Many centuries before the Pueblo Indians built the cliff dwellings their
ancestors lived in the caves of the Mesa Verde region. At first they had
no houses and the caves provided shelter. After a time pithouses
developed and these structures were sometimes built in the caves.
Finally the people deserted the cliffs and as the centuries passed the
evidences of the early occupations were covered with earth and sand that
accumulated. When the people returned to the cliffs centuries later they
built their cliff dwellings on top of the earlier material, not knowing
or not caring that it was there.
In order to recover the material left by the earlier people it is
necessary to excavate under the cliff dwellings. One project of this
type has been carried out and the results are an indication of what
further excavation may reveal under some of the larger ruins. In 1926,
three pithouses were found in the lower levels of Stephouse Cave, which
is across the canyon from Spring House. In 1891, Nordenskiold realized
that earlier people had lived in the cave although he did not dig deeply
enough to find the pithouses. As he dug into the debris he found two
pieces of crude early pottery and in his book Nordenskiold stated, “It
is possible that both these vessels are older than the rest of the
pottery from the cliff dwellings. Perhaps they are the work of a people
who inhabited Stephouse Cave before the erection of the cliff village.”
Later, the Wetherills found more of the early pottery. They even dug
through a portion of one of the pithouses and they, too, suggested that
an earlier people had lived there. Finally in 1926, Park Superintendent
Jesse L. Nusbaum excavated that section of the cave and found the three
pithouses under several feet of debris left by the later people who had
lived in the cliff dwelling.
If the evidences of the earlier occupations are found in the caves it
will be in situations like that pictured on the opposite page where
great depths of debris protected them from the early explorers. Little
is known of the occupation of the Mesa Verde by the earliest
agricultural people. Further knowledge will come only upon excavation of
the lower levels of some of the caves.
[Illustration: Spring House, part of which is shown here, was one of
the largest of the cliff dwellings. The fragmentary walls in the
lower section indicate that structures two or more stories in height
once filled this part of the cave. This village probably contained
more than 100 rooms. A spring behind the walls at the left end gave
the ruin its name.]