In 1923 Roy Henderson and A. B. Hardin discovered the largest and finest
watchtower that had yet been found. The tower was circular, 25 feet in
height and 11 feet in diameter. Loopholes at various levels commanded the
approach from every exposed quarter.
During the winter of 1924 the north refuse space of Spruce Tree House was
excavated. Two child burials were found, one partially mummified, the
other skeletal only. With one was found a mug, a ladle, a digging stick,
and two ring baskets that had held food. Several corrugated jars were
found, together with miscellaneous material. A layer of turkey droppings
a foot thick indicated the space had been used as a turkey pen.
During January and February of 1926, when snow was available as a water
supply, excavations were carried on in Step House Cave, by Superintendent
Jesse L. Nusbaum. In 1891 Nordenskiöld had found many fine burials in
this cave and it had suffered greatly from pothunting. The cliff dweller
refuse at the south end of the cave had not been thoroughly cleaned out,
however, and it was under this layer of trash that the important
discovery was made. Three of the Lake Basket Maker pit houses were found,
giving the first evidence that these people had used the caves before the
cliff dwellers. Very few artifacts were found because of the earlier
pothunting. In 1926 also a low, deep cave opposite Fire Temple was
excavated, and a small amount of Basket Maker material found. Most
interesting were two tapered cylinders of crystallized salt that still
bore the imprint of the molder’s hands. While bracing a slipping boulder
in Cliff Palace, Fred Jeeps found, in 1916, a sandal of the Early Basket
Maker type that indicates a former occupancy of the cave by the first
group of Agricultural Indians in this region.
In 1927 Bone Awl House was excavated. A series of unusually fine bone
awls was found that suggested the name for the ruin. Much miscellaneous
material was also found. Another small cliff dwelling nearby was cleaned
out. One baby mummy and an adult burial were found, as well as some
pottery and bone and stone tools. This ruin is reached by a spectacular
series of 104 footholds that the cliff dwellers had cut in the almost
perpendicular canyon wall.
During March of 1928 and the winter of 1929 restricted excavations were
conducted in ruins 11 to 19, inclusive, on the west side of Wetherill
Mesa. Several burials were found, all in poor condition because of
dampness. Outstanding was an unusual bird pendant of hematite with
crystal eyes set into drilled sockets with piñon gum. Forty-two bowls
were reconstructed from the sherds found.
In the summer of 1929 Mr. and Mrs. Harold S. Gladwin and associates of
Gila Pueblo, Globe, Ariz., assisted by Deric Nusbaum, conducted an
archeological survey of small-house ruins on Chapin Mesa and in the
canyon heads along the North Rim. The survey covered 250 sites. One
hundred sherds were collected from each site and studied to identify the
pottery types, the sequence of their development, and their relationship
to pottery types of other southwestern archeological areas.
The forest fire of 1934 revealed many hitherto unknown ruins. Two
splendid watchtowers were found on the west cliff of Rock Canyon. In a
small area at the head of Long Canyon 10 new Early Pueblo ruins were
located and no doubt scores of others will be found upon more careful
search. In the heads of the small canyons many dams and terraces were
noted.
In the stabilization program that was carried on in 1934-35 a number of
artifacts were found. A certain amount of debris had to be moved in order
that the weakened walls and slipping foundations might be strengthened
and varied finds resulted. Axes, bone awls, sandals, pottery, planting
sticks, and similar articles were most common, but a few burials were
also found.
In August 1934 the undisturbed skeleton of an old woman was found on the
bare floor of a small ruin just across the canyon from the public camp
grounds. This skeleton, of particular importance because of fusion of the
spinal column, had apparently remained exposed and undisturbed through
more than seven centuries.
Because of the fact that no detailed, comprehensive survey has ever been
made of the archeological resources of the park, the findings of new
ruins, artifacts, and human remains are more or less regularly reported
at the park museum.