Mesa Verde [Colorado] National ParkUnited States. Department of the Interior
History
Mesa Verde [Colorado] National Park
United States. Department of the Interior
Mesa Verde National Park (Colo.)
The lowest story of the tower is entered from plaza B, and on the east
side there are three openings, situated one over another, indicating
the first, second, and third stories, but on the south side of the
tower there are only two doorways. The roof of the lowest room is
practically intact, showing good workmanship, but about half of its
floor is destroyed. The upper walls of the second-story room have the
original plaster, reddish dado below and white above. Although the
third and fourth stories are destitute of floors, they are plastered.
KIVAS
Some of the best preserved circular ceremonial chambers (kivas) in the
Southwest are to be seen in Square Tower House. The majority of the
kivas belong to the pure type, distinguished by mural pilasters
supporting a vaulted roof.
Kiva A is particularly instructive on account of the good preservation
of its roof. Its greatest diameter is 13 feet 6 inches; or, measuring
inside the banquettes, 11 feet 1 inch. The interior is well plastered
with many layers of brown plaster. The pilasters are six in number,
one of which is double. Two depressions are visible in the smooth
floor, in addition to a fireplace and a sipapu. These suggest ends of
a ladder, but no remains of a ladder were found in the room.
Kiva B is the largest ceremonial chamber in Square Tower House,
measuring 16 feet 9 inches in diameter over all. This kiva is not only
one of the best preserved, but also one of the most instructive in
Square Tower House, since half of the roof, with the original
cribbing, is still in place, extending completely around the
periphery. It has six pilasters and as many banquettes. Where the
plaster had not fallen, it was found to have several layers.
[Illustration: SUN TEMPLE, A MYSTERIOUS FORM OF RUIN]
PETROGLYPHS
The perpendicular cliff back of Square Tower House has several
different forms of incised petroglyphs. From the fact that these
usually occur on the cliff above the kiva roofs, they may be regarded
as connected in some way with a religious symbolism. A few petroglyphs
are also found on stones set in the walls of the rooms.
OAK TREE HOUSE
The ruin formerly called Willow House, but now known as Oak Tree
House, lies on the north side of Fewkes Canyon, in a symmetrical cave
and has an upper and a lower part. The two noteworthy features of Oak
Tree House are the kivas and the remnant of the wall of a circular
room made of sticks plastered with adobe but destitute of stone
masonry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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