SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 4L
ANTIQUITIES OF THE MESA VERDE
NATIONAL PARK
SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE
BY
JESSE WALTER FEWKES
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1909
ut
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 resume of the general results accom-
plished is published in the latter 's annual report for 1907-8. The
present paper is more detailed, and deals with the technical archeo-
logical 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 require-
ments 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.
Eespectfully, yours, W. H. HOLMES, Chief.
The SECRETARY or THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
Washington^ D. 0.
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
KivaE 22
KivaF 22
KivaG -.. 23
KivaH .I. 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
Axes 38
Grinding stones - 40
Pounding stones 41
Cylinder of polished hematite 41
Basketry 42
Wooden objects 42 •
Sticks tied together 42
Slabs -. 43
VI CONTENTS
General features — Continued.
Minor antiquities — Continued.
Wooden objects — Continued. Page
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 north west 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. KivaD.
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 r 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
VII
VIII ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE 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 KUIN
Spruce-tree House (pis. 1, 2)a 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 pinons, 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 vary-
ing 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.
« The photographs from which plates 2-4, 6, 8-14 were made were taken by Mr.
J. Nussbaum, photographer of the Archaeological Institute of America.
2 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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 Monte-
zuma valley and on the Mesa Verde; at least they left no accounts
of them in their writings. It appears that these early Spanish trav-
elers encountered the Ute, possibly the Navaho Indians, along this
trail, but the more peaceable people who built and occupied the vil-
lages now ruins in the neighborhood of Mancos and Cortez had ap-
parently disappeared even at that early date. Indian legends regard-
ing 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.0 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 exam-
ined several ruins. He described and figured several cliff-houses over-
looked by Jackson and drew attention to the remarkable stone towers
which are so characteristic of this region.^ 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, how-
ever, saw the most magnificent ruins of the Mesa Verde. Had they
followed up the side canyon of the Mancos they would have discov-
ered, as stated by Nordenskiold, " ruins so magnificent that they sur-
pass 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 Nor-
denskiold : c
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
a Ancient Ruins in Southwestern Colorado, in Rep. U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Survey of
the Ter., 1874, p. 369.
h Report on the Ancient Ruins of Southwestern Colorado, examined during the summers
of 1875 and 1876, ibid., 1876, p. 383.
c The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, pp. 12, 13, Stockholm, 1893.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OP MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 3
wander about on the Mesa Verde. The care of these herds often calls for long
rides on the mesa and in its labyrinth of canons. 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 pinon wood on the mesa, in
search of a stray herd. They had penetrated through the dense scrub to the
edge of a deep canon. 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 canon, 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 canons in all di-
rections ; 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 His-
torical 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 pub-
lished illustrated accounts0 of his visit containing much informa-
tion largely derived from the Wetherijls and others. Dr. W. R.
Birdsall also published an account of these ruins,b 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 par-
ticular 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 Nordenksiold, who, in his work, The
Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, gives the first comprehensive ac-
count 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 Nordenskiold'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
a Cliff-dwellings of the Mancos Canons, in Appalachia, \i, no. 1, Boston, May, 1890 ;
The American Antiquarian, xn, 193, 1890 ; The Land of the Cliff Dwellers, 1892.
6 The Cliff-dwellings of the Canons of the Mesa Verde, in Bulletin of the American
Geographical Society, xxm, no. 4, 584, 1891.
4 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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 PI. 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 archi-
tecture 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 PI.
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 ad-
jacent 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 (PI. 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,
ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
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 build-
ers, 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 with-
out 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 pas-
sage (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 commu-
nication 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 wralls 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 piiion 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 deci-
meters 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. PI. 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
6 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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 men-
tioned 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 com-
munication 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 siame method of construction is em-
ployed 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 G 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.G and 2.9 m.) ; from this room
a wall runs south, enclosing a small open space (16) where, as at the corre-
sponding place in the north of the ruin, the ground is covered with bird drop-
pings 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 in.,
length and breadth 0.9 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 canon. 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.0 Some handsome baskets and
pieces of pottery were the best finds made during the short period of our excava-
tions. 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 canon, 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
0 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), — •
[NORDEJNSKIOLD.]
FBWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 7
that these small rooms wore 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 PI. x:l 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 KIT and 169. I had supposed from the thickness of the tree
that the number of the rings was much greater.
GENEEAL 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. Nordenskiold 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."
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 desic-
cated 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 sub-
0 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 h.as,
po markings. (PI. 1.)
8 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
terranean rooms called Icivas^ which are sunken below the surround-
ing level places, or plazas, the roofs of these kivas having been for-
merly level with the plazas.
The front boundary of these plazas is a wall a which when the exca-
vations were begun was buried under debris 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 an-
tiquities." 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 & 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 con-
necting 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. (PI. 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.
" See American Anthropologist^ n. s., v. no. 2, 224-288, 1903.
" 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.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 9
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 con-
tains 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 appear-
ance 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 (pi. 1) which had never before been
traced by archeologists. When the work began, this wall was deeply
buried under accumulated debris, its course not being visible to any
considerable extent. By removing the fallen stones composing the
debris the wall could be readily traced. In the repair work the origi-
nal 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 Avail 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
i-etaining wall to prevent the edge of the talus from wearing away.
(Pis, 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
69392— Bull. 41—09 2
10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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 ero-
sion. 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 pre-
venting 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.
(Pis. 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 pain.ted
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
Powamu 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 num-
bered from 1 to 71, in black paint, in conspicuous places on the walls.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 11
(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 inter-
vening 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 sec-
ond 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 ma-
sonry. (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.
12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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 pre-
served 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.
FSSWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 13
Rooms 21 and 22 are three stories high, the entrances to the three
tiers being seen in the accompanying view (pi. 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 plas-
ter 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 con-
structing masonry above the doorway that leads from plaza D to
room 26. This tied all three walls together and imparted corre-
sponding strength to the whole.
The lower-story walls of room 26 are in fairly good condition, hav-
ing 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 Avail. 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 situ-
ated 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 passage-
way 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 con-
struction 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
14 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (BULL. 41
constructed of well-dressed stones and afford an example of good
masonry work.
Here and there are indications of other rooms in tiie 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 (pi. 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, appar-
ently 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.a
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.6
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 vil-
lage. 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
a In Hopi dwellings the authjor has often seen a provisional sipapfi used in household
ceremonies.
6 The proportion of kivas to dwellings in any village is not always the same in pre-
historic 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.
VEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 15
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 uni-
versal 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 ; a 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 (pi. 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.
Nor denskiold wrrites : b
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.
a Nordenskiold 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 Canon 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 Canon 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 Canon 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 Dwell-
ers of the Mesa Verde, p. 127.
"Ibid., p. 67.
16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
FIREPLACES
There are many fireplaces in Spruce-tree House, in rooms, plazas,
and courts. From their number it is evident that most of the cook-
ing 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, wras 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 messa..
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.
(Pis. 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 ex-
tensive 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.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 17
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 con-
cave 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 (pi. 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 en-
trances are at the sides. One second-story room has a fireplace con-
structed like those on the ground floor or on the roof. Several fire-
places 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. Simi-
lar 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 (pis. 12, 13). Beginning
on the north these kivas are designated by letters A-H. When exca-
vation began small depressions full of fallen stones, with here and
there a stone buttress projecting out of the debris, 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 debris 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
18 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
investigators, was in poor condition, its walls being almost completely
broken down. Part of the wall of kiva A is double (pi. 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. (Pis. 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 sup-
port 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 sipapu, 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 repeat-
edly 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 fire-
place 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 fire-
place, and the sipapii, or ceremonial opening mentioned above.
Several small cubby-holes, or receptacles for paint or small cere-
monial 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 com-
municate 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
ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VEKDE NATIONAL PARK 19
entrance being through the roof. Another lateral passageway is
found in kiva D, where there is an opening in the south wall communi-
cating 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
(pis. 14, 15). The beams (L-l to L-4) are supported by the six ped-
estals (C) which stand upon the banquettes (A), and in turn are sup-
ported 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 (pi. 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 sup-
ported by sticks, as sometimes occurs here, according to Nordenskiold,
20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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 be-
lieves both conditions to be survivals of ancient "pit-houses," or
subterranean dwellings of an antecedent people. In this explana-
tion 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,0 while
the present author has observed subterranean rooms so situated as to
leave no doubt of their great antiquity.6
The form of the kiva is characteristic and may be used as a basis
of classification of pueblo culture. The people whose kivas are cir-
cular inhabited villages now ruins in the valley of the San Juan
and its tributaries, in Chelly canyon, Chaco canyon, and on the west-
ern 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 (pi. 13), which is the most northerly of all of the
ceremonial rooms of Spruce-tree House, is, the author believes, the
0 Bulletin 85 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Antiquities of the Upper Gila and
Salt River Valleys in Arizona and New Mexico.
6 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.
FBWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 21
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
sipapu, and a deflector, or low wall between the fire hole and the
entrance into the horizontal passageway of the ventilator. The venti-
lator 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 pos-
sible 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 ob-
servers. 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 exca-
vation, which promised little return either in enlarging our know-
ledge of the ground plan of Spruce-tree House or in shedding addi-
tional 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.
22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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 open-
ing 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 debris when work was begun on
this part of the ruin. Excavation of this debris showed that op-
posite 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 cere-
monial 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 cere-
monials of the prehistoric inhabitants of Spruce-tree House, but all
indications point to its late construction.0
a An examination of the best of previous maps of Spruce-tree House shows only a dotted
line to indicate 1ibe location of this kiva,
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 23
KIVA G
Kiva G was so well preserved that its walls were thoroughly re-
stored; it now stands as typical of one of these rooms in which the
several characteristic features may be seen. For the guidance of vis-
itors, 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 Spruc*e-
tree House, which is situated in the neighborhood of the main court,
and may therefore be looked on as one of the most important kivjis
in the cliff-dwelling.0 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 re-
paired, and on the other sides are high rooms. The plaza containing
this kiva was ample for ceremonial dances which undoubtedly for-
merly 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 debris 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 debris and its ground plan was wholly
concealed when the excavations began ; it was only with considerable
difficulty that the foundation walls could be traced.
" 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 Qwnership,
or it may be that the agreement in numbers is purely a coincidence.
24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
CEREMONIAL ROOM OTHER THAN KIVA
While the circular subterranean rooms above mentioned are be-
lieved to be the most common ceremonial chambers, there are others
in the cliff-dwellings which were undoubtedly used for similar pur-
poses. 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
ro*om is similar to an " estuf a of singular construction " described and
figured in Nordenskiold'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 perpendicu-
lar wall of the cliff. In the southeast corner is an opening, which
recalls that in the " estufa of singular construction " described by
Nordenskiold.0
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 Nordenskiold's memoir. The skele-
ton 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.6 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 inter-
ments 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 ad-
duced 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,
a The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, p. 63.
6 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.
FMWKBS] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VEEDE NATIONAL PARK 25
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 ca"nyon. 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 consider-
ation. 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 .a
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 debris 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 exca-
vation and repair work. Notwithstanding this, however, a fair col-
0 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.
69392— Bull. 41—09 3
26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
lection, 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 follow-
ing pages to objects from Spruce-tree House elsewhere described, now
in other collections. These references, quoted from Nordenskiold, the
only writer on this subject, are as follows :
Plate xvin : 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 (PI. xxxix : 4, 5), second a singu-
lar object consisting of a thin slab of black slate, and presenting the appearance
shown in PI. xxxix : 6. My collection contains only one such implement, but
among the objects in AVetherill'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 ulnw 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 (PI.
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. . . .
Phi to 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 XL vin : 4(674). Mat of plaited reeds, originally 1.2X1.2 m., but dam-
aged in transportation. Found in Sprucetree House.
It appears from the foregoing that the following specimens have
been described and figured by Nordenskiold, 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.
FEWKES! ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VEKDE NATIONAL PARK. 27
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 else-
where, 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 speci-
mens 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 speci-
mens of which are now7 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 collec-
tion that there are no specimens of marine shells, or of turquoise orna-
ments or obsidian flakes, from the excavations made at Spruce-tree
House. This fact is significant, meaning either that the former
inhabitants of this village Avere 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 clue 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 wrest 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 speci-
men is made of hematite with turquoise eyes and neckband of the
same material; the feathers are represented by stripes of inlaid tur-
quoise. Also inlaid in turquoise in the back is an hour-glass 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.
28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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. Al-
though not proving much either way by itself, this theory, when taken
with other facts which admit of the same interpretation, is signif-
icant. 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 repre-
sentatives.
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 ob-
jects of all the Mesa Verde ruins are identical in texture, colors, and
symbolism, and the only way to determine how great are the vari-
ations, 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
Nordenskiold'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
Nordenskiold'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.
FEWKES]
ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
29
FORMS
Every form of pottery represented by Nordenskiold, with the excep-
tion of that which he styles a "lamp-shaped" vessel and of certain plat-
ter forms with indentations, occurs in the collection here considered.
Nordenskiold figures a jar provided with a lid, both sides of which
are shown.0 It \vould seem that this lid (fig. I),6 unlike those pro-
vided 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 Nordenskiold,
but other specimens differ from his us
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 FlG- l- Lid of J'ar-
with worship. The author believes that they served the same pur-
poses as the netted gourds of the Hopi. Most of the ceramic objects
in Spruce-tree House were in fragments when found.0 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.
Black-and-white ware is the most common and the characteristic
painted pottery, but frag-
mentary specimens of a
reddish ware occur. One
peculiarity in the lips of
food bowls from Spruce-tree
House (pis. 16-18) is that
their rims are flat, instead
of rounded as in more west-
ern 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
0 See The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, pis. xxvm, xxix : 7.
" The text figures which appear in this paper were drawn from nature by Mrs. M. W.
Gill, of Forest Glen, Md.
c 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.
FIG. 2. Repaired pottery-
30
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[BULL. 41
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 frag-
ment of a handle of an amphora on which is
tied a tightly- woven 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 es-
sentially 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 (pi. 19, /). This
form is never seen in other prehistoric ruins.
FIG. 3. Handle with at-
tached cord.
FIG. 4. Ladle.
STRUCTURB;
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.
The bases of the mugs (pi. 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
FIG. 5. Handle of mug.
FBWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 31
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 ex-
ceptions, 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 newr 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 conserv-
atism ruled their art as well as their life in general. Only simple
symbols were present because there was no outside stimulus or compe-
tition to make them complex.
On classification of Spruce- tree House pottery according to tech-
nique, irrespective of its form, tAvo 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 cover-
ing the whole surface upon which black pictures are painted. Occa-
sionally 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 cir-
cular kivas are unknown, as in the upper part of the valley of the
Little Colorado.
The black-and-white ware of modern pueblos, as Zuili and Hano,
the latter the Tewan pueblo among the Hopi, is of late introduction
from the Rio Grande ; prehistoric Zurii ware is unlike that of modern
32
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[BULL. 41
FIG. 6. Fragment of pottery
Zuni, being practically identical in character with that of the other
ancient pueblos of the Little Colorado and its tributaries.
DECORATION
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 con-
siderable modification in these two types.
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 ter-
raced figures, for by cutting notches on
the longer sides of these triangles, sinistral
or dextral stepped figures (as the case may
be) result.
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,
FIG. 7. Zigzag ornament.
FIG. 8. Sinistral and dextral
stepped figures.
FIG. 9. Triangle ornament.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 33
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 modi-
fied. 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.
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) com-
pound sinistral meander; (4) compound dextral meander; and (5)
composite meander. These meanders, like the volutes, may be ac-
companied by parallel lines or by rows of
dots enlarged, serrated, notched, or other-
wise modified.
In some beautiful specimens a form of
hachure, or combination "of many parallel
lines with spirals and meanders, is intro- FlG 10 Meander,
duced in a very effective way. This kind
of decoration is very rare on old Hopi (Sikyatki) pottery, but is
common on late Zuni 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 charac-
teristic. Concentric rings, with or without central dots, are not un-
common.
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 tri-
34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
angle 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 net-
work. 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 subculture! areas, it is possible to recognize pro-
visionally certain areas having features in common, which differ
from other areas.0 It has already been shiown 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 pot-
tery 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 pre-
vented the evolution of characteristic ceramic culture in any part
of the region.
a The classification into cavate houses, cliff-dwellings, and pueblos is based on form.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 35
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 follow-
ing ceramic areas: (1) Hopi area, including the wonderful ware of
Sikyatki, Awatobi, and the ruins on Antelope mesa, at old Mi-
shongnovi, 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 moun-
tain, Arizona; (4) Little Colorado area, including Zuni. The pot-
tery 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 pot-
tery of the Hopi area and has only the most distant resemblance to
that from Casas Grandes.0
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 16SO,<?%specially 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.
« The above classification coincides in some respects with that obtained by. using the
forms of ceremonial rooms as the basis.
36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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.0
There is a close resemblance between the pottery of Chelly canyon
and that of Mesa Verde, but only the most distant relationship be-
tween true Hopi ware and that of Chelly canyon. The latter belong
in fact to two distinct areas, and differ in color, symbolism, and gen-
eral 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 geo-
graphical 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 influ-
ences, 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 em-
braces some symbols in common with that of the ruins along the Little
Colorado, including prehistoric Zuili, 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 Horn ol obi (near Winslow) and Chev-
a 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.
FBWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 37
Ion, 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 indi-
cations are that symbolism of the Little Colorado ruins is a composite,
representative in about equal proportions of the two subcultures of
the Southwest.0
As confirmatory of this suggested dual origin we find that the sym-
bolism 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 Zurli valley, lying practically in the pathway of culture mi-
gration or about midway between the northern and southern sub-
ceramic 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 Zuni valley
was immediately merged with others and spread over a large area.6
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, in-
cluding 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 dis-
tinctive but its influence made its way up the Verde and the Tonto
and was potent across the mountains, in the Little Colorado basin.
"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.
& There is of course very little ancient Zuni ware in museums, but such as we have
justifies the conclusion stated above.
38 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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 pro-
visionally 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 south-
western 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 Zuni 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 influ-
enced 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 Yerde pottery.
Another food bowl has two unusual designs on the interior surface,
as shown in plate 18, <?, 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 manufac-
tured 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 (pi. 21 and fig. 11) from
Spruce-tree House, some of which (a-f) are fine specimens. These
FEWKES]
ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
39
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 speci-
men (pi. 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
Nordenskiold.
FIG. 11. Stone axes.
Among the objects of stone taken from Spruce-tree House are sev-
eral similar to those called by the Hopi tcamahias (pi. 21, k). These
implements are as a rule long, with smooth surfaces ; they are sharp-
ened at one end and pointed at the opposite end. Generally they have
no groove for the attachment of a handle ; in one instance, however,
40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY LBDLL. 41
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.a
Similar specimens are attached by the Hopi to their most sacred
palladium, called the tiponi, or badge of office of the chief of a priest-
FIG. 12. Stone ax with handle.
hood. 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 cere-
monies, 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 exca-
vated, 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 cor-
ners 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
0 Snake Ceremonials at Walpi, in Journal of American Archaeology and Ethnology, i\,
1894.
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PAEK 41
face and flat on the opposite; (3) having two faces on each side, sep-
arated 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 fig-
ure 13. Two rectangular flat stones (pi. 21, i, j) with finely polished
surfaces and rounded edges have a notch on the rim. Their use is
unknown. Nordenskiold 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 fyr as known, the Pueblo Indians never
made use of an object of this kind in fashioning their moccasins.
POUNDING STONES
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 prob-
-, .,T i • i ,1 FIG. 13. Stone pigment-grinder.
ably 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 Nor-
denskiold is one designated a " cylinder of polished hematite, per-
haps 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 Nordenskiold.
On altars to the cardinal points small stones of different shapes
and colors are arranged near ears of corn surrounding a medicine
69392— Bull. 41-
42
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[BULL. 41
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 fet-
ish it may have been
somewhat similarly used.
BASKETRY
Not a single entire bas-
ket was found, although
a few fragments of bas-
kets made of woven
rushes or osiers were ob-
tained (fig. 14) . It would
appear, however, from a
fine basket figured by
Nordenskiold, which he
ascribes to Spruce-tree
House and from other
known specimens, figured
and unfigured, that the
Mesa Yerde people were skillful basket makers. None of the frag-
ments obtained by the author, and the same holds true regarding the
basket figured by Nordenskiold, 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
Among the wooden objects found are many perforated sticks tied
together by strings. This specimen (fig. 15) is not complete, but
FIG. 14. Fragment of basket.
FIG. 15. Sticks tied together.
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 cover-
ings of this kind. Although the specimen is much damaged, it is not
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 43
difficult to make out from the remaining fragment the mode of con-
struction of the object.
SLABS
Nordenskiold figures a wooden object of rectangular shape, slightly
concave on one side and more or less worn on the edges. Two similar
FIG. 16. Wooden
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
tdblita 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 descrip-
tion are used in ceremonials of certain Tewan clans liv-
ing in New Mexico.
SPINDLES
There were found at Spruce-tree House a complete
spindle with stick and whorl (fig. IT), and a whorl
without the spindle, both of which are practically iden-
tical in type with the spinning apparatus of the Hopi
Indians. When in use this spindle was made to re-
volve by rubbing it on the thigh with one hand, while
the other held the unspun cotton, the fiber being wound
FIG. 17. spmdie on one end of the spindle. This implement affords still
and whori. ano^]ier indication that the arts of the people of Spruce-
tree House were similar to those still practised by the Pueblos.
44
BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[BULL. 41
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
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
FIG. is. Cere- process. A fragment of an arrow "was unearthed in
the debris of the northern refuse-heap.
FIG. 19. Primitive fire-stick.
FIG. -M). Wooden needle.
FABRICS
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 ob-
tained 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,
FIG. 21. Belt.
FBWKBS] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 45
where it was combined with cotton fiber. Belts (fig. 21) or head-
bands (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
FIG. 22. Headband.
cotton plant, and no cotton seeds were identified; the cloth woven
from this fiber shows great skill in weaving.
The bark of willows and alders was utilized for fabrics, but this
furnished material for basketry rather than for cloth.
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
46
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[BULL. 41
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 Nord-
enskiold as " objects used in carpeting the floors." It was customary
FIG. 25. Yucca-fiber cloth with attached feathers.
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.
Fragments of cloth made of yucca fiber (fig. 25), in which feathers
are woven, are abundant in the refuse heaps of Spruce-tree House.
PIG. 26. Woven cord.
There were found also many strings in which feathers were woven
(fig. 26), but of these nothing but the midribs remain.
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
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 47
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.
FIG. 27. Agave fiber tied in loops.
PIG. 28. Woven moccasin.
PIG. 29. Fragment of sandal.
PIG. 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.
48
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[BULL. 41
BONE IMPLEMENTS
A large collection of beautiful bone implements (see fig. 31) —
needles, awls, tubes, and dirks — rewarded the work at Spruce-tree
FIG. 31. Bone implements.
House. Some of these show the effects of fire throughout their
length, while others are smoked only at one end. When unearthed,
FIG. 32. Dirk and cedar-bark sheath.
one of these dirks was still in the original sheath of cedar bark
(fig. 32).
FEWKES]
ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK
49
Most of the needles, bodkins, and awls are made of bones of birds
or small animals. These were apparently rubbed down and pointed
FIG. 33. Bone implement.
on stone implements or on the sides of the cliff, where grooves are
often found (fig. 33).
FIG. 34. Bone scraper.
Several fine bone scrapers (figs. 34, 35) were dug out of the
debris 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.
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 debris 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
50 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
the convex instead of in the flat side, was found at Spruce-tree House.
Probably both objects were formerly used as ornaments, being sus-
pended 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 evi-
dent 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, spe-
cimens 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
It appears from the discovery of a small wooden hoop in one of
the rooms that the prehistoric people of Spruce-tree House were
FIG. 36. Hoop used in hoop-and-pole game.
familiar with the hoop-and-pole game (fig. 36) so popular among
several of our aboriginal tribes. But whether or not the indi-
FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 51
vidual 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 OwakultL* 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
Fragments of leather or dressed skin (fig. 37) were found in sev-
eral 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
PIG. 37. Portion of leather moccasin.
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 imple-
ments made of metal. Evidently European culture exerted no influ-
ence 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 picto-
graphs. Some of these represent human beings in 'various attitudes,
and animals, as deer, mountain sheep, snakes, and other subjects not
a 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.
52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
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. — Nordenskiold (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. Nordenskiold 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 exami-
nation 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 Avail. 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 dis-
tribution, especially in that region of the Southwest characterized by
circular kivas, adds considerable interest to its interpretation.
THWKBS] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 53
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, other-
wise 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 super-
stitious. 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 Yerde
Houses had the same language, at present no one can tell. The cul-
ture was selfcencered and apparently well developed. It is not
54 BUKEAU OF AMEKICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 41
known whether it originated in the Mesa Verde canyons or was com-
pletely evolved when it reached there.
Although we know little about the culture of the prehistoric in-
habitants 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 en-
vironment, 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
Page
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
Page
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 inhab-
itants 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 Norden-
skiold, 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
55
56
INDEX
Page
HOPI— Continued.
name M oki 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 ki va structure 20
2
2
JACKSON EUIN, location of
JACKSON, W. H., explorations of
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
NORDENSKIOLD, 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
0 WAKULTI, a Hopi basket dance 51
Page
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, Zufii.
POUNDING STONES, description of 41
POWAMU 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 Nordenskiold, 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 Nordenskiold 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
t ype 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
SIPAPC, 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
INDEX
57
Page
TANOAN FAMILIES (Hopi), coming of 35
TCAM AHIAS, 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
inkivas 11,18,19,21,22,23
of rooms 16
WALLS, description of 4,5-6,9-10
Page
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 sticks 44
slabs 43
spindles 43-44
sticks tied together 42-43
ZUXI POTTERY —
belonging to Little Colorado ceramic area. 35,
36,38
decoration 33
description of 31-32, 37
69392— Bull. 41—09-
O
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 1
••^^ V \
'%?/&, \ \
'% \ ~
SPRUCE TREE HOUSE \
$S^
GROUND PLAN OF SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 2
From the northwest
From the west
THE RUIN, FROM THE NORTHWEST AND THE WEST
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 3
Before repairing
After repairing
PLAZA D
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 4
Before repairing
After repairing
THE RUIN, FROM THE SOUTH END
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 5
THE RUIN, FROM THE SOUTH
'BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE
General view
Room 11, from the south
ROOMS 11-24
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 7
THE RUIN, FROM THE NORTH END
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 8
|
NORTH END OF THE RUIN, SHOWING MASONRY PILLAR
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 9
Roof of room 43
Main street
A ROOF AND A STREET
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 10
Front of rooms 62 and 63
Plaza E, from the south, before repair
THE RUIN FROM THE SOUTH END, SHOWING ROOMS AND PLAZA
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 11
Before repairing
After repairing
KIVA D
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 13
Kiva A, repaired
Kiva D, repaired
INTERIORS OF TWO KIVAS
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 14
From stump of spruce tree, looking east
Interior of kiva C, looking southwest
CENTRAL PART OF RUIN, AND KIVA
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 15
From above, showing roof
Roof removed Section of air-shaft, or ventilator
DIAGRAMS OF KIVA, SHOWING CONSTRUCTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 16
DECORATED FOOD-BOWLS
Diameters (in inches) : a, a', llj; b, b', 11; c, c', 1H; d, d'
83
^ e
Q ^
< c
cc -a
o a
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 18
DECORATED FOOD-BOWLS
Diameters (in inches): a, a', 9; b, bf, 12^; c, c', 11; d, d', 11J
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 19
DECORATED VASE AND MUGS
Heights (in inches): a, 3£; b, 3j; c, 3|; d, 4fc; e, 3J; /, 5
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 20
a. Small bowl (diam., 3^ in.)
b. Two-handled globular canteen (height, 7£ in.)
DECORATED BOWL AND CANTEEN
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 41 PLATE 21
j I, i
STONE IMPLEMENTS
a-g, axes; h, tcamahia: i, paint stone; j, paint stone (last?)
Lengths (in inches): a, 4J; 6, 4J; c, 5; d, 5$; «, 6J; /, 6|; fir, 5J; ft, 10^; i, 10|; j,
E
51
U6
no * /+!
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