through the silent city and listen to the stories that are told about
the former inhabitants. Intimate details in the lives of the people are
laid bare. Assertions are made for which there is no visible evidence.
The visitor can scarcely be blamed for wearing a skeptical look in his
eyes.
Our knowledge of the intimacies of the ancient life has come from a
number of sources. Through intensive study, archeologists, ethnologists
and historians have worked out the details that go toward making a
complete story. From countless sources they have garnered the bits of
information that fit together in jig-saw fashion to give us a picture of
life in a cliff dwelling. Unfortunately, some pieces of the picture are
still missing; here and there are rather large and distressing holes. In
some lines of research, blank walls have been encountered and mystery
still enshrouds some of the phases we would like most of all to see.
On the whole, though, the picture is rather complete. By fitting
together all of the bits of knowledge that have been given to us by
various scientists we can see very well the happenings in one of the
ancient villages.
The archeologist has given us the general background of the people of
Cliff Palace. Decades of research have revealed the development of the
Pueblo Indians during their one thousand year occupation of the Mesa
Verde. But the archeologist has gone even farther and, in a general way,
has traced the people back through countless centuries to their original
home in a far continent. We shall see this long story of development in
later chapters.
Originally the people came from Asia, drifting into America across the
Bering Sea. From Alaska they drifted south and, after endless
generations, reached the Southwest. Up to this time they had lived as
roving hunters but somewhere in the Southwest they met other Indians who
were farmers. This new life appealed to them and, borrowing the precious
seeds, they gradually became a farming people.
At about the time of Christ they moved into the Mesa Verde region and
soon some of them were living on the Mesa Verde itself. At first their
culture was simple but for a thousand years it developed. Finally it
reached its peak in the thirteenth century when Cliff Palace and the
other cliff dwellings were built.
In addition to giving us the background, the archeologists have given us
the material details of the ancient city. Through their excavations the
actual remains have been brought to light, studied and interpreted. When
we walk through Cliff Palace we appreciate the tremendous overhanging
cave roof that protected the entire city. We see the results of the
physical labors of the people; the houses with their smooth walls and
bright paintings, the storage rooms, kivas, open courts, narrow winding
passageways, firepits, and in the back of the cave, the trash room where
the turkeys roosted.
In the nearby museum we see the actual physical remains, the skeletons
and mummies, of the people themselves. We see their clothing and their
jewelry. There also are the utensils and tools; pottery, basketry, bows
and arrows, stone knives, bone awls and needles, grinding stones, fire
drills, planting sticks, stone axes and mauls; an endless array of
things that were once in common use.
All of this has been given to us by the archeologist. He has shown us
the long background of the people and has unearthed, restored and
interpreted the actual material things from the ruin. To many people
these things seem cold and inanimate. They seem dead; just stone, bone,
wood and clay. There is life in them, though, for they are the
expressions of the desires, ambitions, loves and hates of the people.
Every single article was produced because of some human desire or need.
The person who keeps this in mind is able to walk through Cliff Palace,
even today, and see the former inhabitants, for in the results of their
efforts they still live. Many visitors forget this and do not see the
people. Even the archeologist often fails to see them as he is a
scientist who deals only with realities. Sometimes he can not see the
people for the walls.
Historians have also contributed to the story of ancient Indian life.
The musty records of the early explorers of the Southwest contain many
extremely valuable observations concerning the Pueblo Indians. These the
historians have ferreted out.
As early as 1540, the Spaniards began to enter the Pueblo country when
Coronado traversed almost the entire area. Other Spanish explorers
followed Coronado. Missions were established in many of the pueblos and
for three centuries the Spaniards were in close contact with the
Indians. Later the American explorers entered the Southwest and they,
too, came in contact with the Indians. The chronicles of these
explorers, both Spanish and American, contain many passages concerning
the life and customs of the Pueblo people. Many of these early records
have been translated and compiled and from them we gain knowledge of
Pueblo life during the last four centuries. It is true that not all of
the observations were accurate. Many were spiced with prejudice and
deliberate fallacy but still they have been of value.
The Spaniards came into the Southwest less than three centuries after
the Pueblo Indians left the Mesa Verde and drifted to the South. The
Indians were still living in terraced pueblos. They were still farmers;
corn, beans and squash still dominated the food bowl out of which each
family ate. In a material way they had changed little, so it is safe to
assume they had changed little in their social and religious customs.
Even after the white men arrived there was little change in the life of
the Pueblo Indians until within the last few decades. For that reason
the early records, when properly interpreted, add much to our knowledge
of the ancient cultures.
Ethnologists have done a vast amount of work that supplements the labors
of the archeologist and the historian. The ethnologist is a scientist
who makes an actual detailed study of a group of living Indians. Every
cultural detail is recorded and there have been ethnologists who knew
almost as much about the Indians whom they studied as the Indians knew
about themselves.
Some of the ethnologists have lived in the pueblos for long periods of
time. In some cases they have been accepted by the Indians and have even
been taken into the priesthood. An outstanding example was Mr. Frank
Hamilton Cushing, an ethnologist who lived in the pueblo of Zuni from
1879 to 1884. He learned the Zuni language, was adopted into the Macaw
clan and was initiated into various religious societies. He participated
in the religious ceremonies, wore native costume, ate native foods and
took part in the various occupations and pastimes. Before he left the
pueblo he became the second chief of the tribe and was made the head
priest of the Bow, one of the highest religious offices.
Such men as Cushing have given us detailed knowledge of the legends,
religion, ceremonies, social customs and daily life of the modern Pueblo
Indians. Since these Indians are descendants of the ancient Pueblo
Indians, this knowledge has enabled us to answer many questions.
The person who walks into Cliff Palace and views a kiva for the first
time has not the slightest chance of guessing its original purpose. It
is absolutely remote from anything he has ever seen. But when he is told
that these same strange rooms still survive in the present-day pueblos
and are used as club rooms and ceremonial chambers, the use becomes
immediately apparent. In the center of the ancient kiva floor is a tiny
hole that has no obvious purpose. That same hole is still found in some
of the present-day kivas and the Indian explains that it is the spirit
entrance to the earth. Even the wisest archeologist could never have
guessed that.
Without the help of present-day Indians it would be almost impossible to
answer questions about such non-material things as religion and social
customs. We can dig up the bones of a man, every bone he ever possessed.
But who can look at those bones and tell how many wives he had? Some
people think it should show but it doesn't. In order to answer the
question we simply go to the descendants of that man. Without doubt they
still have the same customs.
From all this it can be seen that the ethnologist has added much to our
story. Since the Pueblo Indians of today are the descendants of the
Pueblo Indians of a few centuries ago, a thorough knowledge of them is
the soundest approach to an understanding of the ancient people.
In using our knowledge of the modern Pueblo Indians in an effort to
picture life in ancient times we are faced with an important question.
How much have the customs changed because of the influence of the
Spaniards?
As soon as the Spaniards entered the Pueblo country they established
missions in the Indian pueblos. The native religion was suppressed and a
new religion was forced upon the Pueblo people. In the Rio Grande area
in New Mexico this foreign pressure was strongest and there can be
little doubt that the native Indian religion and customs have changed to
some extent. In the western pueblos of the Zunis and Hopis the Spanish
pressure was not so great. Missions were maintained at Zuni only
intermittently and among the Hopis for only a short time. As a result
the native Pueblo religion and customs of these western pueblos have
undergone less change and they will be used, for the most part, in our
effort to picture the ancient life of the Mesa Verde.
As we move into Cliff Palace to spend a year with the inhabitants we
must not forget the sources of our knowledge. First, we have the
cultural background of the people, their rise from roving hunters to
stable agriculturists; second, we have the great ruin itself and the
things the people left in it; third, we have the interpretations of
Indians who are descendants of the ancient people. All these will be
added together to complete the picture. We must realize, however, that
there are questions still unanswered: some problems will never
satisfactorily be solved. But if we use the knowledge that has been
gained and remain within the realm of plausibility we shall be able to
follow the people very well as they go through their daily lives.
Now we are ready to turn back the centuries. We are ready to walk into
Cliff Palace and live with the people. How better can we see the life of
the ancient city? We will follow the men, women and children, as they go
through the daily round of life. Spring, summer, autumn and winter will
pass. We will see the work, the play, the dreams, the desires, the
happiness and the bitter disappointments in the lives of the people. We
will take no part in the activities. We will merely watch.
What year shall it be?
[Illustration: Seven centuries ago Cliff Palace was a busy, happy
city of about four hundred people]
It makes no difference as long as it is a good year, a normal year, with
an abundance of snow and rain. That was the most important factor
because of its effect upon the harvests. Tree ring records show that
1261 and 1262 were normal years, also 1265, 1266, 1267, 1268, 1269, 1271
and 1272. All of those were good years and that was the time when Cliff
Palace was at its height. The people had been living in the cave for
many years and the great city was surely at its peak.
Let's take the year 1268. It is as good as any. It was a normal, happy
year for the people of Cliff Palace.
Let the centuries roll back--it is 1268 A.D.
As we walk into Cliff Palace we find it at the very peak of its
development. For generations it has been growing until now it fills the
great sheltering cave. There are over two hundred one-room houses in the
city; they fill the cave from end to end and rise in terraces to a
height of three and even four stories. At the south end and again at the
north end the terraced structures rise to touch the cave roof.
Scattered about the city are twenty-three kivas, the underground
ceremonial chambers. Their flat roofs serve as courts where many of the
activities take place. The roofs of the terraced houses are also the
scene of much activity and throughout the city many ladders lean against
the walls, leading from one level to the next.
To us Cliff Palace seems like a great two-hundred-room apartment house.
To the occupants it is a city of two hundred houses, occupied by scores
of families. Over four hundred people live in the city; they swarm about
the courts and over the roofs like so many busy brown ants.
As we enter the city we notice immediately the appearance of the people.
They are typical Indians. They seem rather short, the men averaging
about five feet four inches in height and the women about five feet.
They are heavy-set and as we watch them we get the impression that as a
rule they are a short, stocky people. The skin color varies from light
to dark brown; some of them are so dark they seem almost black. The eyes
are also brown and the hair varies from dark brown to a deep lustrous
black.
The people have broad heads and the back of each head is flattened, a
deformity caused in infancy by a hard cradle board. The faces are broad
and the cheek bones are prominent. Occasionally we notice "slanting"
Mongoloid eyes. The people seem to have certain Mongoloid tendencies
although they are not a pure Mongoloid type.
This town where we are going to spend the year is simply a large
terraced apartment house built in a great cave. In the two hundred or
more rooms live at least four hundred Indians, short, stocky,
brown-skinned people whom we will know well before the year is over.
The centuries have rolled back to the year 1268 A.D., and we take our
seats on a roof.
It is spring.
4
SPRING
Spring is a happy, joyous time for the people of Cliff Palace and there
is much laughter and gaiety in the great cave. The bleak, uncomfortable
winter is over; there is a feeling of freedom and broken bonds.
Everything in nature indicates that a new year and new life are
beginning and the people respond just as do the animals and plants.
The winter that is ending has been cold and even though the people
became accustomed to it there was suffering and sadness. Many of the
older people who were afflicted with rheumatism and arthritis suffered
terribly and the children developed colds and other diseases against
which the medicine men were powerless. Several deaths occurred in Cliff
Palace last winter and there was sadness and fear in the cave city.
These misfortunes were caused by witches, who are evil human beings with
only one desire--to injure and destroy the people. Winter is the season
when witches are most active so it is a time of fear and dread for the
inhabitants of the town.
Now spring is here and the people are gay and lighthearted. Spring is
ever a happy time for farmers for the miracle of new life never loses
its thrill. Spring, the season of new life; summer, the season of growth
and development; autumn, the season of ripening and harvest; winter, the
season of suffering, death and sorrow. Then spring comes again and the
eternal cycle has another joyous beginning.
In March the sun begins to be warm. During the morning, while still in
the shadow, the cave is cold but in the afternoon when the sun creeps
in, it is very pleasant. Some days the sun is actually hot as it beats
into the sheltered cave. Chipmunks and squirrels, even the lizards, come
out of hibernation to sun themselves on the warm rocks. The Indians do
likewise.
As the sun begins to climb into the cave each afternoon the people come
out to meet it. Uncomfortable winter clothing is thrown aside and soon
most of the inhabitants of the cave are sunning themselves on the front
terraces. Everyone is happy. There is much laughter and boisterous
shouting. The aged men and women bring their rheumatic bones out into
the warm sunlight and immediately feel new life. Gaunt old men, whose
creaking joints have not climbed the cliff trails for years, get a new
gleam in their eyes as they vow they will raise a crop of corn this
summer. Aged women begin to twist their gnarled fingers as they dream of
making pottery again.
The able-bodied men sit in small groups, dreaming and talking of the
planting time that is coming. Wrinkled old priests assure them that it
will be a fine season. All signs are right; the gods are smiling on
their people. The women think of new pottery they must make, repairs
they plan for their houses, and marriages they must arrange for their
daughters. Young wives, in whom romance has not been dulled by too many
children, playfully comb the lice from their husbands' heads and dream
of babies soon to come. Spring is a fine time for that.
Here and there young unmarried men lean against the walls, presumably
dozing in the sun. But they are the busiest of all. Each one is
endeavoring to catch the eye of some dusky young maiden whose
full-rounded curves are causing her mother to think of a son-in-law. The
young man's eyes seldom connect; the ever vigilant eyes of mothers and
aunts come between.
The really active members of the populace are the children. Some play on
the trash pile in front of the cave; others scramble over the boulders
that litter the slope below. Their rich brown skins flash in the sun as
they endeavor to make up in one afternoon for all of the cold inactivity
of the winter. Their shouts and laughter are mingled with the barking of
their dogs and the gobbling of the turkeys they are disturbing. During
the winter the turkeys stayed close to the cave but now they are
scattered over the slope, nipping off the early buds and searching for
the first insects of spring.
Not every March day is warm: some are blustery with the changeable
weather of spring. A clear blue sky turns black in only a few minutes
and heavy wet snow swirls into the canyons. The snow soon changes to
rain, then a cool breeze swings down from the north and the rain becomes
icy pellets of sleet. In a few minutes the clouds blow away and the warm
sun shines again on a dripping, steaming world. Sometimes during the
night, warm, wet snow falls, snow so heavy that its weight snaps limbs
from the trees. The warm rocks and the bright sun melt it rapidly and
often there is a roaring waterfall over the front of Cliff Palace cave
as the water rushes off the mesa top.
[Illustration: Life in a cliff dwelling. Museum diorama of Spruce
Tree House]
The weather grows steadily warmer and winter is left behind. There is
much activity in the city. Everyone is up at sunrise and the work of the
day is immediately started. After several hours of work, breakfast is
eaten late in the morning, then the activities are resumed. The second
and last meal of the day, an early supper, brings an end to the day's
activities.
During the winter the cave became damp and musty; everything needs to be
aired out. Clothing, blankets, robes and floor mats are spread out on
the terraces and roofs to bake in the sun. The women tie small bunches
of stiff grass with cords and with these brush-like brooms sweep the
houses and courtyards thoroughly. Trash is swept into the back of the
cave where the turkeys roost or out on the ever-growing trash pile which
slides far down the slope in front.
Even the kivas, the underground ceremonial rooms, are cleaned and the
walls are replastered to hide the soot that has accumulated. The men do
some of the cleaning but women are often invited to help, especially
with the plastering. It is considered a great honor for a woman to be
chosen to plaster a kiva.
A major part of the spring work is the repairing of houses. It is work
that never seems to end for repairs and alterations are always in
progress in some part of the city except in the winter when it is too
cold. Spring is the best time for the repair work as there is an
abundance of water for the mortar and the home owners are filled with a
desire to build and improve. Cracks are merely filled with mud and small
chinking stones. Sometimes a small section of wall has bulged
dangerously and must be replaced. Often the walls have been built on a
foundation of loose trash and as a result, settle until they are in
danger of falling. Such walls, sometimes entire rooms, must be torn down
and rebuilt. Sometimes a house is deserted by its owners for some reason
and gradually goes to ruin. As it crumbles the stones and the roof poles
are used in the repairing or building of other houses. It is an endless
cycle, this building and repairing of houses, and all stages of it can
be seen in the town almost any time.
Most of the repair work is done by the women for the houses belong to
them. When there is heavy work, new poles to cut or new stones to shape,
the men help but even then the women supervise.
Very often, as is true among all people, the women change the
decorations of their houses. A new whim stirs the housewife's
imagination and in an hour's time the entire scheme is changed. The
husband never knows what to expect when he returns from a day in the
fields. Decorations are easily applied for they consist of thin layers
of clay mud, spread on the walls with the hands. Sometimes the entire
house is smoothly plastered with red, yellow, grey, brown or white clay.
Other houses are plastered only on the outside; some only on the inside.
Here is a house that is plastered half-way down from the ceiling; next
door is one that is plastered half-way up from the floor.
Many of the walls are decorated with bright paintings. Red ochre makes a
rich red plaster, while up on the mesa top is a layer of clay that gives
a clean chalky-white color. When the two are combined, the effect is
striking. Most of the paintings are small; the picture of an animal, a
geometric design or perhaps just a band of color across a wall. In the
center of Cliff Palace is a house that has a row of nine, bright red
hands painted above the door. The woman who lives there placed her left
hand on the wall and traced it nine times. Then she filled in the
outlines with red ochre to produce the odd decoration.
Near the south end of the town is the most beautifully decorated house
of all. It is the third-floor room of the great four-story tower, the
tallest structure in the cave. The young lady who lives there is very
artistic and all four inside walls are beautifully painted in red and
white. The lower half of the walls she painted with red ochre. The upper
half she covered with the chalky-white clay. Where the two bands of
color came together she painted large red triangles in groups of three.
Thus the edge of the red border consists of three triangles, or peaks,
then a straight line, three more triangles, and so on around the room.
On the white upper portions of the walls are geometric designs painted
in red; parallel straight lines, parallel zigzag lines and parallel
fringed lines.
The painting was cleverly done and the final effect is strikingly
beautiful. The young woman is artistic in everything she does. Her
pottery designs are the best in the city and she even wears her little
yucca-string skirt at an artistically rakish angle. The men of the
neighborhood often speak of her artistry. Their wives speak of her
extremely poor cooking.
As spring progresses the weather grows warmer. The wet, heavy snows come
less frequently and most of the days are full of sunshine. Sometimes
sharp winds sweep off the snow-covered mountains to the north and cut
across the mesa tops but the sheltering cave keeps them out of Cliff
Palace.
As April arrives the effects of sunshine and moisture become evident.
The grass is green, leaves are coming out on the shrubs and the earth is
broken by the first tender shoots of myriads of growing plants. There is
a damp, earthy smell in the canyons; the dank odor of rotting leaf mold,
the heavy odor of wet clay. Through it all is the delicate fragrance of
growing, budding plants. Back from the south come the first birds and
spring is definitely in the Mesa Verde.