visited their fields among the cedars on top of the mesa, and well-worn
trails led from their habitation to these clearings. Several such trails
have long been known, one of which was formerly exclusively used by
white visitors and was facetiously called "Fat Man's Misery." To another
ancient pathway, near which ladders were placed, the name "Ladder Trail"
may be applied. The pathways now used by visitors follow approximately
these old trails, which were simply series of shallow footholes cut in
the cliff. Although the lapse of time since they were pecked in the rock
has somewhat diminished their depth, they can still be used by an
adventurous climber.
GENERAL FEATURES
Cliff Palace (pls. 1, 2), the most instructive cliff-house yet
discovered in the Mesa Verde National Park, if not in the United States,
is one of the most picturesque ruins in the Southwest. While its general
contour follows that of the rear of the cave in which it is situated,
its two extremities project beyond the cavern. The entire central part
is protected by the cave roof; the ends are exposed.
The general orientation of Cliff Palace is north and south, the cave
lying at the eastern end of the canyon of which it is an extension. The
southern end is practically outside this cave, and the few rooms
westward from kiva V are unprotected. An isolated kiva, W, with high
surrounding walls, is situated some distance beyond the extreme western
end of the ruin. Although not in the same cave as the main ruin, certain
other rooms in the vicinity of Cliff Palace may have been ceremonially
connected with it. They are built in shallow depressions in the cliffs
and may have been shrines or rooms to which priests retreated for the
purpose of performing their rites. In the category of dependent
structures may also be mentioned numerous rings of stones on top of the
mesa. The existence of calcined human bones in the soil over which these
stones are heaped indicates the practice of cremation, of which there is
also evidence in the ruin itself.
DESTRUCTION BY THE ELEMENTS
The constant beating of rain and snow, often accompanied in winter by
freezing of water in the crevices of the masonry, has sadly dilapidated
a large part of the front walls of Cliff Palace, especially those at the
northern and southern ends (pl. 3) where they do not have the protection
of the overhanging roof of the cave.
While the sections known as the old quarter, the plaza quarter, and much
of the tower quarter are protected by the roof of the cave, even here
there has been exposure and destruction from the same cause. Torrential
rains on the mesa in the late summer form streams of water which,
following depressions,[18] flow over the rim of the cave roof and are
precipitated into the trees beyond the lowest terrace of the ruin. The
destruction of walls from these flows is much less than that from
smaller streams which, following the edge of the cave roof, run under
the roof and drip on the walls, washing the mortar from between the
component stones, and eventually undermining their foundation and
leading to their fall. The former presence of these streams is indicated
by the black discoloration of the cave roof shown in photographs.
[Footnote 18: In some of these waterways are found good examples of
"potholes," some of considerable size, which often retain water for a
long time. Their capacity was increased in prehistoric times by the
construction of dams.]
A visitor to Cliff Palace in the dry season can hardly imagine the
amount of rain that occasionally falls during the summer months, and it
is difficult for him to appreciate the destructive force it exerts when
precipitated over the cliff. When Cliff Palace was occupied, damage to
walls could be immediately repaired by the inhabitants after every
torrent, but as the ruin remained for centuries uninhabited and without
repair, the extent of the destruction was great. The torrents falling
over the ruin not only gain force from the distance of the fall, but
sweep everything before them, bringing down earth, stones, small trees,
and bushes. At such a time the bottom of the canyon is filled with a
roaring torrent fed by waterfalls that can be seen at intervals far down
the gorge. The observer standing in Cliff Palace during such a downpour
can behold a sheet of water falling over the projecting cliff in front
of him. These cataracts fortunately are never of long duration, but
while they last their power is irresistible.[19]
[Footnote 19: While there has probably been considerable erosion in the
bed of the canyon since Cliff Palace was constructed, this does not mean
that "the action of the water carved out the valley, leaving at an
inaccessible height buildings originally constructed on almost level
land." See History N. Y. State Chapter, Colorado Cliff Dwellings Assoc.,
p. 11.]
VANDALISM
No ruin in the Mesa Verde Park had suffered more from the ravages of
"pot hunters" than Cliff Palace; indeed it had been much more mutilated
than the other ruins in the park (pls. 1, 4, 5). Parties of workmen had
remained at the ruin all winter, and many specimens had been taken from
it and sold. There was good evidence that the workmen had wrenched beams
from the roofs and floors to use for firewood, so that not a single roof
and but few rafters remained in place. However, no doubt many of the
beams had been removed, possibly by cliff-dwellers, long before white
men first visited the place.
[Illustration: PLATE 9
MAIN ENTRANCE
SOUTHERN END, SHOWING REPAIRED TERRACES]
Many of the walls had been broken down and their foundations undermined,
leaving great rents through them to let in light or to allow passage
from the débris thrown in the rooms as dumping places. Hardly a floor
had not been dug into, and some of the finest walls had been
demolished.[20] All this was done to obtain pottery and other minor
antiquities that had a market value. The arrest of this vandalism is
fortunate and shows an awakened public sentiment, but it can not repair
the irreparable harm that has been done.
[Footnote 20: Some, possibly considerable, of this mutilation may be
ascribed to the former occupants. The Ute Indians will not now enter
cliff-dwellings and probably are not responsible for their destruction.]
REPAIR OF WALLS
The masonry work necessary to repair a ruin as large and as much
demolished as Cliff Palace was very considerable. The greatest amount
was expended on those walls in front of the cave floor hidden under the
lower terraces, at the northern and southern extremities. The latter
portion was so completely destroyed that it had to be rebuilt in some
places, while at the southern end an equal amount of repair work was
necessary. (Pls. 3, 6, 7, 9.) To permanently protect these sections of
the ruin the tops of the walls and the plazas were liberally covered
with Portland cement, and runways were constructed to carry off the
surface water into gutters by which it was diverted over the retaining
walls to fall on the rock foundations beyond. It would be impossible
permanently to protect some of these exposed walls without constructing
roofs above them; at present every heavy rain is bound to cover the
floors of the kivas with water and thus eventually to undermine their
foundations.
The preservation of walls deep in the cave under protection of the roof
was not a difficult problem. The work in this part consisted chiefly in
the repair of kiva walls, building them to their former height at the
level of neighboring plazas.
MAJOR ANTIQUITIES
Under this term are embraced those immovable objects as walls of houses
and their various structural parts--floors, roofs, and fireplaces. These
features must of necessity be protected in place and left where they
were constructed. Minor antiquities, as implements of various kinds,
stone objects, pottery, textiles, and the like, can best be removed and
preserved in a museum, where they can be seen to greater advantage and
by a much larger number of people. The ideal way would be to preserve
both major and minor antiquities together in the same neighborhood, or
to install the latter in the places in which they were found. While at
present such an arrangement at Spruce-tree House and Cliff Palace is not
practicable, large specimens, as metates and those jars that are
embedded in the walls, have, as a rule, been left as they were found.
As the repair work at Cliff Palace was limited to the protection of the
major antiquities, the smaller objects for the greater part having been
removed before our work began, this report deals more especially with
the former, the whole ruin being regarded as a great specimen to be
preserved in situ.
Very little attention was given to labeling rooms, kivas, and their
different parts, the feeling being that this experiment has been
sufficiently well carried out at Spruce-tree House, an examination of
which would logically precede that of Cliff Palace. Spruce-tree House
has been made a "type ruin" from which the tourist can gain his first
impression of the major antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park, and
while it was well to indicate on its walls the different features
characteristic of these buildings, it would be redundant to carry out
the same plan in the other ruins.[21]
[Footnote 21: The author's hope is to excavate and repair in different
sections of the Southwest a number of "type ruins," each of which will
illustrate the major antiquities of the area in which it occurs. From an
examination of these types the tourist and the student may obtain, at
first hand, an accurate knowledge of the prehistoric architecture.]
No attempt was made to restore the roof of any of the Cliff Palace kivas
for the reason that one can gain a good idea of how the roof of a
circular kiva is constructed from its restoration in Kiva C of
Spruce-tree House, and an effort to roof a kiva of Cliff Palace would
merely duplicate what has already been accomplished without adding
essentially to our knowledge.
GENERAL PLAN OF CLIFF PALACE
The ground plans of Cliff Palace which have been published were made
from surface indications before excavations were undertaken and
necessarily do not represent all the rooms. Nordenskiöld's map outlines
17 kivas and 102 rooms, indicating several kivas by dotted lines. The
Morley-Kidder map, which represents positions of 18 or 19 kivas, notes
105 secular rooms.[22] Although this ground plan is an improvement on
that of Nordenskiöld, it also was based on surface indications and
naturally fails to indicate those kivas that were buried under the
fallen walls of the terraces. Strangely enough, in Nordenskiöld's ground
plan Kiva K is omitted, notwithstanding the tops of one or two pilasters
were readily seen before any excavation was made. Neither of these plans
distinguishes those buildings that have more than a single story,
although they show the parts of walls that extend to the roof. Neither
Chapin nor Birdsall published maps of Cliff Palace. (See pl. 8.)
[Footnote 22: In "Report, House of Representatives, No. 3703, 58th
Congress," Mr. Coert Dubois ascribes to Cliff House (Cliff Palace) 146
rooms and 5 estufas (kivas). Unfortunately the error in the count of
kivas has been given wide circulation. As stated in the present article,
there are at least 23 rooms in Cliff Palace that may be called kivas.]
[Illustration: PLATE 10
TOWER QUARTER, AFTER REPAIRING
TERRACES AT SOUTHERN END, AFTER REPAIRING]
TERRACES AND RETAINING WALLS
The terraces in front of the rooms occupying the floor of the cave are
characteristic features of Cliff Palace (pls. 9, 10). The excavations
revealed three of these terraces, of which the floor of the cave is the
fourth. This fourth terrace, or cave floor, is in the main horizontal,
but on account of the accumulated talus the slope from the southern end
of the portion in front of kiva G was gradual and continued at about
this level to the northern end of the ruin. This slope brought it about
that kivas in the terraces are at different levels. The floors of kivas
H and I lie on about the level of the first terrace, that of G on the
terrace above, and F lies on the third terrace; the remaining kivas are
all excavated in the cave floor, or fourth terrace. From the main
entrance to the ruin, extending northward, there are representations of
the second and third terraces, both of which extend to the cliff in
front of kiva U. It is probable from the general appearance of the ruin
that when all the terraces and walls were intact Cliff Palace was also
terraced with houses along the front, which recalls architectural
features in certain cliff-dwellings in Canyon de Chelly.
TOWER QUARTER
For convenience of description Cliff Palace is arbitrarily divided into
four quarters, known as tower quarter, plaza quarter, old quarter, and
northern quarter. The tower quarter (pls. 10-14) occupies the whole
southern portion of the ruin and extends to the extreme southern end
from a line drawn perpendicular to the cliff through the round tower. It
includes 8 kivas, A to G, and J, 6 of which, A, B, C, D, E, and J, are
situated on the fourth terrace, the level of the kiva floor being that
of the third terrace. Kiva F lies in the third, and G in the second
terrace. It will be seen from an inspection of the ground plan that
there are in all 29 rooms in this quarter, besides the 8 kivas, an
instructive fact when compared with Spruce-tree House with its 8 kivas
and 114 rooms. It must be remembered that several of the rooms in this
quarter are of two stories, one is of three stories, and one of four
stories, thus adding from 15 to 20 rooms to the 8 enumerated as
occupying the ground floor. The proportion of ceremonial rooms to kivas
in this quarter would be a little more than 2 to 1.
PLAZA QUARTER
The plaza quarter, as its name indicates, is a large open space, the
floor of which is formed mainly by the contiguous roofs of the several
kivas (K to O) that are sunk below it. The main entrance to the village
opens into this plaza at its northwestern corner, and on the northern
side it is continued into a court which connects with the main street or
alley of the cliff village. From its position, relations, and other
considerations, it is supposed that this quarter was an important
section of Cliff Palace and that here were held some of the large
open-air gatherings of the inhabitants of the place; here also no doubt
were celebrated the sacred dances which we have every reason to believe
were at times performed by the former inhabitants. The roof levels of
kivas H and I did not contribute to the size of the main plaza, but show
good evidence of later construction. Judging from the number of
fireplaces in this quarter there is reason to believe that much cooking
was done in this open space, in addition to its use for ceremonial or
other gatherings of the inhabitants.
OLD QUARTER
The section of Cliff Palace that has been designated the old quarter
(pls. 14, 15) lies between a line drawn from the main entrance of the
ruin to the rear of the cave and the extreme northern end, culminating
in a high castle-like cluster of rooms. It may well be called one of the
most important sections of Cliff Palace, containing, as it does, the
largest number of rooms, the most varied architecture, and the best
masonry. Its protected situation under the roof of the cave is such that
we may consider it and the adjoining plaza quarter the earliest settled
sections of the village. It contains all varieties of inclosures known
in cliff-dwellings: kivas of two types, round rooms, rectangular rooms,
an alley or a street, and a court. The floor of the cave on which the
rooms are built is broadest at this point, which is one of the best
protected sites and the least accessible to enemies in the whole
building. It may be theoretically supposed that originally the kiva
quarter was an annex of this section and that some of the kivas in this
quarter may also have been owned and used by the clans which founded
Cliff Palace. The old quarter is divided into two parts, a northern and
a southern, the former being arbitrarily designated the Speaker-chief's
House. The "street" running approximately north and south bisects the
old quarter, making a front and a rear section.
NORTHERN QUARTER
This quarter (pl. 16) of Cliff Palace extends from the high rocks on
which the Speaker-chief's House is perched, in a westerly direction,
ending with a milling room and adjacent inclosures 92 to 94, situated
west of kiva V. It includes three kivas; two, U and V, being situated on
the fourth terrace; and one, T, on the first terrace. Kivas U and V are
built on top of large rocks, the floor of kiva V being excavated in
solid rock. Much of this quarter, especially the western end, is under
the sky, and consequently without the protection of the cave roof, on
which account it was considerably destroyed by rain water flowing over
the canyon rim. The walls of this quarter, especially where it joins the
old quarter, exhibit fine masonry, suggesting that it was inhabited by
important clans.
[Illustration: PLATE 11
PHOTOGRAPHED BY R. G. FULLER
TOWER QUARTER]
MASONRY
The walls of Cliff Palace present the finest masonry known to any
cliff-dwelling and among the best stonework in prehistoric ruins north
of Mexico. A majority of the stones used in the construction were well
dressed before laying and smoothed after they were set in the wall. The
joints are often broken, but it is rare to find intersecting walls or
corners bonded. Stones of approximately the same size are employed,
thereby making the courses, as a rule, level. Although commonly the
foundations are composed of the largest stones, this is not an
invariable rule, often larger stones being laid above smaller ones; the
latter, even when used for foundations, are sometimes set on edge. As a
rule, the walls are not plumb or straight. The custom of laying stone
foundations on wooden beams is shown in several instances, especially in
cases where it was necessary to bridge the intervals between projecting
rocks. The arch was unknown to the masons of Cliff Palace; there are no
pillars to support floors or roofs as in Spruce-tree House. It is not
rare, especially in the kivas, to find instances of double or reenforced
walls which may or may not be bonded by connecting stones.
The masonry of the kivas as a rule is superior to that of the secular
rooms. The mortar employed in the construction is hard; the joints are
chinked with spalls, fragments of pottery, or clay balls. The fact that
much more mortar than was necessary was employed resulted in weakening
the walls. Several walls were laid without mortar; in some of these the
joints were pointed, in others not.[23] The ancient builders did not
always seek solid bases for foundations, but built their walls in
several instances on ashes or sand, evidently not knowing when the
foundations were laid that other stories would later be constructed upon
them.
[Footnote 23: Fragments of mortar from the walls and floors, ground to
powder, were used in the repair work.]
In several sections of the ruin there are evidences that old walls,
apparently of houses formerly used, served in part as walls for new
buildings. There are also several instances of secondary construction in
which old entrances are walled up or even buried and old passageways
covered with new structures. Similar reconstruction is common in Hopi
pueblos, where it has led to enlargement of rooms and other variations
in form. Among the several examples of such secondary building in Cliff
Palace may be mentioned a long wall, evidently the front of a large
building, which serves as a rear wall of several rooms arranged side by
side. The obvious explanation of such a condition is that the walls of
the small rooms are of later construction.
As above mentioned the foundations of many walls are of larger stones,
and the masonry here is coarser than higher up, which has led some
authors to ascribe this fact as due to two epochs of construction. But
this conclusion does not appear to be wholly justifiable, although there
is evidence in many places that there has been rebuilding over old walls
and consequent modification in new constructions, by which older walls
have ceased to be necessary, a condition not unlike that existing in
several of the Hopi pueblos. In this category may be included the
several doors and windows that have been filled in with new masonry or
even concealed by new walls. From the fragile character of certain
foundations of high walls it would appear that it was not the intention,
when they were laid, to erect on them walls more than one story high;
the construction of higher stories upon them was an afterthought.
Evidences occur of repair of breaks in the walls and corners by the
aboriginal occupants, one of the most apparent of which appears at the
end of the court in the southern wall of room 59.
ADOBE BRICKS
The walls, as a rule, were made of stone; indeed it is unusual to find
adobe walls in cliff-dwellings of the Mesa Verde. In prehistoric
buildings in our Southwest, evidences that the ancients made adobe
bricks, sun-dried before laying, are very rare. Bricks made of clay are
set in the walls of the Speaker-chief's House and were found in the
fallen débris at its base. These bricks were made cubical in form before
laying, but there is nothing to prove that they were molded in forms or
frames, nor do they have a core of straw as in the case of the adobes
used in the construction of Inscription House in the Navaho National
Monument, Arizona.[24] The use of adobes in the construction of
cliff-house walls has not been previously mentioned, although we find
references to "lumps of clay" in the earliest historic times among
Pueblos. Thus the inhabitants of Tiguex, according to Castañeda, were
acquainted with adobes. "They collect," says this author, "great heaps
of thyme and rushes and set them on fire; when the mass is reduced to
ashes and charcoal they cast a great quantity of earth and water upon it
and mix the whole together. They knead this stuff into round lumps,
which they learn to dry and use instead of stone."
[Footnote 24: See _Bulletin 50, Bureau of American Ethnology_.]
[Illustration: PLATE 12
PHOTOGRAPHED BY R. G. FULLER
THE SQUARE TOWER, BEFORE AND AFTER REPAIRING]
Attention may be called to the fact that not only the adobes found at
Cliff Palace but also the mortar used in the construction of the walls
contain ashes and sometimes even small fragments of charcoal. Clay or
adobe plastered on osiers woven between upright sticks, so common in the
walls of cliff-dwellings in Canyon de Chelly and in the ruins in the
Navaho Monument, while not unknown in the Mesa Verde, is an exceptional
method of construction and was not observed at Cliff Palace. The
survival[25] of this method of building a wall, if survival it be, may
be seen in the deflector of kiva K.
[Footnote 25: In at least one of the Oraibi kivas the plastering of the
wall is laid on sticks that form a kind of lathing. Whether this is a
survival of an older method of construction or is traceable to European
influence has not been determined, but it is believed to be a survival
of prehistoric wall construction.]
PLASTERING
The walls of a number of rooms were coated with a layer of plastering of
sand or clay. This was found on the outside of some walls, where it is
generally worn, but it is best preserved on the interior surfaces.
Perhaps the most striking examples of plastering on exterior walls
occurs on the Speaker-chief's House, where the smoothness of the finish
is noteworthy.