Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff PalaceFewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Colorado -- Antiquities; Mesa Verde National Park (Colo.)
I cannot refrain from once more laying stress on the skill to
which the walls of Cliff Palace in general bear witness, and
the stability and strength which has been supplied to them by
the careful dressing of the blocks and the chinking of the
interstices with small chips of stone. A point remarked by
Jackson in his description of the ruins of Southwestern
Colorado, is that the finger marks of the mason may still be
traced in the mortar, and that those marks are so small as to
suggest that the work of building was performed by women. This
conclusion seems too hasty, for within the range of my
observations the size of the finger marks varies not a little.
Like Sprucetree House and other large ruins the Cliff Palace
contains at the back of the cave extensive open spaces where
tame turkeys were probably kept. In this part of the village
three small rooms, isolated from the rest of the building,
occupy a position close to the cliff; two of them (103, 104),
built of large flat slabs of stones, lie close together, the
third (105), of unhewn sandstone (fig. 38), is situated farther
north. These rooms may serve as examples of the most primitive
form of architecture among the cliff people.
In the Cliff Palace, the rooms lie on different levels, the
ground occupied by them being very rough. In several places
terraces have been constructed in order to procure a level
foundation, and here as in their other architectural labours,
the cliff-dwellers have displayed considerable skill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account