Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace — John Shaqi
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.)
The ground plans of Cliff Palace which have been published were made
from surface indications before excavations were undertaken and
necessarily do not represent all the rooms. Nordenskiöld's map outlines
17 kivas and 102 rooms, indicating several kivas by dotted lines. The
Morley-Kidder map, which represents positions of 18 or 19 kivas, notes
105 secular rooms.[22] Although this ground plan is an improvement on
that of Nordenskiöld, it also was based on surface indications and
naturally fails to indicate those kivas that were buried under the
fallen walls of the terraces. Strangely enough, in Nordenskiöld's ground
plan Kiva K is omitted, notwithstanding the tops of one or two pilasters
were readily seen before any excavation was made. Neither of these plans
distinguishes those buildings that have more than a single story,
although they show the parts of walls that extend to the roof. Neither
Chapin nor Birdsall published maps of Cliff Palace. (See pl. 8.)
[Footnote 22: In "Report, House of Representatives, No. 3703, 58th
Congress," Mr. Coert Dubois ascribes to Cliff House (Cliff Palace) 146
rooms and 5 estufas (kivas). Unfortunately the error in the count of
kivas has been given wide circulation. As stated in the present article,
there are at least 23 rooms in Cliff Palace that may be called kivas.]
[Illustration: PLATE 10
TOWER QUARTER, AFTER REPAIRING
TERRACES AT SOUTHERN END, AFTER REPAIRING]
TERRACES AND RETAINING WALLS
The terraces in front of the rooms occupying the floor of the cave are
characteristic features of Cliff Palace (pls. 9, 10). The excavations
revealed three of these terraces, of which the floor of the cave is the
fourth. This fourth terrace, or cave floor, is in the main horizontal,
but on account of the accumulated talus the slope from the southern end
of the portion in front of kiva G was gradual and continued at about
this level to the northern end of the ruin. This slope brought it about
that kivas in the terraces are at different levels. The floors of kivas
H and I lie on about the level of the first terrace, that of G on the
terrace above, and F lies on the third terrace; the remaining kivas are
all excavated in the cave floor, or fourth terrace. From the main
entrance to the ruin, extending northward, there are representations of
the second and third terraces, both of which extend to the cliff in
front of kiva U. It is probable from the general appearance of the ruin
that when all the terraces and walls were intact Cliff Palace was also
terraced with houses along the front, which recalls architectural
features in certain cliff-dwellings in Canyon de Chelly.
TOWER QUARTER
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