The rooms of Spruce Tree House are divided into two groups by a court
or street running from the front to the back of the cave, at a point
just south of the center of the village. The majority of the rooms are
north of this street, and some of the walls show the finest work in
the entire structure. The stones were well shaped and smoothed; the
mud mortar was carefully worked into the crevices and compressed with
thin stone wedges. Over many of the walls was spread a thin coat of
reddish plaster, often decorated with paintings. These rooms, standing
as when they were constructed 700 years ago, are mute evidence of the
cleverness of the masons who built them.
Spruce Tree House has more walls that reach the top of the cave than
any other ruin in the park. All through the central part the walls
were three stories high, the top of the cave serving as the roof of
the upper rooms. One-and two-story structures usually required a
ceiling of heavy rafters, running lengthwise of the rooms. These were
covered with a crosswise layer of small poles and withes as a support
for an average 3-inch floor of clay. Very often a small hatchway was
left in one corner of the ceiling. A short ladder leaning in the corner
of the lower room gave access to the room above.
Very few of the houses were equipped with fire pits. Most of the
cooking was done in the open courts. Small fire pits can be found
along the walls and in the corners of the courts and passageways.