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.)
From the height of the walls it at first seemed as if in kiva W there
were evidences of a room above. This condition would be contrary to the
rule and, to the Hopi mind, ceremonially impossible; but if its upper
walls are regarded as homogeneous with the high walls that surround
kivas O and R, and we interpret this as an example of the second type of
kiva, the anomaly is explained.
Although this kiva is placed provisionally in the second type mainly
because of these lofty side walls, on account of its isolation at the
end of Cliff Palace several observers have not regarded it as belonging
to the ruin. Neither Nordenskiöld nor Morley and Kidder included it in
their ground plans, nor does Nordenskiöld mention it in his enumeration
of Cliff Palace kivas.
As kiva W is almost wholly unprotected by the cave roof, its walls have
greatly suffered from the downpour of rains to which they are exposed.
The masonry is fairly good. Evidently it was an important building, and
was isolated from other rooms possibly for some special purpose. As
there are few or no walls of secular rooms near it, one may believe that
it was resorted to by the villagers on special occasions and did not
belong to any one clan.
MINOR ANTIQUITIES
In the preceding pages have been described the major antiquities, such
as walls and those permanent objects which could not be removed from the
places where they were constructed without more or less harm. There
remain to be considered the minor antiquities, or the smaller objects
which are movable and of a more perishable nature, especially if left in
the places where they were found. It was mainly in search of such
objects that much of the mutilation of Cliff Palace was done.
It was not expected that excavations would yield any considerable number
of specimens, since for years Cliff Palace had been dug over in search
of them, and many hundreds of objects had already been found and carried
away to be sold either to museums or to individuals. Notwithstanding
these unfavorable conditions, the collection of objects, now deposited
in the National Museum, is sufficient to afford some idea of the culture
of the Cliff Palace people.
Among the objects that may be mentioned in the category of minor
antiquities are pottery, basketry, implements of stone, bone, and wood,
fabrics of various kinds, ornaments, fetishes, and the like--all those
objects commonly called artifacts that make up collections from
cliff-dwellings generally.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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