere
scribblings.
These pictographs are so rude that they give little idea of the
artistic possibilities of their makers, while many are so worn that
even the subjects intended to be depicted are doubtful.
The walls of some of the rooms in the Mesa Verde cliff-dwellings
still show figures painted while the rooms were inhabited. Among
these the favorite designs are of triangular form.
The walls of the secular rooms and kivas of Spruce-tree House were
formerly covered with a thin wash of colored sand which was well
adapted for paintings of symbolic or decorative character. The colors
(yellow, red, and white), were evidently put on with the hands,
impressions of which can be found in several places. In some cases,
as with the upper part of the wall painted white and the lower part
red, the contrast brings out the colors very effectively. The walls
of some of the rooms are blackened with smoke.
Among the designs used are the triangular figures on the upper margin
of the dados and pedestals of kivas. Figures similar in form, but
reversed, are made by the Hopi, who call them butterfly and raincloud
symbols.
_Birds and quadrupeds._—Nordenskiöld (pp. 108-9) thus writes of one
of the ancient paintings:
The first of them, fig. 77, is executed in a room at Sprucetree
House. Here too the lower part of the mural surface is dark red,
and triangular points of the same colour project over the yellow
plaster; above this lower part of the wall runs a row of red dots,
exactly as in the estufa at Ruin 9. To the left two figures are
painted, one of them evidently representing a bird, the other a
quadruped with large horns, probably a mountain sheep. [Elsewhere,
as quoted on p. 5, Nordenskiöld identifies these figures as “two
birds.”] The painting shown in fig. 78 is similar in style to the
two just described.
In this room the dado bears at intervals along its upper edge the
triangular figures already noticed, and rows of dots which appear
to be a symbolic decoration, occurring likewise on pottery, as an
examination of the author’s collection makes evident.
_Square figures._—On the eastern wall of the same room in which occur
the figures of a bird and a horned mammal there is a square figure on
the white surface of the upper wall. This figure is black in outline;
part of the surface bears an angular meander similar to decorations
on some pieces of pottery. Similar designs, arranged in series
according to Mindeleff’s figures, form the decoration band of one of
the kivas in Chelly canyon.
The significance of this figure is unknown but its widespread
distribution, especially in that region of the Southwest
characterized by circular kivas, adds considerable interest to its
interpretation.
_Terraced figure._—Covering almost the whole side of a wall north of
kiva C and overlooking the plaza of which this room forms in part the
northern wall, is a conspicuous figure painted white. If we regard
the building of which this is a side as formerly two stories high,
this painting would have been on the inside of a room, otherwise we
have the exceptional feature of a painting on an outer wall. The
purpose of this painting is not clear to the author, but similar
figures, reversed, signify rain clouds. The figure recalls in form a
representation of a =T=-shaped doorway and appears to be a unique one
among Mesa Verde ruins.
CONCLUSIONS
From the preceding facts it is evident that the people who once
inhabited Spruce-tree House were not highly developed in culture,
although the buildings show an advanced order of architecture for
aborigines of North America. Architecturally the cliff-dwellings
excel pueblos of more recent construction.
The pottery is not inferior to that of other parts of the Southwest,
but has fewer symbols and is not as fine or varied in colors as that
from Sikyatki or from Casas Grandes in Sonora. It is better than the
pottery from the Casa Grande and other compounds of the Gila and
about the same in texture and symbols as that from Chelly canyon and
Chaco canyon.
The remaining minor antiquities, as cloth, basketry, wood, and bone,
are of the same general character as those found elsewhere in the
Southwest. Shell work is practically lacking; no objects made from
marine shells have been found.
The picture of culture drawn from what we know of the life at
Spruce-tree House is practically the same as that of a pueblo like
Walpi at the time of its discovery by whites, and until about
fifty years ago. The people were farmers, timid, industrious, and
superstitious. The women were skillful potters and made fine baskets.
The men made cloth of good quality and cultivated corn, beans, and
melons.
In the long winters the kivas served as the lounging places for the
men who were engaged in an almost constant round of ceremonies of
dramatic character, which took the place of the pleasures of the
chase. They never ventured far from home and rarely met strangers.
They had all those unsocial characteristics which an isolated life
fosters.
What language they spoke, and whether various Mesa Verde Houses
had the same language, at present no one can tell. The culture was
selfcentered and apparently well developed. It is not known whether
it originated in the Mesa Verde canyons or was completely evolved
when it reached there.
Although we know little about the culture of the prehistoric
inhabitants of Mesa Verde, it does not follow that we can not find
out more. There are many ruins awaiting exploration in this region
and future work will reveal much which has been so long-hidden.
The pressure of outside tribes, or what may be called human
environment, probably had much to do originally with the choice of
caves for houses, and the magnificent caverns of the Mesa Verde
naturally attracted men as favorable sites for their houses. The
habit of huddling together in a limited space, necessitated by a life
in the cliffs, possibly developed the composite form which still
persists in the pueblo form of architecture.
INDEX
ANTELOPE MESA RUINS, pottery from, 35
ANTIQUITIES—
major—
ceremonial room other than kiva, 24
circular rooms other than kivas, 23
construction of walls, 9-10
kivas, 17-23
ledge-houses, 24-25
mortuary room, 24
plazas and courts, 8-9
refuse-heaps, 25
secular rooms, 10-17
stairways, 25
minor—
absence of objects showing European culture, 51
basketry, 42
bone implements, 48-49
corn, beans, and squash seeds, 50
fabrics, 44-47
fetish, 49
general discussion, 25-28
hoop-and-pole game, 50-51
leather and skin objects, 51
lignite gorget, 49-50
pictographs, 51-53
pottery, 28-38
stone implements, 38-42
summary, 53
wooden objects, 42-44
ARCH unknown to cliff-dwellers, 4
AWATOBI, pottery from, 35, 36
AXES, STONE, description of, 26, 38-40
BALCONIES, description of, 15
BALCONY HOUSE, features of, 15
BASKETRY, description of, 42, 53
baskets found in Spruce-tree House, 6, 26
“BEAN PLANTING,” a Hopi festival, 10
BIRDSALL, DR. W. R., cited on cliff-dwellings of Mesa Verde, 3
BLACK-AND-WHITE POTTERY, where found, 36
BONE IMPLEMENTS, description of, 48-49, 53
BURIALS, description of, 6, 7, 24, 26
CANYON LARGO RUINS, pottery from, 37
CASA GRANDE—
a ceramic area, 35
feature of ruins, 20
CASAS GRANDES, pottery from, 35, 53
CEREMONIAL ROOM, description of, 24
_See also_ Kivas.
CHACO CANYON—
ancient inhabitants, 20
in San Juan ceramic area, 34, 35, 36
pottery, 37
ruins, 15
CHAPIN, F. H., cited on cliff-dwellings, 3
CHELLY CANYON—
ancient inhabitants, 20
cliff-dwellings, 21
in San Juan ceramic area, 34, 35, 36, 37
pottery, 28, 36
CHEVLON, pottery from, 36-37
CHIMNEYS, absence of, 16
CIRCULAR ROOMS, description of, 23
_See also_ Kivas.
CLIFF PALACE, discovery of, 2-3
CLOTH OBJECTS. _See_ Fabrics.
COAL not used by ancient inhabitants, 16
COLLECTIONS from Spruce-tree House, 25-28
CORN, INDIAN, chief food of ancient inhabitants, 50
COURTS. _See_ Plazas and courts.
CULIN, STEWART, on hoop-and-pole game, 51
CULTURE of ancient inhabitants, 53-54
DIMENSIONS of Spruce-tree House, 7
DISCOVERY of Spruce-tree House, 2-3
DOORS, description of, 5, 6, 17
DOORWAYS, description of, 4-5, 14
DUBOIS, COERT, on cliff-dwellings on Mesa Verde, 8
ESTUFAS, description of, 4, 6
_See also_ Kivas.
EUROPEAN INFLUENCE, absence of, 51
FABRICS, description of, 44-47, 53
FETISH, description of, 49
FEWKES, DR. J. WALTER, cited by Nordenskiöld, on ledge-houses, 6-7
FIREPLACES—
in kivas, 18, 21-23
in secular rooms, 16, 23
FLOORS, description of, 17, 18
FOUR as a symbolic number, 23
GILA CERAMIC AREA, pottery of, 34, 37, 38
GILL, MRS. M. W., work of, 29
GORGET, lignite, description of, 49-50
“GREAT HOUSES,” in southern ceramic area, 34
GRINDING STONES, description of, 40-41
HAND STONES, description of, 40-41
HANO, pottery from, 31, 33
HISTORY of Spruce-tree House, 2
HOLMES, PROF. W. H.—
cited on pottery from Pueblo area, 36
explorations of, 2
HOMOLOBI, pottery from, 36-37
HOOP-AND-POLE GAME, note on, 50-51
HOPI—
butterfly and raincloud symbols, 52
kivas, 18, 20, 22
name _Moki_ applied to, 2
old houses, 17
pottery, 31, 37, 38
stone objects, 40
_See also_ Sikyatki, pottery from.
HOPI ceramic area, 35-36, 37
HOUGH, DR. WALTER, on pit-houses, 20
HUNGO PAVIE, estufa at, 15
INHABITANTS (ancient) of Mesa Verde—
arts, 42, 43
coal not used by, 16
cookery, 16
early accounts of, 2
ethnic position, 15, 28
general culture, 31, 53-54
population of Spruce-tree House, 7
significance of kiva structure, 20
JACKSON RUIN, location of, 2
JACKSON, W. H., explorations of, 2
KIDDER, A. V., acknowledgment to, 29
KIVAS—
correlation with black-and-white ware, 31
general description, 9, 17-23
location, 7-8
proportion of, 14, 21
subterranean character, 11, 20
walls, 10, 52
LANGUAGE of ancient people of Mesa Verde, 53-54
LEATHER AND SKIN objects, notes on, 51
LEDGE-HOUSES, description of, 6-7, 24-25
LITTLE COLORADO VALLEY—
a ceramic area, 34, 35, 36-37
pottery from, 31, 34, 38
MAIZE, chief food of ancient inhabitants, 50
MANCOS CANYON, ruins in, 2
MASON, CHARLEY, discoveries of, 3
METAL, no traces of, 51
METATES, description of, 41
MISHONGNOVI, pottery from, 35
MOKI, meaning of term, 2
MONTEZUMA valley ruins, pottery from, 37
MORLEY, S. G., survey by, 7
MORTUARY CUSTOM, 28
MORTUARY ROOM, description of, 24
NAVAHO, and early Spanish travelers, 2
NORDENSKIÖLD, BARON GUSTAV—
objects figured by, 41, 42, 43
on ancient painting, 52
on balconies and terraced rooms, 15
on discovery of Cliff Palace and Spruce-tree House, 2-3
on Mesa Verde pottery, 28, 29
on “moccasin lasts”, 41
on number of rooms in Spruce-tree House, 7
on objects from Spruce-tree House, 26
Spruce-tree House described by, 3-7
work of, 3
NUSSBAUM, J., acknowledgment to, 1
OBSIDIAN OBJECTS absent from Spruce-tree House, 27
OWAKULTI, a Hopi basket dance, 51
PATKI CLAN (Hopi), coming of, 35
PESTLES. _See_ Grinding stones.
PICTOGRAPHS, description of, 51-53
PIROS CERAMICS not classified, 35
PIT-HOUSES, features of, 20
PLAN of ruin, 4, 7-8, 9
PLAZAS and courts, description of, 8-9
POPULATION, aboriginal, 7
POTTERY—
ceramic areas, 34-38
decoration, 32-34
forms, 29-30
general account of, 6, 28
structure, 30-32
summary, 53
_See also_ specific names, as San Juan valley, Sikyatki, Zuñi.
POUNDING STONES, description of, 41
POWAMÛ FESTIVAL, incident of, 10
PRUDDEN, DR. T. MITCHELL, on ruins of San Juan valley, 8
PUEBLO CHETTRO KETTLE, balcony in, 15
PUEBLOS, ancient location of, 20
REFUSE-HEAPS, description of, 25, 27
RETZIUS, PROF. G., cited by Nordenskiöld, on skull from Spruce-tree
House, 24
RIO GRANDE RUINS—
in San Juan ceramic area, 36
pottery from, 33
ROOFS—
general description, 15, 17
of kivas, 18, 19, 21-23
ROOMS—
described by Nordenskiöld, 4-7
statistics, 7
_See also_ Kivas, Secular rooms.
SALT RIVER RUINS, pottery from, 38
SAN JUAN VALLEY—
a ceramic area, 34, 35, 36, 37-38
pottery from, 34, 36
type of ruins in, 8
SECULAR ROOMS, description of, 10-15
balconies, 15
decorations on walls, 52
doors and windows, 16
fireplaces, 16
floors and roofs, 17
SHELL OBJECTS, rarity of, 27, 28, 53
SHUMOPAVI, pottery from, 35, 36
SIKYATKI, pottery from—
decoration, 33
general character, 53
in Hopi ceramic area, 35, 36
lips of food bowls, 29
SIPAPÛ, description of, 14, 18
SITE of Spruce-tree House, 1, 7
SPANISH TRAVELERS, in Mesa Verde region, 2
SPRUCE-TREE CANYON, description of, 1
STAIRWAYS, description of, 25
STEP HOUSE, pottery from, 28
STONE OBJECTS, description of, 26, 27
axes, 38-40
cylinder of hematite, 41-42
grinding stones, 40-41
pounding stones, 41
TANOAN FAMILIES (Hopi), coming of, 35
TCAMAHIAS, description of, 39-40
TERRACED FORM of buildings, 15
TIPONI, sacred object of Hopi, 40
TURKEYS, traces of, in Spruce-tree House, 4, 7
TURQUOISE OBJECTS, absence of, 27
“TUSAYAN” POTTERY, character of, 36, 37
UNIT TYPE of ruin—
development of, 12
explanation of term, 8
UTE, in relation to Mesa Verde cliff-dwellings, 2
VENTILATION—
by openings in walls, 9
in kivas, 11, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23
of rooms, 16
WALLS, description of, 4, 5-6, 9-10
WALLS of circular room other than kiva, 23
of kivas, 18, 19-20, 21-23
terraced, 15
WETHERILLS, the, discoveries of, 2-3, 6
WINDOWS, description of, 16
WOODEN OBJECTS—
general description, 26, 53
miscellaneous, 44
planting slicks, 44
slabs, 43
spindles, 43-44
sticks tied together, 42-43
ZUÑI POTTERY—
belonging to Little Colorado ceramic area, 35, 36, 38
decoration, 33
description of, 31-32, 37
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 1
GROUND PLAN OF SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 2
From the northwest]
[Illustration:
From the west
THE RUIN, FROM THE NORTHWEST AND THE WEST]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 3
Before repairing]
[Illustration:
After repairing
PLAZA D]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 4
Before repairing]
[Illustration:
After repairing
THE RUIN, FROM THE SOUTH END]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 5
THE RUIN, FROM THE SOUTH]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 6
General view]
[Illustration:
Room 11, from the south
ROOMS 11-24]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 7
THE RUIN, FROM THE NORTH END]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 8
NORTH END OF THE RUIN, SHOWING MASONRY PILLAR]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 9
Roof of room 43]
[Illustration:
Main street
A ROOF AND A STREET]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 10
Front of rooms 62 and 63]
[Illustration:
Plaza E. from the south, before repair
THE RUIN FROM THE SOUTH END, SHOWING ROOMS AND PLAZA]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 11
Before repairing]
[Illustration:
After repairing
KIVA D]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 12
KIVA D, FROM THE NORTH]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 13
Kiva A, repaired]
[Illustration:
Kiva D, repaired
INTERIORS OF TWO KIVAS]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 14
From stump of spruce tree, looking east]
[Illustration:
Interior of kiva C. looking southwest
CENTRAL PART OF RUIN, AND KIVA]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 15
From above, showing roof]
[Illustration:
Roof removed Section of air-shaft, or ventilator
DIAGRAMS OF KIVA, SHOWING CONSTRUCTION]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 16
DECORATED FOOD-BOWLS
Diameters (in inches): _a_, _a′_, 11¼; _b_, _b′_, 11; _c_, _c′_, 11½;
_d_, _d′_, 9⅛]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 17
DECORATED FOOD-BOWLS
Diameters (in inches): _a_, _a′_, 11; _b_, _b′_, 13; _c_, _c′_, 11¼]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 18
DECORATED FOOD-BOWLS
Diameters (in inches): _a_, _a′_, 9; _b_, _b′_, 12¼; _c_, _c′_, 11;
_d_, _d′_, 11¾]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 19
DECORATED VASE AND MUGS
Heights (in inches): _a_, 3½; _b_, 3⅜; _c_, 3⅝; _d_, 4½; _e_, 3¾;
_f_, 5]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 20
_a._ Small bowl (diam., 3¾ in.)]
[Illustration:
_b._ Two-handled globular canteen (height, 7¼ in.)
DECORATED BOWL AND CANTEEN]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 21
STONE IMPLEMENTS
_a_-_g_, axes; _h_, tcamahia; _i_, paint stone; _j_, paint stone
(last?)
Lengths (in inches): _a_, 4¼; _b_, 4¾; _c_, 5; _d_, 5¼; _e_, 6¼; _f_,
6⅞; _g_, 5¾; _h_, 10½; _i_, 10½; _j_, 10¾]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The photographs from which plates 2-4, 6, 8-14 were made were
taken by Mr. J. Nussbaum, photographer of the Archæological Institute
of America.
[2] Ancient Ruins in Southwestern Colorado, in Rep. U. S. Geol. and
Geogr. Survey of the Ter., 1874, p. 369.
[3] Report on the Ancient Ruins of Southwestern Colorado, examined
during the summers of 1875 and 1876, ibid., 1876, p. 383.
[4] The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, pp. 12, 13, Stockholm, 1893.
[5] Cliff-dwellings of the Mancos Cañons, in _Appalachia_, VI, no. 1,
Boston, May, 1890; _The American Antiquarian_, XII, 193, 1890; The
Land of the Cliff Dwellers, 1892.
[6] The Cliff-dwellings of the Cañons of the Mesa Verde, in _Bulletin
of the American Geographical Society_, XXIII, no. 4, 584, 1891.
[7] Since this was written, a well-preserved mummy has been found
by Wetherill in the open space (28) at the very back of the cave.
This is a further example of the burial of the dead in the open
space between the village and the cliff wall behind it (see p.
47).—[NORDENSKIÖLD.]
[8] On the author’s plan of Spruce-tree House from a survey by Mr. S.
G. Morley, the third story is indicated by crosshatching, the second
by parallel lines, while the first has no markings. (Pl. 1.)
[9] See H. R. No. 3703, 58th Cong., 3d sess., 1905.—The Ruined Cliff
Dwellings in Ruin and Navajo Canyons, in the Mesa Verde, Colorado, by
Coert Dubois.
[10] See _American Anthropologist_, n. s., v. no. 2, 224-288, 1903.
[11] In Hopi dwellings the author has often seen a provisional
_sipapû_ used in household ceremonies.
[12] The proportion of kivas to dwellings in any village is not
always the same in prehistoric pueblos, nor is there a fixed ratio in
modern pueblos. It would appear that there is some relation between
the number of kivas and the number of inhabitants, but what that
relation is, numerically, has never been discovered.
[13] Nordenskiöld on the contrary seems to make the terraced rooms
one of the points of resemblance between the cliff-dwellings and the
great ruins of the Chaco. He writes:
“On comparison of the ruins in Chaco Cañon with the cliff-dwellings
of Mancos, we find several points of resemblance. In both localities
the villages are fortified against attack, in the tract of Mancos
by their site in inaccessible precipices, in Chaco Cañon by a high
outer wall in which no doorways were constructed to afford entrance
to an enemy. Behind this outer wall the rooms descended in terraces
towards the inner court. One side of this court was protected by a
lower semicircular wall. In the details of the buildings we can find
several features common to both. The roofs between the stories were
constructed in the same way. The doorways were built of about the
same dimensions. The rafters were often allowed to project beyond
the outer wall as a foundation for a sort of balcony (Balcony House,
the Pueblo Chettro Kettle). The estufa at Hungo Pavie with its six
quadrangular pillars of stone is exactly similar to a Mesa Verde
estufa (see p. 16). The pottery strewn in fragments everywhere in
Chaco Cañon resembles that found on the Mesa Verde. We are thus
not without grounds for assuming that it was the same people, at
different stages of its development, that inhabitated these two
regions.”—The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, p. 127.
[14] Ibid., p. 67.
[15] _Bulletin 35 of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Antiquities
of the Upper Gila and Salt River Valleys in Arizona and New Mexico.
[16] In some cases the walls of the later rectangular rooms are built
across and above them, as in compound B in the Casa Grande group of
ruins.
[17] An examination of the best of previous maps of Spruce-tree House
shows only a dotted line to indicate the location of this kiva.
[18] It has no doubt occurred to others, as to the author, that the
number of Spruce-tree House kivas is a multiple of four, the number
of horizontal cardinal points. Later it may be found that there is
some connection between them and world-quarter clan ownership, or it
may be that the agreement in numbers is purely a coincidence.
[19] The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, p. 63.
[20] In clearing the kivas several fragments of human bones and
skulls were found by the author. The horizontal passageways, called
ventilators, of four of the kivas furnished a single broken skull
each, which had not been buried with care.
[21] From the great amount of bird-lime and bones in these heaps it
has been supposed that turkeys were domesticated and kept in these
places.
[22] See The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, pls. XXVIII, XXIX: 7.
[23] The text figures which appear in this paper were drawn from
nature by Mrs. M. W. Gill, of Forest Glen, Md.
[24] The author is greatly indebted to Mr. A. V. Kidder for aid in
sorting and labeling the fragments of pottery. Without his assistance
in the field it would have been impossible to repair many of these
specimens.
[25] The classification into cavate houses, cliff-dwellings, and
pueblos is based on form.
[26] The above classification coincides in some respects with that
obtained by using the forms of ceremonial rooms as the basis.
[27] Of 40 pieces of pottery called “Tusayan,” figured in Professor
Holmes’ Pottery of the Pueblo Area (_Second Annual Report of the
Bureau of Ethnology_), all but three or possibly four came from
Chelly canyon and belong to the San Juan rather than to the Hopi
ware. Black-and-white pottery is very rare in collections of old Hopi
ware, but is most abundant in the cliff-houses of Chelly canyon and
the Mesa Verde ruins.
[28] The pottery from ruins in the Little Colorado basin, from Wukoki
at Black Falls to the Great Colorado, is more closely allied to that
of the drainage of the San Juan and its tributaries.
[29] There is of course very little ancient Zuñi ware in museums, but
such as we have justifies the conclusion stated above.
[30] Snake Ceremonials at Walpi, in _Journal of American Archæology
and Ethnology_, IV, 1894.
[31] See figure of Owakulti altar in the author’s account of the
Owakulti. Mr. Stewart Culin thus comments on the “hoop-and-pole”
game among Pueblos: “Similar ceremonies or games were practised
by the cliff-dwellers, as is attested by a number of objects from
Mancos canyon, Colorado, in the Free Museum of Science and Art of
the University of Pennsylvania.”—_Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the
Bureau of American Ethnology._
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added,
when a predominant preference was found in the original book.
The name ‘Spruce-tree’ (with a hyphen) is used consistently in the
etext, except in quotations of Nordenskiöld where his use of
‘Sprucetree’ is retained.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 3: ‘Gustav Nordenksiöld’ replaced by ‘Gustav Nordenskiöld’.
Pg 16: ‘underlie their messa’ replaced by ‘underlie their mesa’.
Footnote 7: ‘Nordenskjöld’ replaced by ‘Nordenskiöld’.
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