Chapter III: Part 3

The Zuñi valley, lying practically in the pathway of culture migration or about midway between the northern and southern subceramic areas, had no distinctive ancient pottery. Its ancient pottery is not greatly unlike that of Homolobi near Winslow but has been influenced about equally by the northern and the southern type. Whatever originality in culture symbols developed in the Zuñi valley was immediately merged with others and spread over a large area.[29]

MESA VERDE AREA

While there are several subdivisions in the eastern subcultural area, that in which the Mesa Verde ruins are situated is distinctive. The area embraces the ruins in the Montezuma valley and those of Chelly canyon, and the San Juan ruins as far as Navaho mountain, including also the Chaco and the Canyon Largo ruins. Probably the pottery of some of the ruins east of the Rio Grande will be found to belong to the same type. That of the Hopi ceramic area, the so-called “Tusayan,” exclusive of Chelly canyon, is distinct from all others. The pottery of the Gila subculture area is likewise distinctive but its influence made its way up the Verde and the Tonto and was potent across the mountains, in the Little Colorado basin. Its influence is likewise strong in the White Mountain ruins and on the Tularosa, and around the sources of the Gila and Salt rivers.

An examination of the decoration of pottery from Spruce-tree House fails to reveal a single specimen with the well-known broken encircling line called “the line of life.” As this feature is absent from pottery from all the Mesa Verde ruins it may be said provisionally that the ancient potters of this region were unfamiliar with it.

This apparently insignificant characteristic is present, however, in all the pottery directly influenced by the culture of the southwestern subceramic area. It occurs in pottery from the Gila and the Salt River ruins, in the Hopi area, and along the Little Colorado, including the Zuñi valley, and elsewhere. Until recorded from the northeastern subceramic area, “the line of life” may be considered a peculiarity of ceramics of the Gila subarea or of the pottery influenced by its culture.

Among the restored food bowls from Spruce-tree House, having characteristic symbols, may be mentioned that represented in plate 16, _d_, _d′_, which has on the interior surface a triangular design with curved appendages to each angle. The triangular arrangement of designs on the interior surface of food bowls is not uncommon in the Mesa Verde pottery.

Another food bowl has two unusual designs on the interior surface, as shown in plate 18, _c_, _c′_. The meaning of this rare symbolism is unknown.

In plates 16-19 are represented some of the most characteristic symbols on the restored pottery.

The outer surfaces of many food bowls are elaborately decorated with designs as shown, while the rims in most cases are dotted.

STONE IMPLEMENTS

Stone implements from Spruce-tree House include axes, mauls, stone hammers, and grinding stones, in addition to other objects of unknown uses. As a rule these stone implements are rudely made, although some of them are as fine as any known from the Southwest. It is but natural that these implements should have been manufactured from more compact and harder rock than that of which the walls of the buildings were constructed. Apparently these objects were not picked up in the neighborhood but brought to the site of the ruin from a great distance.

AXES

The author collected several stone axes (pl. 21 and fig. 11) from Spruce-tree House, some of which (_a_-_f_) are fine specimens. These are all of the same general type, sharpened at one end and blunt at the opposite end, with a groove midway for attachment of the handle. In no case is there a ridge bordering this groove which in one specimen (pl. 21, _g_) is partially duplicated.

One ax has a cutting edge at each end, while another (fig. 12) has the handle still attached, recalling the two specimens figured by Nordenskiöld.

Among the objects of stone taken from Spruce-tree House are several similar to those called by the Hopi _tcamahias_ (pl. 21, _h_). These implements are as a rule long, with smooth surfaces; they are sharpened at one end and pointed at the opposite end. Generally they have no groove for the attachment of a handle; in one instance, however, there is an indentation on opposite borders. The use of these objects is unknown; they may have been axes or planting implements.

Stone objects of precisely the same type are highly prized by the Hopi and play important parts in their ceremonials. A number of these objects are arranged about the sand picture of the Antelope altar in the Snake dance at Walpi.[30]

Similar specimens are attached by the Hopi to their most sacred palladium, called the _tiponi_, or badge of office of the chief of a priesthood. The tiponi of the Antelope society has one of these projecting from its top. The meaning of this association may be even greater than at first would be suspected, for according to legends the Snake family, which is the guardian of the fetishes used in the snake ceremonies, originally lived at Tokonabi, near Navaho mountain, at the mouth of the San Juan river. The culture of the ancient inhabitants of the ruins at that place was not very different from that of the people of the Mesa Verde.

GRINDING STONES

Both pestles and hand stones used in grinding maize were excavated, the latter in considerable numbers. There were found also many stone slabs having rounded depressions, or pits, on opposite sides, evidently similar to those now used by the Hopi in grinding the paints for their ceremonials. In some places peckings or grooves in the surfaces of the rocks show where these grinding stones were used, and perhaps flattened to the desired plane. These grinding places are found in the plazas, on the sides of the cave back of the village, and elsewhere. A number of these grooves in a lower ledge of rock at the spring indicate that this was a favorite spot for shaping the hand grinders, possibly for grinding corn or other seeds.

The hand stones are of several types: (1) Polygonal, having corners somewhat worn, but flat on both sides, and having grooves on opposite edges to insure a firm hold for the hand; (2) convex on one face and flat on the opposite; (3) having two faces on each side, separated by a sharp ridge. The third type represents apparently the last stage in the life of a grinding stone the surfaces of which have been worn to this shape by constant use.

Several flat stones, each having a slight depression on one side, were found to be covered with pigments of various colors, which were ground on their surfaces by means of conical stones, as shown in figure 13. Two rectangular flat stones (pl. 21, _i_, _j_) with finely polished surfaces and rounded edges have a notch on the rim. Their use is unknown. Nordenskiöld refers to similar stones as “moccasin lasts,” but there seems no valid reason thus to identify these objects except that they have the general form—although larger—of the sole of the foot. The Spruce-tree House aborigines wore sandals and had no need for lasts. Moreover, so far as known, the Pueblo Indians never made use of an object of this kind in fashioning their moccasins.

POUNDING STONES

In the course of the excavations a large number of stones having pits in the sides were exhumed, but these are so heavy that they were not sent to Washington. Several of these stones are cubical in form and have lateral pits, one on each of four faces. Some are thick, while others are thin and sharpened at the end like an ax. These stones are probably the mauls with which the masons dressed the rocks used in the construction of the buildings. With such mauls the surfaces of the floors of some ceremonial rooms were cut down several inches below the original level. Some of the pounding stones resemble in a measure the grinding stones, but in them pits replace grooves commonly found in the edge of the latter.

Corn was usually ground on flat stones called _metates_ which were found in considerable numbers. These metates commonly show wear on one or both surfaces, and a few specimens have a ridge on each border resulting from the wearing down of the middle of the stone.

CYLINDER OF POLISHED HEMATITE

Among the objects from the ruins of Mesa Verde figured by Nordenskiöld is one designated a “cylinder of polished hematite, perhaps a fetish.” Another stone cylinder closely resembling this was found by the present author at Spruce-tree House. This object closely resembles a bead, but as the author has seen similar stones used on Hopi altars, especially on the altar to the cardinal points, he is inclined to accept the identification suggested by Nordenskiöld. On altars to the cardinal points small stones of different shapes and colors are arranged near ears of corn surrounding a medicine bowl. As black is the symbolic color of the underworld, a stone of this color is found on the black ear of corn representing the nadir. If this cylinder is a fetish it may have been somewhat similarly used.

BASKETRY

Not a single entire basket was found, although a few fragments of baskets made of woven rushes or osiers were obtained (fig. 14). It would appear, however, from a fine basket figured by Nordenskiöld, which he ascribes to Spruce-tree House and from other known specimens, figured and unfigured, that the Mesa Verde people were skillful basket makers. None of the fragments obtained by the author, and the same holds true regarding the basket figured by Nordenskiöld, are decorated.

WOODEN OBJECTS

Few objects made of wood were obtained at Spruce-tree House, but those which were found are well made and reveal the existence of interesting aboriginal customs. Wooden objects closely resembling some of these were used until a few years ago by the Hopi and other Pueblo tribes.

STICKS TIED TOGETHER

Among the wooden objects found are many perforated sticks tied together by strings. This specimen (fig. 15) is not complete, but enough remains to show that it is not unlike the covering in which the Hopi bride rolls her wedding blankets. From the place where the object was found, it appears that the dead were wrapped in coverings of this kind. Although the specimen is much damaged, it is not difficult to make out from the remaining fragment the mode of construction of the object.

SLABS

Nordenskiöld figures a wooden object of rectangular shape, slightly concave on one side and more or less worn on the edges. Two similar wooden slabs (fig. 16) were found at Spruce-tree House. The objects occasioned much speculation, as their meaning is unknown. It has been suggested they are cradle-boards, a conjecture which, in view of the fact that similar specimens are sometimes found in child burials, is plausible. In this interpretation the holes which occur on the sides may have served for attachment of blankets or hoops. These boards, it may be said, are small even for the most diminutive Indian baby.

Another suggestion not without merit is that these boards are priest’s badges and were once carried in the hands suspended by strings tied to the holes in their edges.

Still another theory identifies them as parts of head dresses called tablets, worn in what the Pueblos call a _tablita_ dance.

The upright portions of some of the Hopi altars have similar wooden slabs painted with symbolic figures and tied together. Altars having slabs of the same description are used in ceremonials of certain Tewan clans living in New Mexico.

SPINDLES

There were found at Spruce-tree House a complete spindle with stick and whorl (fig. 17), and a whorl without the spindle, both of which are practically identical in type with the spinning apparatus of the Hopi Indians. When in use this spindle was made to revolve by rubbing it on the thigh with one hand, while the other held the unspun cotton, the fiber being wound on one end of the spindle. This implement affords still another indication that the arts of the people of Spruce-tree House were similar to those still practised by the Pueblos.

PLANTING-STICKS

A few sticks which resemble those used by the Hopi as dibbles were collected at Spruce-tree House. These measure several feet in length; they are flat at one end, while the opposite end is pointed and rubbed down to a sharp edge. Some of these implements were slightly bent at one extremity.

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS

Among various wooden objects found at Spruce-tree House may be mentioned sticks resembling prayer offerings and others which may have been employed in ceremonials (fig. 18.)

A fragment of a primitive fire-stick (fig. 19) was obtained from the northern refuse-heap and near it were straight sticks that undoubtedly served as fire-drills. There were one or two needles (fig. 20), made of hard wood, suggesting weaving or some similar process. A fragment of an arrow was unearthed in the débris of the northern refuse-heap.

FABRICS

The yucca plant, which grows wild in the canyons and level places of the Mesa Verde, furnishes a tough fiber which the prehistoric people of Spruce-tree House used in the manufacture of various fabrics. Small packages of this fiber and cords made of the same material were found in the refuse-heap and in the houses; these were apparently obtained by heating and chewing the leaves, after which the fiber was drawn out into cords or braided into strings.

A braided cord was also found attached to the handles of jars, and this fiber was a favorite one in mending pottery. It was almost universally employed in weaving cloth netting and other fabrics, where it was combined with cotton fiber. Belts (fig. 21) or headbands (figs. 22, 23) show the best examples of this weaving. Native cotton fiber is not as common as yucca, being more difficult apparently to procure. There is some doubt regarding the cultivation of the cotton plant, and no cotton seeds were identified; the cloth woven from this fiber shows great skill in weaving.

The bark of willows and alders was utilized for fabrics, but this furnished material for basketry rather than for cloth.

One of the most beautiful specimens of woven cloth yet obtained in the Mesa Verde ruins was taken from room 11; this is apparently a headband for carrying bundles.

Among the objects obtained in the northern refuse-heap were rings made of the leaf and fiber of yucca and other plants, sometimes blackened as if by fire (fig. 24). These rings may have been used for carrying jars on the head, although some are too large and flat for that purpose. It has been suggested that the largest were used in some game, but this theory lacks confirmation.

Small fragments of matting were found, but no complete specimen came to light. These fragments resemble those referred to by Nordenskiöld as “objects used in carpeting the floors.” It was customary among some of the sedentary Indians of the Southwest to sleep on rectangular mats, and in one building of compound B of Casa Grande impressions of these mats were found on the floor.

Fragments of cloth made of yucca fiber (fig. 25), in which feathers are woven, are abundant in the refuse-heaps of Spruce-tree House. There were found also many strings in which feathers were woven (fig. 26), but of these nothing but the midribs remain.

The object shown in figure 27 is made of agave fiber tied in a series of loops. Its use is unknown.

Several sandals were excavated at Spruce-tree House, the majority from the refuse-heap in the rear of the dwellings. One of these specimens, figure 28, is in good condition; it is evidently a mortuary object, being found near a skeleton. The other specimen (fig. 29) is fragmentary, consisting of a sole of a sandal with attached toe cords.

Several specimens of slender yucca leaves bound in a bundle were found. One of these (fig. 30) served as a hair-brush, or was used in stirring food. One brush made of finer material was collected.

BONE IMPLEMENTS

A large collection of beautiful bone implements (see fig. 31)—needles, awls, tubes, and dirks—rewarded the work at Spruce-tree House. Some of these show the effects of fire throughout their length, while others are smoked only at one end. When unearthed, one of these dirks was still in the original sheath of cedar bark (fig. 32).

Most of the needles, bodkins, and awls are made of bones of birds or small animals. These were apparently rubbed down and pointed on stone implements or on the sides of the cliff, where grooves are often found (fig. 33).

Several fine bone scrapers (figs. 34, 35) were dug out of the débris covering the floors of the rooms. These are beveled to a sharp edge at one end, the trochanter of the bone serving as a handle.

FETISH

Only one fetish in the form of a human being was obtained at Spruce-tree House, this being found in the débris near the floor of kiva G. So far as the objects from Mesa Verde ruins have been figured or described, this is the first record of the finding of a fetish of human shape in any of these ruins. Moreover, such a fetish is a rarity in cliff-house ruins elsewhere in the Southwest, a fact which imparts to this specimen more than usual interest.

LIGNITE GORGET

In the author’s account of his excavations in ruins in the Little Colorado valley there was figured a large fragment of a disk made of cannel coal or lignite. This disk is convex on one side and plain on the side opposite, the latter having an eyelet, or two holes for suspension. A lignite gorget, similar for the most part to the above-mentioned specimen, but differing therefrom in having the eyelet in the convex instead of in the flat side, was found at Spruce-tree House. Probably both objects were formerly used as ornaments, being suspended about the neck. No similar specimen has thus far been described from Mesa Verde ruins.

CORN, BEANS, AND SQUASH SEEDS

All indications point to maize, or Indian corn, as the chief food plant of the prehistoric people of this cliff-dwelling. This is evident not only from the presence in the ruins of metates and grinding stones, but also from the abundance of corn ears and other fragments discovered; corn husks and seed corn were especially plentiful in rooms and in the refuse-heaps. As in the case of the modern Pueblos, the corn appears to have been of several colors, while the size of the cobs indicates that the ears were small with but few rows of seeds. In addition to cobs, fragments of corn stalks, leaves, and even tassels were found in some of the rooms. Beans of the brown variety, specimens of which were numerous in one room, were the most esteemed. There were obtained also stalks and portions of gourds some of which are artificially perforated, as well as a gourd the rind of which is almost complete. Apparently these gourds were used for ceremonial rattles and for drinking vessels. The form suggests that of a Hopi netted gourd in which sacred water is brought from distant springs for use in the kivas, or ceremonial rooms.

HOOP-AND-POLE GAME

It appears from the discovery of a small wooden hoop in one of the rooms that the prehistoric people of Spruce-tree House were familiar with the hoop-and-pole game (fig. 36) so popular among several of our aboriginal tribes. But whether or not the individual hoop obtained was used in a secular game or a ceremony may be open to differences of opinion. The author is inclined to connect the specimen above referred to with basket dances, one of which is called by the Hopi the _Owakulti_.[31] In this dance the hoop is rolled on the ground and the players throw or attempt to throw darts through it.

LEATHER AND SKIN OBJECTS

Fragments of leather or dressed skin (fig. 37) were found in several of the rooms. These are apparently parts of moccasins or sandals, but may have been pouches or similar objects. A strip of rawhide by means of which an ax was lashed to its handle was picked up in the dump, where also was a fragment of what may have been a leather pouch with a thong of hide woven in one edge. If skins of animals were used for clothing, as they probably were, but slight evidence of the fact remains.

ABSENCE OF OBJECTS SHOWING EUROPEAN CULTURE

In the excavations which were necessary to clean out the rooms of Spruce-tree House no object of European make was discovered. There was no sign of any metal, even copper being unrepresented; no object discovered shows traces of cutting by knives or other implements made of metal. Evidently European culture exerted no influence on the aborigines of Spruce-tree House.

PICTOGRAPHS

Near Spruce-tree House, as elsewhere on the Mesa Verde, are found examples of those rock-etchings and other markings known as pictographs. Some of these represent human beings in various attitudes, and animals, as deer, mountain sheep, snakes, and other subjects not yet determined. As seems to be true of the other rock-inscriptions just mentioned, some of those near Spruce-tree House are religious symbols, some are totems, while others are mere scribblings.

These pictographs are so rude that they give little idea of the artistic possibilities of their makers, while many are so worn that even the subjects intended to be depicted are doubtful.

The walls of some of the rooms in the Mesa Verde cliff-dwellings still show figures painted while the rooms were inhabited. Among these the favorite designs are of triangular form.

The walls of the secular rooms and kivas of Spruce-tree House were formerly covered with a thin wash of colored sand which was well adapted for paintings of symbolic or decorative character. The colors (yellow, red, and white), were evidently put on with the hands, impressions of which can be found in several places. In some cases, as with the upper part of the wall painted white and the lower part red, the contrast brings out the colors very effectively. The walls of some of the rooms are blackened with smoke.

Among the designs used are the triangular figures on the upper margin of the dados and pedestals of kivas. Figures similar in form, but reversed, are made by the Hopi, who call them butterfly and raincloud symbols.

_Birds and quadrupeds._—Nordenskiöld (pp. 108-9) thus writes of one of the ancient paintings:

The first of them, fig. 77, is executed in a room at Sprucetree
House. Here too the lower part of the mural surface is dark red,
and triangular points of the same colour project over the yellow
plaster; above this lower part of the wall runs a row of red dots,
exactly as in the estufa at Ruin 9. To the left two figures are
painted, one of them evidently representing a bird, the other a
quadruped with large horns, probably a mountain sheep. [Elsewhere,
as quoted on p. 5, Nordenskiöld identifies these figures as “two
birds.”] The painting shown in fig. 78 is similar in style to the
two just described.

In this room the dado bears at intervals along its upper edge the triangular figures already noticed, and rows of dots which appear to be a symbolic decoration, occurring likewise on pottery, as an examination of the author’s collection makes evident.

_Square figures._—On the eastern wall of the same room in which occur the figures of a bird and a horned mammal there is a square figure on the white surface of the upper wall. This figure is black in outline; part of the surface bears an angular meander similar to decorations on some pieces of pottery. Similar designs, arranged in series according to Mindeleff’s figures, form the decoration band of one of the kivas in Chelly canyon.

The significance of this figure is unknown but its widespread distribution, especially in that region of the Southwest characterized by circular kivas, adds considerable interest to its interpretation.

_Terraced figure._—Covering almost the whole side of a wall north of kiva C and overlooking the plaza of which this room forms in part the northern wall, is a conspicuous figure painted white. If we regard the building of which this is a side as formerly two stories high, this painting would have been on the inside of a room, otherwise we have the exceptional feature of a painting on an outer wall. The purpose of this painting is not clear to the author, but similar figures, reversed, signify rain clouds. The figure recalls in form a representation of a =T=-shaped doorway and appears to be a unique one among Mesa Verde ruins.

CONCLUSIONS

From the preceding facts it is evident that the people who once inhabited Spruce-tree House were not highly developed in culture, although the buildings show an advanced order of architecture for aborigines of North America. Architecturally the cliff-dwellings excel pueblos of more recent construction.

The pottery is not inferior to that of other parts of the Southwest, but has fewer symbols and is not as fine or varied in colors as that from Sikyatki or from Casas Grandes in Sonora. It is better than the pottery from the Casa Grande and other compounds of the Gila and about the same in texture and symbols as that from Chelly canyon and Chaco canyon.

The remaining minor antiquities, as cloth, basketry, wood, and bone, are of the same general character as those found elsewhere in the Southwest. Shell work is practically lacking; no objects made from marine shells have been found.

The picture of culture drawn from what we know of the life at Spruce-tree House is practically the same as that of a pueblo like Walpi at the time of its discovery by whites, and until about fifty years ago. The people were farmers, timid, industrious, and superstitious. The women were skillful potters and made fine baskets. The men made cloth of good quality and cultivated corn, beans, and melons.

In the long winters the kivas served as the lounging places for the men who were engaged in an almost constant round of ceremonies of dramatic character, which took the place of the pleasures of the chase. They never ventured far from home and rarely met strangers. They had all those unsocial characteristics which an isolated life fosters.

What language they spoke, and whether various Mesa Verde Houses had the same language, at present no one can tell. The culture was selfcentered and apparently well developed. It is not known whether it originated in the Mesa Verde canyons or was completely evolved when it reached there.

Although we know little about the culture of the prehistoric inhabitants of Mesa Verde, it does not follow that we can not find out more. There are many ruins awaiting exploration in this region and future work will reveal much which has been so long-hidden.

The pressure of outside tribes, or what may be called human environment, probably had much to do originally with the choice of caves for houses, and the magnificent caverns of the Mesa Verde naturally attracted men as favorable sites for their houses. The habit of huddling together in a limited space, necessitated by a life in the cliffs, possibly developed the composite form which still persists in the pueblo form of architecture.

INDEX

ANTELOPE MESA RUINS, pottery from, 35

ANTIQUITIES—
major—
ceremonial room other than kiva, 24
circular rooms other than kivas, 23
construction of walls, 9-10
kivas, 17-23
ledge-houses, 24-25
mortuary room, 24
plazas and courts, 8-9
refuse-heaps, 25
secular rooms, 10-17
stairways, 25
minor—
absence of objects showing European culture, 51
basketry, 42
bone implements, 48-49
corn, beans, and squash seeds, 50
fabrics, 44-47
fetish, 49
general discussion, 25-28
hoop-and-pole game, 50-51
leather and skin objects, 51
lignite gorget, 49-50
pictographs, 51-53
pottery, 28-38
stone implements, 38-42
summary, 53
wooden objects, 42-44

ARCH unknown to cliff-dwellers, 4

AWATOBI, pottery from, 35, 36

AXES, STONE, description of, 26, 38-40

BALCONIES, description of, 15

BALCONY HOUSE, features of, 15

BASKETRY, description of, 42, 53
baskets found in Spruce-tree House, 6, 26

“BEAN PLANTING,” a Hopi festival, 10

BIRDSALL, DR. W. R., cited on cliff-dwellings of Mesa Verde, 3

BLACK-AND-WHITE POTTERY, where found, 36

BONE IMPLEMENTS, description of, 48-49, 53

BURIALS, description of, 6, 7, 24, 26

CANYON LARGO RUINS, pottery from, 37

CASA GRANDE—
a ceramic area, 35
feature of ruins, 20

CASAS GRANDES, pottery from, 35, 53

CEREMONIAL ROOM, description of, 24
_See also_ Kivas.

CHACO CANYON—
ancient inhabitants, 20
in San Juan ceramic area, 34, 35, 36
pottery, 37
ruins, 15

CHAPIN, F. H., cited on cliff-dwellings, 3

CHELLY CANYON—
ancient inhabitants, 20
cliff-dwellings, 21
in San Juan ceramic area, 34, 35, 36, 37
pottery, 28, 36

CHEVLON, pottery from, 36-37

CHIMNEYS, absence of, 16

CIRCULAR ROOMS, description of, 23
_See also_ Kivas.

CLIFF PALACE, discovery of, 2-3

CLOTH OBJECTS. _See_ Fabrics.

COAL not used by ancient inhabitants, 16

COLLECTIONS from Spruce-tree House, 25-28

CORN, INDIAN, chief food of ancient inhabitants, 50

COURTS. _See_ Plazas and courts.

CULIN, STEWART, on hoop-and-pole game, 51

CULTURE of ancient inhabitants, 53-54

DIMENSIONS of Spruce-tree House, 7

DISCOVERY of Spruce-tree House, 2-3

DOORS, description of, 5, 6, 17

DOORWAYS, description of, 4-5, 14

DUBOIS, COERT, on cliff-dwellings on Mesa Verde, 8

ESTUFAS, description of, 4, 6
_See also_ Kivas.

EUROPEAN INFLUENCE, absence of, 51

FABRICS, description of, 44-47, 53

FETISH, description of, 49

FEWKES, DR. J. WALTER, cited by Nordenskiöld, on ledge-houses, 6-7

FIREPLACES—
in kivas, 18, 21-23
in secular rooms, 16, 23

FLOORS, description of, 17, 18

FOUR as a symbolic number, 23

GILA CERAMIC AREA, pottery of, 34, 37, 38

GILL, MRS. M. W., work of, 29

GORGET, lignite, description of, 49-50

“GREAT HOUSES,” in southern ceramic area, 34

GRINDING STONES, description of, 40-41

HAND STONES, description of, 40-41

HANO, pottery from, 31, 33

HISTORY of Spruce-tree House, 2

HOLMES, PROF. W. H.—
cited on pottery from Pueblo area, 36
explorations of, 2

HOMOLOBI, pottery from, 36-37

HOOP-AND-POLE GAME, note on, 50-51

HOPI—
butterfly and raincloud symbols, 52
kivas, 18, 20, 22
name _Moki_ applied to, 2
old houses, 17
pottery, 31, 37, 38
stone objects, 40
_See also_ Sikyatki, pottery from.

HOPI ceramic area, 35-36, 37

HOUGH, DR. WALTER, on pit-houses, 20

HUNGO PAVIE, estufa at, 15

INHABITANTS (ancient) of Mesa Verde—
arts, 42, 43
coal not used by, 16
cookery, 16
early accounts of, 2
ethnic position, 15, 28
general culture, 31, 53-54
population of Spruce-tree House, 7
significance of kiva structure, 20

JACKSON RUIN, location of, 2

JACKSON, W. H., explorations of, 2

KIDDER, A. V., acknowledgment to, 29

KIVAS—
correlation with black-and-white ware, 31
general description, 9, 17-23
location, 7-8
proportion of, 14, 21
subterranean character, 11, 20
walls, 10, 52

LANGUAGE of ancient people of Mesa Verde, 53-54

LEATHER AND SKIN objects, notes on, 51

LEDGE-HOUSES, description of, 6-7, 24-25

LITTLE COLORADO VALLEY—
a ceramic area, 34, 35, 36-37
pottery from, 31, 34, 38

MAIZE, chief food of ancient inhabitants, 50

MANCOS CANYON, ruins in, 2

MASON, CHARLEY, discoveries of, 3

METAL, no traces of, 51

METATES, description of, 41

MISHONGNOVI, pottery from, 35

MOKI, meaning of term, 2

MONTEZUMA valley ruins, pottery from, 37

MORLEY, S. G., survey by, 7

MORTUARY CUSTOM, 28

MORTUARY ROOM, description of, 24

NAVAHO, and early Spanish travelers, 2

NORDENSKIÖLD, BARON GUSTAV—
objects figured by, 41, 42, 43
on ancient painting, 52
on balconies and terraced rooms, 15
on discovery of Cliff Palace and Spruce-tree House, 2-3
on Mesa Verde pottery, 28, 29
on “moccasin lasts”, 41
on number of rooms in Spruce-tree House, 7
on objects from Spruce-tree House, 26
Spruce-tree House described by, 3-7
work of, 3

NUSSBAUM, J., acknowledgment to, 1

OBSIDIAN OBJECTS absent from Spruce-tree House, 27

OWAKULTI, a Hopi basket dance, 51

PATKI CLAN (Hopi), coming of, 35

PESTLES. _See_ Grinding stones.

PICTOGRAPHS, description of, 51-53

PIROS CERAMICS not classified, 35

PIT-HOUSES, features of, 20

PLAN of ruin, 4, 7-8, 9

PLAZAS and courts, description of, 8-9

POPULATION, aboriginal, 7

POTTERY—
ceramic areas, 34-38
decoration, 32-34
forms, 29-30
general account of, 6, 28
structure, 30-32
summary, 53
_See also_ specific names, as San Juan valley, Sikyatki, Zuñi.

POUNDING STONES, description of, 41

POWAMÛ FESTIVAL, incident of, 10

PRUDDEN, DR. T. MITCHELL, on ruins of San Juan valley, 8

PUEBLO CHETTRO KETTLE, balcony in, 15

PUEBLOS, ancient location of, 20

REFUSE-HEAPS, description of, 25, 27

RETZIUS, PROF. G., cited by Nordenskiöld, on skull from Spruce-tree
House, 24

RIO GRANDE RUINS—
in San Juan ceramic area, 36
pottery from, 33

ROOFS—
general description, 15, 17
of kivas, 18, 19, 21-23

ROOMS—
described by Nordenskiöld, 4-7
statistics, 7
_See also_ Kivas, Secular rooms.

SALT RIVER RUINS, pottery from, 38

SAN JUAN VALLEY—
a ceramic area, 34, 35, 36, 37-38
pottery from, 34, 36
type of ruins in, 8

SECULAR ROOMS, description of, 10-15
balconies, 15
decorations on walls, 52
doors and windows, 16
fireplaces, 16
floors and roofs, 17

SHELL OBJECTS, rarity of, 27, 28, 53

SHUMOPAVI, pottery from, 35, 36

SIKYATKI, pottery from—
decoration, 33
general character, 53
in Hopi ceramic area, 35, 36
lips of food bowls, 29

SIPAPÛ, description of, 14, 18

SITE of Spruce-tree House, 1, 7

SPANISH TRAVELERS, in Mesa Verde region, 2

SPRUCE-TREE CANYON, description of, 1

STAIRWAYS, description of, 25

STEP HOUSE, pottery from, 28

STONE OBJECTS, description of, 26, 27
axes, 38-40
cylinder of hematite, 41-42
grinding stones, 40-41
pounding stones, 41

TANOAN FAMILIES (Hopi), coming of, 35

TCAMAHIAS, description of, 39-40

TERRACED FORM of buildings, 15

TIPONI, sacred object of Hopi, 40

TURKEYS, traces of, in Spruce-tree House, 4, 7

TURQUOISE OBJECTS, absence of, 27

“TUSAYAN” POTTERY, character of, 36, 37

UNIT TYPE of ruin—
development of, 12
explanation of term, 8

UTE, in relation to Mesa Verde cliff-dwellings, 2

VENTILATION—
by openings in walls, 9
in kivas, 11, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23
of rooms, 16

WALLS, description of, 4, 5-6, 9-10

WALLS of circular room other than kiva, 23
of kivas, 18, 19-20, 21-23
terraced, 15

WETHERILLS, the, discoveries of, 2-3, 6

WINDOWS, description of, 16

WOODEN OBJECTS—
general description, 26, 53
miscellaneous, 44
planting slicks, 44
slabs, 43
spindles, 43-44
sticks tied together, 42-43

ZUÑI POTTERY—
belonging to Little Colorado ceramic area, 35, 36, 38
decoration, 33
description of, 31-32, 37

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 1

GROUND PLAN OF SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 2

From the northwest]

From the west

THE RUIN, FROM THE NORTHWEST AND THE WEST]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 3

Before repairing]

After repairing

PLAZA D]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 4

Before repairing]

After repairing

THE RUIN, FROM THE SOUTH END]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 5

THE RUIN, FROM THE SOUTH]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 6

General view]

Room 11, from the south

ROOMS 11-24]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 7

THE RUIN, FROM THE NORTH END]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 8

NORTH END OF THE RUIN, SHOWING MASONRY PILLAR]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 9

Roof of room 43]

Main street

A ROOF AND A STREET]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 10

Front of rooms 62 and 63]

Plaza E. from the south, before repair

THE RUIN FROM THE SOUTH END, SHOWING ROOMS AND PLAZA]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 11

Before repairing]

After repairing

KIVA D]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 12

KIVA D, FROM THE NORTH]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 13

Kiva A, repaired]

Kiva D, repaired

INTERIORS OF TWO KIVAS]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 14

From stump of spruce tree, looking east]

Interior of kiva C. looking southwest

CENTRAL PART OF RUIN, AND KIVA]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 15

From above, showing roof]

Roof removed Section of air-shaft, or ventilator

DIAGRAMS OF KIVA, SHOWING CONSTRUCTION]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 16

DECORATED FOOD-BOWLS

Diameters (in inches): _a_, _a′_, 11¼; _b_, _b′_, 11; _c_, _c′_, 11½; _d_, _d′_, 9⅛]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 17

DECORATED FOOD-BOWLS

Diameters (in inches): _a_, _a′_, 11; _b_, _b′_, 13; _c_, _c′_, 11¼]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 18

DECORATED FOOD-BOWLS

Diameters (in inches): _a_, _a′_, 9; _b_, _b′_, 12¼; _c_, _c′_, 11; _d_, _d′_, 11¾]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 19

DECORATED VASE AND MUGS

Heights (in inches): _a_, 3½; _b_, 3⅜; _c_, 3⅝; _d_, 4½; _e_, 3¾; _f_, 5]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 20

_a._ Small bowl (diam., 3¾ in.)]

_b._ Two-handled globular canteen (height, 7¼ in.)

DECORATED BOWL AND CANTEEN]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 41 PLATE 21

STONE IMPLEMENTS

_a_-_g_, axes; _h_, tcamahia; _i_, paint stone; _j_, paint stone (last?)

Lengths (in inches): _a_, 4¼; _b_, 4¾; _c_, 5; _d_, 5¼; _e_, 6¼; _f_, 6⅞; _g_, 5¾; _h_, 10½; _i_, 10½; _j_, 10¾]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The photographs from which plates 2-4, 6, 8-14 were made were taken by Mr. J. Nussbaum, photographer of the Archæological Institute of America.

[2] Ancient Ruins in Southwestern Colorado, in Rep. U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Survey of the Ter., 1874, p. 369.

[3] Report on the Ancient Ruins of Southwestern Colorado, examined during the summers of 1875 and 1876, ibid., 1876, p. 383.

[4] The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, pp. 12, 13, Stockholm, 1893.

[5] Cliff-dwellings of the Mancos Cañons, in _Appalachia_, VI, no. 1, Boston, May, 1890; _The American Antiquarian_, XII, 193, 1890; The Land of the Cliff Dwellers, 1892.

[6] The Cliff-dwellings of the Cañons of the Mesa Verde, in _Bulletin of the American Geographical Society_, XXIII, no. 4, 584, 1891.

[7] Since this was written, a well-preserved mummy has been found by Wetherill in the open space (28) at the very back of the cave. This is a further example of the burial of the dead in the open space between the village and the cliff wall behind it (see p. 47).—[NORDENSKIÖLD.]

[8] On the author’s plan of Spruce-tree House from a survey by Mr. S. G. Morley, the third story is indicated by crosshatching, the second by parallel lines, while the first has no markings. (Pl. 1.)

[9] See H. R. No. 3703, 58th Cong., 3d sess., 1905.—The Ruined Cliff Dwellings in Ruin and Navajo Canyons, in the Mesa Verde, Colorado, by Coert Dubois.

[10] See _American Anthropologist_, n. s., v. no. 2, 224-288, 1903.

[11] In Hopi dwellings the author has often seen a provisional _sipapû_ used in household ceremonies.

[12] The proportion of kivas to dwellings in any village is not always the same in prehistoric pueblos, nor is there a fixed ratio in modern pueblos. It would appear that there is some relation between the number of kivas and the number of inhabitants, but what that relation is, numerically, has never been discovered.

[13] Nordenskiöld on the contrary seems to make the terraced rooms one of the points of resemblance between the cliff-dwellings and the great ruins of the Chaco. He writes:

“On comparison of the ruins in Chaco Cañon with the cliff-dwellings of Mancos, we find several points of resemblance. In both localities the villages are fortified against attack, in the tract of Mancos by their site in inaccessible precipices, in Chaco Cañon by a high outer wall in which no doorways were constructed to afford entrance to an enemy. Behind this outer wall the rooms descended in terraces towards the inner court. One side of this court was protected by a lower semicircular wall. In the details of the buildings we can find several features common to both. The roofs between the stories were constructed in the same way. The doorways were built of about the same dimensions. The rafters were often allowed to project beyond the outer wall as a foundation for a sort of balcony (Balcony House, the Pueblo Chettro Kettle). The estufa at Hungo Pavie with its six quadrangular pillars of stone is exactly similar to a Mesa Verde estufa (see p. 16). The pottery strewn in fragments everywhere in Chaco Cañon resembles that found on the Mesa Verde. We are thus not without grounds for assuming that it was the same people, at different stages of its development, that inhabitated these two regions.”—The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, p. 127.

[14] Ibid., p. 67.

[15] _Bulletin 35 of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Antiquities of the Upper Gila and Salt River Valleys in Arizona and New Mexico.

[16] In some cases the walls of the later rectangular rooms are built across and above them, as in compound B in the Casa Grande group of ruins.

[17] An examination of the best of previous maps of Spruce-tree House shows only a dotted line to indicate the location of this kiva.

[18] It has no doubt occurred to others, as to the author, that the number of Spruce-tree House kivas is a multiple of four, the number of horizontal cardinal points. Later it may be found that there is some connection between them and world-quarter clan ownership, or it may be that the agreement in numbers is purely a coincidence.

[19] The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, p. 63.

[20] In clearing the kivas several fragments of human bones and skulls were found by the author. The horizontal passageways, called ventilators, of four of the kivas furnished a single broken skull each, which had not been buried with care.

[21] From the great amount of bird-lime and bones in these heaps it has been supposed that turkeys were domesticated and kept in these places.

[22] See The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, pls. XXVIII, XXIX: 7.

[23] The text figures which appear in this paper were drawn from nature by Mrs. M. W. Gill, of Forest Glen, Md.

[24] The author is greatly indebted to Mr. A. V. Kidder for aid in sorting and labeling the fragments of pottery. Without his assistance in the field it would have been impossible to repair many of these specimens.

[25] The classification into cavate houses, cliff-dwellings, and pueblos is based on form.

[26] The above classification coincides in some respects with that obtained by using the forms of ceremonial rooms as the basis.

[27] Of 40 pieces of pottery called “Tusayan,” figured in Professor Holmes’ Pottery of the Pueblo Area (_Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_), all but three or possibly four came from Chelly canyon and belong to the San Juan rather than to the Hopi ware. Black-and-white pottery is very rare in collections of old Hopi ware, but is most abundant in the cliff-houses of Chelly canyon and the Mesa Verde ruins.

[28] The pottery from ruins in the Little Colorado basin, from Wukoki at Black Falls to the Great Colorado, is more closely allied to that of the drainage of the San Juan and its tributaries.

[29] There is of course very little ancient Zuñi ware in museums, but such as we have justifies the conclusion stated above.

[30] Snake Ceremonials at Walpi, in _Journal of American Archæology and Ethnology_, IV, 1894.

[31] See figure of Owakulti altar in the author’s account of the Owakulti. Mr. Stewart Culin thus comments on the “hoop-and-pole” game among Pueblos: “Similar ceremonies or games were practised by the cliff-dwellers, as is attested by a number of objects from Mancos canyon, Colorado, in the Free Museum of Science and Art of the University of Pennsylvania.”—_Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology._

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.

Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added,
when a predominant preference was found in the original book.

The name ‘Spruce-tree’ (with a hyphen) is used consistently in the
etext, except in quotations of Nordenskiöld where his use of
‘Sprucetree’ is retained.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Pg 3: ‘Gustav Nordenksiöld’ replaced by ‘Gustav Nordenskiöld’.
Pg 16: ‘underlie their messa’ replaced by ‘underlie their mesa’.
Footnote 7: ‘Nordenskjöld’ replaced by ‘Nordenskiöld’.