a young archaeologist of great experience and reputation for successful
work in the Southwest, was appointed” as Superintendent of Mesa Verde
National Park.
★ ★ ★
The new Superintendent’s wide and practical experience enabled him to
lead the way in coordinating and directing many important activities:
overall plans for the general functional layout; architectural plans;
road construction; establishment of public campgrounds; development of
water supply and other facilities needed by the vastly increased number
of visitors who were beginning to discover this fascinating, unique, and
hitherto almost unknown National Park.
Outstanding among the permanent achievements of this constructive decade
were the development of the Ranger Guide Service made up for the most
part of trained young archaeologists, under the direction of a permanent
naturalist-archaeologist; the building and equipment of a museum from
funds contributed by public subscription; the establishment of evening
campfire lectures, and demonstrations by the Navajos of their tribal
chants and dances—activities that today form the pattern of the
inspiring interpretive program conducted here by the National Park
Service.
THE MUSEUM
[Illustration: Sketch of museum]
An ancient medicine man’s pouch with its magic treasures—mummy of a
Basketmaker maiden who lived 1,500 years ago—the primitive hunter’s
atlatl—might pique your curiosity and lure you to visit the Mesa Verde
Museum. Soon you would discover, however, that this is not just a
storehouse for dry-as-dust dead things, but rather a living center of
knowledge and its interpretation—the key to your understanding and
enjoyment of the real museum which is the Park itself.
[Illustration: Decorative border]
[Illustration: CLIFF PALACE IN 1270 A.D.
From a Painting by PAUL COZE]
Collaborating with the staff of the Mesa Verde Museum, the artist has
shown typical activities at 3:00 P.M. on a sunny autumn afternoon in
1270 A.D.
In the left foreground an unmarried girl with butterfly hair-do is
husking corn of several colors and gossiping with a married lady who has
the matron’s two rolls of hair behind her ears. Three women in the
painting wear the pueblo dress, while the others have string aprons;
both would have been used in the summer. Nearby is a ladle and a
corrugated pot—on the wall top a Classic Mesa Verde mug and a decorated
jar.
Between the girl and the wife fixing her husband’s hair lies a snare.
Close to the couple are a bowl, a squash, a stone axe, and a peculiar
submarine-shaped jar.
Above the couple a dog barks at a youngster who has broken a big jar.
Two women are making pottery; behind them two women replaster the lower
room of a two-story house, on top of which a man is pointing out to some
children that the town crier is making an announcement, and they should
keep quiet. Two priests, one with ceremonial kilt and evergreens, climb
a one-pole ladder.
Beneath the crier a woman closes the doorway of her house with a stone
slab, and below her on the near roof an old lady keeps warm with a
rabbit-skin blanket, while her daughter grinds corn. In front of the
house a woman, whose baby snoozes in a wooden cradle, bakes blue corn
meal “pancakes” on a hot stone slab. The kiva door is closed with a mat,
turkeys wander about, and the woman in the right-hand corner, sitting on
the beautiful brown textile (to be seen in the Park Museum), strings
turquoise beads.
To the right, two bow-and-arrow-makers ridicule a returning unsuccessful
hunter, women bring water in jars from the spring, and turkeys pick over
the trash pile.
Visible in the painting are a round and a square tower, ten of 23
exceptionally small kivas which occur in the ruin, and rectangular and
T-doors. Beyond the square tower with its balcony, people are finishing
a third-story room.
Cliff Palace had 200 living rooms and sheltered perhaps 400 persons.
[Illustration: MORFIELD VILLAGE AND CAMPGROUND]
Transcriber’s Notes
—Silently corrected a few typos.
—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.