There are numerous cliff-houses in this district, but while, as a
rule, they are much smaller than the magnificent examples in the Mesa
Verde, they are built on the same architectural lines as their more
pretentious relatives. Both large and small have circular subterranean
kivas, similarly constructed to those of Spruce-tree House, and
have mural pilasters (to support a vaulted roof, now destroyed),
ventilators, and deflectors.
There are also many rooms in cliffs, possibly used for storage or for
some other unknown purposes, but too small for habitations. It is
significant that these are identical so far as their size is concerned
with the “ledge houses,” near Spruce-tree House, indicating similar or
identical uses.
The kivas of cliff-dwellings of size in the region considered have the
same structural features as those of adjacent ruins, but very little
resemblance, save in site, to those of cliff-dwellings in southern
Arizona, as in the Sierra Ancha or Verde Valley, the structure of which
resembles adjacent pueblos.
The absence in the McElmo region of very large cliff-houses is due
partly but not wholly to geological conditions, the immense caves of
the Mesa Verde not being duplicated in the tributaries of the McElmo;
but wherever caverns do occur, as in Sand Canyon, we commonly find
diminutive representatives. While differences in geological features
may account for the size of these prehistoric buildings, the nature of
the site or its size is not all important.[35]
[35] Attention may be called to the fact that often we find very
commodious caves without correspondingly large cliff-houses, even in
the Mesa Verde.
Here and there one sees from the road through the McElmo Canyon a few
small cliff-houses, and if he penetrates some of the tributaries, he
finds many others. The canyon is dominated by the Ute Mountain on the
south, but on the north are numerous eroded cliffs in which are many
caves affording good opportunities for the construction of cliff-houses.
These buildings do not differ save in size from the cliff-houses of the
Mesa Verde. Their kivas resemble the vaulted variety and the masonry is
identical.
Although the existence of cliff-dwellings in the tributaries of the
McElmo has long been known, the characteristic circular kivas which
occur in the Mesa Verde had not been recognized previous to the present
report.
The relative age of the pueblos and great towers and the same
structures in caves can not be decided by the data at hand, but the
indications are that they were contemporary.
On account of the similarity in structure of the McElmo cliff-dwellings
to those on Mesa Verde, only a few examples from the former region are
here considered. It may be worthy of note that while McElmo
cliff-dwellings are generally accompanied by large open-air pueblos
and towers or great houses on the cliffs above, in the Mesa Verde
open-air buildings[36] are generally situated some distance from the
cliff-dwellings.