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.)
For convenience of description Cliff Palace is arbitrarily divided into
four quarters, known as tower quarter, plaza quarter, old quarter, and
northern quarter. The tower quarter (pls. 10-14) occupies the whole
southern portion of the ruin and extends to the extreme southern end
from a line drawn perpendicular to the cliff through the round tower. It
includes 8 kivas, A to G, and J, 6 of which, A, B, C, D, E, and J, are
situated on the fourth terrace, the level of the kiva floor being that
of the third terrace. Kiva F lies in the third, and G in the second
terrace. It will be seen from an inspection of the ground plan that
there are in all 29 rooms in this quarter, besides the 8 kivas, an
instructive fact when compared with Spruce-tree House with its 8 kivas
and 114 rooms. It must be remembered that several of the rooms in this
quarter are of two stories, one is of three stories, and one of four
stories, thus adding from 15 to 20 rooms to the 8 enumerated as
occupying the ground floor. The proportion of ceremonial rooms to kivas
in this quarter would be a little more than 2 to 1.
PLAZA QUARTER
The plaza quarter, as its name indicates, is a large open space, the
floor of which is formed mainly by the contiguous roofs of the several
kivas (K to O) that are sunk below it. The main entrance to the village
opens into this plaza at its northwestern corner, and on the northern
side it is continued into a court which connects with the main street or
alley of the cliff village. From its position, relations, and other
considerations, it is supposed that this quarter was an important
section of Cliff Palace and that here were held some of the large
open-air gatherings of the inhabitants of the place; here also no doubt
were celebrated the sacred dances which we have every reason to believe
were at times performed by the former inhabitants. The roof levels of
kivas H and I did not contribute to the size of the main plaza, but show
good evidence of later construction. Judging from the number of
fireplaces in this quarter there is reason to believe that much cooking
was done in this open space, in addition to its use for ceremonial or
other gatherings of the inhabitants.
OLD QUARTER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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