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 section of Cliff Palace that has been designated the old quarter
(pls. 14, 15) lies between a line drawn from the main entrance of the
ruin to the rear of the cave and the extreme northern end, culminating
in a high castle-like cluster of rooms. It may well be called one of the
most important sections of Cliff Palace, containing, as it does, the
largest number of rooms, the most varied architecture, and the best
masonry. Its protected situation under the roof of the cave is such that
we may consider it and the adjoining plaza quarter the earliest settled
sections of the village. It contains all varieties of inclosures known
in cliff-dwellings: kivas of two types, round rooms, rectangular rooms,
an alley or a street, and a court. The floor of the cave on which the
rooms are built is broadest at this point, which is one of the best
protected sites and the least accessible to enemies in the whole
building. It may be theoretically supposed that originally the kiva
quarter was an annex of this section and that some of the kivas in this
quarter may also have been owned and used by the clans which founded
Cliff Palace. The old quarter is divided into two parts, a northern and
a southern, the former being arbitrarily designated the Speaker-chief's
House. The "street" running approximately north and south bisects the
old quarter, making a front and a rear section.
NORTHERN QUARTER
This quarter (pl. 16) of Cliff Palace extends from the high rocks on
which the Speaker-chief's House is perched, in a westerly direction,
ending with a milling room and adjacent inclosures 92 to 94, situated
west of kiva V. It includes three kivas; two, U and V, being situated on
the fourth terrace; and one, T, on the first terrace. Kivas U and V are
built on top of large rocks, the floor of kiva V being excavated in
solid rock. Much of this quarter, especially the western end, is under
the sky, and consequently without the protection of the cave roof, on
which account it was considerably destroyed by rain water flowing over
the canyon rim. The walls of this quarter, especially where it joins the
old quarter, exhibit fine masonry, suggesting that it was inhabited by
important clans.
[Illustration: PLATE 11
PHOTOGRAPHED BY R. G. FULLER
TOWER QUARTER]
MASONRY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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