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.)
Among problematical wooden objects may be mentioned billets (pl. 33),
flattened on one side and rounded at each end. Two of these were found,
with calcined human bones, in the inclosure used for cremation of the
dead, situated at the northern end of the large refuse heap. These, like
the bowls with which they were associated, were coated with a white
salt-like deposit. None of the many wooden objects figured by
Nordenskiöld are exactly the same as those above mentioned, although the
one shown in his plate XLIII, figure 17, is very close in form and size.
Several bent twigs or loops of flexible wood from the refuse heaps were
found; these are supposed to have been inserted in the masonry, one on
each side of door and window openings, to hold in place the stick which
served as a bolt for fastening the door or window stone in position.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Planting sticks.]
Bent sticks, of dumb-bell shape, having a knob at each end (pl. 33,
_b_), are believed to have been used in games. A similar object from the
Mancos region is figured by Mr. Stewart Culin in his account of the
games of the cliff-dwellers.[75] The ancient people of the semi-deserts
of Atacama, in South America, employed a similar but larger stick, to
which cords were attached for strapping bundles on their beasts of
burden.
[Footnote 75: _Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American
Ethnology._]
DRILLS
A small pointed stone attached with fiber to the end of a stick, similar
to those found by Nordenskiöld in ruin 9 and at Long House, was found.
The Cliff Palace people kindled fire by means of the fire-drill and
fire-stick (hearth), a specimen of which, similar to one collected at
Spruce-tree House, is contained in the collection. Both of these
fire-making implements were broken when found, apparently thrown away on
that account either by the original people or by subsequent visitors.
BONE IMPLEMENTS
Many bone implements (pl. 34, 35) were found during the excavation of
Cliff Palace. They are of the bones of birds and small mammals, or, now
and then, of those of antelope or bear, the latter furnishing the best
material for large scrapers. These implements were evidently sharpened
by rubbing on the stones of walls or on the face of the cliff, as
grooves, apparently made in this way, are there visible in several
places. Scratches made in shaping or sharpening bones, repeatedly found
on the masonry of Cliff Palace, are not peculiar, resembling those
referred to in the report on Spruce-tree House. A small tube with a hole
midway of its length doubtless served as a whistle, similar instruments
being still often used in Hopi ceremonies to imitate the calls of birds.
[Illustration: PLATE 34
BONE IMPLEMENTS]
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