Part 1

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 51

ANTIQUITIES OF THE MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

CLIFF PALACE

BY

JESSE WALTER FEWKES

WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1911

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, _Washington, D. C., May 14, 1910_.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the accompanying manuscript, entitled "Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace," by Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes, with the recommendation that it be published, subject to your approval, as Bulletin 51 of this Bureau.

Yours, very respectfully,

F. W. HODGE, _Ethnologist in Charge_.

DR. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, _Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution_, _Washington, D. C._

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction 9

Cliff Palace a type of prehistoric culture 11

Recent history 13

Site of Cliff Palace 20

Prehistoric trails to Cliff Palace 23

General features 23

Destruction by the elements 23

Vandalism 24

Repair of walls 25

Major antiquities 25

General plan of Cliff Palace 26

Terraces and retaining walls 27

Tower quarter 27

Plaza quarter 28

Old quarter 28

Northern quarter 28

Masonry 29

Adobe bricks 30

Plastering 31

Paintings and rock markings 32

Refuse heaps 33

Secular rooms 33

Doors and windows 34

Floors and roofs 35

Fireplaces 36

Living rooms 36

Milling rooms 37

Granaries 38

Crematories 38

Ledge rooms 40

Enumeration of the rooms in Cliff Palace 40

Secular rooms 40

Kivas 48

Kivas of the first type 49

Kiva A 51

Kiva B 52

Kiva C 53

Kiva D 53

Kiva E 53

Kiva F 54

Kiva G 54

Kiva H 55

Kiva I 55

Kiva J 56

Kiva K 57

Kiva L 57

Kiva N 57

Kiva P 58

Kiva Q 58

Kiva S 59

Kiva T 59

Kiva U 60

Kiva V 60

A subtype of kivas (Kiva M) 61

Kivas of the second type 62

Kiva O 63

Kiva R 63

Kiva W 63

Minor antiquities 64

Stone implements 65

Pounding stones 66

Grinding stones 66

Miscellaneous stones 66

Pottery 67

Relations as determined by pottery 70

Symbols on pottery 71

Pottery rests 72

Basketry 72

Sandals 72

Wooden objects 73

Drills 74

Bone implements 74

Turquoise ear pendants and other objects 75

Seeds 75

Textiles 76

Human burials 77

Conclusions 78

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

PLATE 1. Cliff Palace, from the Speaker-chief's house to the southern end 9

2. Cliff Palace, from the opposite side of the canyon 11

3. The southern end, after and before repairing 12

4. Central part before repairing 15

5. The round tower, from the north. General view of the ruin, before repairing 16

6. Central part, after repairing 19

7. Southern end, after repairing 20

8. Ground plan 22

9. Main entrance. Southern end, showing repaired terraces 24

10. Tower quarter, after repairing. Terraces at southern end, after repairing 27

11. Tower quarter 29

12. The square tower, before and after repairing 31

13. Details of Cliff Palace 33

14. Square tower, after repairing. Old quarter 34

15. Speaker-chief's house, after repairing 36

16. Northern part, from the Speaker-chief's house to the western end 39

17. Details of kiva A 41

18. Kiva H, before repairing 43

19. Southeastern wall of kiva Q, before repairing 45

20. Axe with original handle 47

21. Stone hatchets 48

22. Stone objects 50

23. Various objects from Cliff Palace 52

24. Food bowls 55

25. Vases and food bowls 56

26. Pottery 58

27. Pitch balls and vase 60

28. Rests for jars 63

29. Basket hopper--side and bottom views 64

30. Sandals 66

31. Sandals 66

32. Sandals 66

33. Wooden objects 73

34. Bone implements 74

35. Bone implements 76

FIG. 1. View down Navaho canyon 21

2. Coil of basket plaque 73

3. Planting sticks 74

4. Woven forehead band 76

ANTIQUITIES OF THE MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

CLIFF PALACE

By JESSE WALTER FEWKES

INTRODUCTION

In the summer of 1909 the writer was detailed by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, at the request of the Secretary of the Interior, to continue the excavation and repair of ruins in the Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. This work was placed under his sole charge and continued through the months May to August, inclusive. In that time the writer was able to repair completely this great ruin and to leave it in such condition that tourists and students visiting it may learn much more about cliff-dwellings than was possible before the work was undertaken.

The force of laborers, numbering on an average 15 workmen, was from Mancos, Colorado. Many of them had worked on Spruce-tree House during the previous year and had become expert in repairing ruins. By their aid it was possible to accomplish more and at less expense than was expected. It has fallen to the writer to prepare the report on the work which he had the honor to direct, and he is conscious how difficult it is to put it into a form that will adequately express the devotion with which those under him have accomplished their respective tasks.

A report on the general results accomplished at Cliff Palace was published by the Secretary of the Interior in 1909; the following account considers in a more detailed way the various scientific phases. The purpose of the present paper is to present a more accurate account of Cliff Palace than was possible before the excavation and repair work was done, and to increase existing knowledge by directing attention to the scientific data revealed by excavations of this largest, most picturesque, and most typical cliff-dwelling in the Southwest. In order to give this account a monographic form there have been introduced the most important descriptions of Cliff Palace previously published. There is also included a description of the few minor antiquities brought to light in the progress of the work. These specimens are now in the United States National Museum, where they form the nucleus of a collection from Cliff Palace. The increasing interest, local and national, in the prehistoric culture of the Southwest and the influence of these antiquities in attracting visitors to localities where they exist, furnish a reason for considering in some detail various other questions of general interest connected with cliff-dwellings that naturally suggest themselves to those interested in the history of man in America.

The method of work in this undertaking has been outlined in the report on Spruce-tree House published by the Secretary of the Interior.[1] The primary thought has been to increase the educational value of Cliff Palace by attracting tourists and students of archeology.

[Footnote 1: In his Annual Report for 1908. See also _Bulletin 41 of the Bureau of American Ethnology_.]

The reader is reminded that from the nature of the work at Cliff Palace very few specimens can be expected from it in the future, and that so far as the minor antiquities are concerned the objective material from this ruin is now all deposited in public museums or in private collections. Additional specimens can be obtained, however, from other ruins near it which will throw light on the culture of Cliff Palace. It is appropriate, therefore, to point out, at the very threshold of our consideration, that a continuation of archeological work in the Mesa Verde National Park is desirable, as it will add to our knowledge of the character of prehistoric life in these canyons. The next work to be undertaken should be the excavation and repair of a Mesa Verde pueblo. The extensive mounds of stone and earth on the promontory west of Cliff Palace have not yet been excavated, and offer attractive possibilities for study and a promise of many specimens. Buried in these mounds there are undoubtedly many rooms, secular and ceremonial, which a season's work could uncover, thus enlarging indirectly our knowledge of the cliff-dwellers and their descendants.[2]

[Footnote 2: A few holes that have been dug here and there in these mounds have brought to light sections of walls with good masonry, but no excavations that could be called extensive or scientific have yet been attempted on this site. The excavation of these mounds might reveal a pueblo like Walpi, and a comparison of objects from them with those from Cliff Palace would be important in tracing the relationship of cliff-dwellings and pueblos.]

The writer considers it an honor to have been placed in charge of the excavation and repair of Cliff Palace, and takes this occasion to express high appreciation of his indebtedness to both the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Secretary of the Interior for their confidence in his judgment in this difficult undertaking.

Maj. Hans M. Randolph, superintendent of the Mesa Verde National Park, gave assistance in purchasing the equipment, making out accounts, and in other ways. During the sojourn at Cliff Palace the writer was accompanied by Mr. R. G. Fuller, of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, a volunteer assistant, who contributed some of the photographs used in the preparation of the plates that accompany this report. The writer is indebted also to Mr. F. K. Vreeland, of Montclair, New Jersey, for several fine photographs of Cliff Palace taken before the repairing was done.

CLIFF PALACE A TYPE OF PREHISTORIC CULTURE

In the following pages the walls and other remains of buildings and the objects found in the rooms have been treated from their cultural point of view. Considering ethnology, or culture history, as the comparative study of mental productions of groups of men in different epochs, and cultural archeology as a study of those objects belonging to a time antedating recorded history, there has been sought in Cliff Palace one type of prehistoric American culture, or rather a type of the mental production of a group of men in an environment where, so far as external influences are concerned, caves, mesas, and cliffs are predominant and aridity is a dominant climatic factor. Primarily archeology is a study of the expression of human intelligence, and it must be continually borne in mind that Cliff Palace was once the home of men and women whose minds responded to their surroundings. It is hoped that this monograph will be a contribution to a study of the influence of environment on the material condition of a group of prehistoric people. The condition of culture here brought to light is in part a result of experiences transmitted from one generation to another, but while this heritage of culture is due to environment, intensified by each transmission, there are likewise in it survivals of the culture due to antecedent environments, which have also been preserved by heredity, but has diminished in proportion, pari passu, as the epoch in which they originated is farther and farther removed in time from the environment that created them. These survivals occur mostly in myths and religious cult objects, and are the last to be abandoned when man changes his environment.

It is believed that one advantage of a series of monographic descriptions of these ruins is found in the fact that the characteristics of individual ruins being known, more accurate generalizations concerning the entire culture will later be made possible by comparative studies. There is an individuality in Cliff Palace, not only in its architecture but also in a still greater measure in the symbolism of the pottery decoration. These features vary more or less in different ruins, notwithstanding their former inhabitants were of similar culture. These variations are lost in a general description of that culture.

The reader is asked to bear in mind that when the repair of Cliff Palace was undertaken the vandalism wrought by those who had dug into it had destroyed much data and greatly reduced the possibility of generalizations on the character of its culture. The ruin had been almost completely rifled of its contents, the specimens removed, and its walls left in a very dilapidated condition. Much of the excavation carried on under the writer's supervision yielded meager scientific results so far as the discovery of specimens was concerned; throughout the summer earth was being dug over that had already been examined and cult objects removed. Had it been possible to have begun work on Cliff Palace just after the ruin was deserted by the aboriginal inhabitants, or, as that was impossible, at least anticipated only by the destruction wrought by the elements, these explorations might have illumined many difficult problems which must forever remain unsolved.

The present monograph is the second in a series dealing with the antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park and opening with the account of the excavation and repair of Spruce-tree House.[3] An exhaustive account of all known antiquities from Cliff Palace is not intended, and no reference is made even to many objects from that ruin now in museums. Discussion of details is not so much aimed at as brevity in the statement of results and a contribution to our knowledge of a typical form of Southwestern culture. Believing that modern Pueblo culture is the direct descendant of that of cliff-dwellers, the writer has not hesitated to make use of ethnology, when possible, in an interpretation of the archeological material.

[Footnote 3: _Bulletin 41 of the Bureau of American Ethnology._]

Although the name Cliff Palace is not altogether an appropriate one for this ruin, it is now too firmly fixed in the literature of cliff-dwellings to be changed. The term "palace" implies a higher social development than that which existed in this village, which undoubtedly had a house chief similar to the village chief (_kimongwi_) of the Hopi, who occupied that position on account of being the oldest man of the oldest clan; but this ruin is not the remains of a "palace" of such a chief.

The population of Cliff Palace was composed of many clans, more or less distinct and independent, which were rapidly being amalgamated by marriage; so we may regard the population as progressing toward a homogeneous community. Cliff Palace was practically a pueblo built in a cave; its population grew from both without and within: new clans from time to time joined those existing, while new births continually augmented the number of inhabitants.

There was no water at Cliff Palace[4] when work began, but a good supply was developed in the canyon below the ruin, where there is every reason to believe the former inhabitants had their well. In a neighboring canyon, separated from that in which Cliff Palace is situated by a promontory at the north, there is also a meager seepage of water which was developed incidentally into a considerable supply. In the cliff above this water is a large cave in which was discovered the walls of a kiva of the second type, but the falling of a large block of rock upon it--which occurred subsequent to the construction of this kiva--led to its abandonment. This cave is extensive enough for a cliff-house as large as Cliff Palace; but for this accident it might have developed into a formidable rival of the latter.

[Footnote 4: All potable water for camp had to be brought from Spruce-tree House, about 2 miles away.]

RECENT HISTORY

It is remarkable that this magnificent ruin (pl. 1) so long escaped knowledge of white settlers in the neighboring Montezuma valley. Cliff Palace is not mentioned in early Spanish writings, and, indeed, the first description of it was not published until about 1890.

Efforts to learn the name of the white man who discovered Cliff Palace were not rewarded with great success. According to Nordenskiöld it was first seen by Richard Wetherill and Charley Mason on a "December day in 1888," but several residents of the towns of Mancos and Cortez claim to have visited it before that time. One of the first of these visitors was a cattle owner of Mancos, Mr. James Frink, who told the author that he first saw Cliff Palace in 1881, and as several stockmen were with him at that time it is probable that there are others who visited it the same year. We may conclude that Cliff Palace was unknown to scientific men in 1880, and the most we can definitely say is that it was first seen by white men some time in the decade 1880-1890.[5]

[Footnote 5: It is generally stated by stockmen and others who claim to have seen Cliff Palace "years ago," that the walls of the buildings were much higher in the early eighties than they are at present.]

While there is considerable literature on the cliff-dwellings of the Mesa Verde, individual ruins have not been exhaustively described. Much less has been published on Spruce-tree House than on Cliff Palace, which latter ruin, being the largest, has attracted more attention than any other in the Park. As every cliff-house has its peculiar architectural features it is well in describing these buildings to refer to the ruins by names. This individuality in architecture pertains likewise to specimens, the majority of which in museums unfortunately are labeled merely "Mancos" or "Mesa Verde." A large number of these objects probably came from Spruce-tree House and Cliff Palace, but it is now impossible to determine their exact derivation.

The first extended account of Cliff Palace, accompanied with illustrations, which is worthy of special mention, was published by Mr. F. H. Chapin, and so far as priority of publication is concerned he may be regarded as the first to make Cliff Palace known to the scientific world. Almost simultaneously with his article there appeared an account of the ruin by Doctor Birdsall, followed shortly by the superbly illustrated memoir of Baron Gustav Nordenskiöld. All these writers adopt the name Cliff Palace, which apparently was first given to the ruin by Richard Wetherill, one of the claimants for its discovery. Nordenskiöld's work contains practically all that was known about Cliff Palace up to the beginning of the summer's field work herein described.

Mr. Chapin[6] thus referred to Cliff Palace in a paper read before The Appalachian Mountain Club on February 13, 1890:

[Footnote 6: _Appalachia_, VI, 28-30, May, 1890, Boston, 1892.]