Jesse Walter Fewkes

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There is a close resemblance between the pottery of Chelly canyon and that of Mesa Verde, but only the most distant relationship between true Hopi ware and that of Chelly canyon. The latter belong in fact to two distinct areas, and differ in color, symbolism, and general characters. In so far as the Hopi ware shares its symbolism with the other geographical areas of the eastern region, to the same extent there is kinship in culture. In more distant ruins the pottery contains a greater admixture of symbols foreign to Mesa Verde. ”

“ Wherever roofs still remain they are found to be well constructed (pl. 9) and to resemble those of the old Hopi houses. In Spruce-tree House the roofs are supported by timbers laid from one wall to another; these in turn support crossbeams on which were placed layers of cedar bark covered with a thick coating of mud. In several roofs hatchways are still to be seen, but in most cases entrances are at the sides. One second-story room has a fireplace constructed like those on the ground floor or on the roof. ”

“ During the course of years Richard and Alfred Wetherill have explored the mesa and its cañons in all directions; they have thus gained a more thorough knowledge of its ruins than anyone. Together with their brothers John, Clayton, and Wynn, they have also carried out excavations, during which a number of extremely interesting finds have been made. A considerable collection of these objects, comprising skulls, pottery, implements of stone, bone, and wood, etc., has been sold to “The Historical Society of Colorado.” A still larger collection is in the possession of the Wetherill family. ”

“ The walls of this subterranean room had escaped all previous observers. They are very much dilapidated, being wholly concealed when work of excavation began. A large old cedar tree growing in the middle of this room led the author to abandon its complete excavation, which promised little return either in enlarging our knowledge of the ground plan of Spruce-tree House or in shedding additional light on the culture of its prehistoric inhabitants. ”

“ The evolution of a ceramic area in the neighborhood of the modern Hopi mesas is due to special causes, and points to a long residence in that locality. It would seem from traditions that the earliest Hopi people came from the east, and that the development of a purely Hopi ceramic culture in the region now occupied by this people took place before any great change due to southern immigration had occurred. The entrance of Patki and other clans from the south strongly affected the old Hopi culture, which was purest in Sikyatki, but even there it remained distinctive. ”

“ The form of the kiva is characteristic and may be used as a basis of classification of pueblo culture. The people whose kivas are circular inhabited villages now ruins in the valley of the San Juan and its tributaries, in Chelly canyon, Chaco canyon, and on the western plateau of the Rio Grande. ”

“ 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 [52] 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. ”

“ 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 [46] 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. ”

“ This opening into the underworld is barely large enough to admit the human hand and extends only about a foot below the floor surface. It is commonly single, but in one kiva two of these orifices were detected. A similar symbolic opening occurs in modern Hopi kivas, as has been repeatedly described in the author’s accounts of pueblo ceremonials. An important structure of a Spruce-tree House kiva is an upright slab of rock, or a narrow thin wall of masonry, placed between the fireplace and the wall of the kiva. ”

“ An exceptional form is a globular bowl with a raised lip like a sugar bowl (pl. 19, f) . This form is never seen in other prehistoric ruins.
Fig. 4. Ladle. Structure
Classified by structure, the pottery found in the Spruce-tree House ruin falls into two groups, coiled ware and smooth ware, the latter either with or without decoration. The white ware has black decorations.
Fig. 5. Handle of mug.
The bases of the mugs (pl. 19) from Spruce-tree House, like those from other Mesa Verde ruins, have a greater diameter than the lips. These mugs are tall and their handles are of generous size. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Allowing 4 inhabitants for each of these 100 rooms would give about 400 persons as an aboriginal population of Spruce-tree House. But it is probable that this estimate should be reduced, as not all the 100 rooms were inhabited at the same time, there being evidence that several of them had occupants long after others were deserted. Approximately, Spruce-tree House had a population not far from 350 people, or about 100 more than that of Walpi, one of the best-known Hopi pueblos. [8]
In the rear of the houses are two large recesses used for refuse-heaps or for burial of the dead. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There are many fireplaces in Spruce-tree House, in rooms, plazas, and courts. From their number it is evident that most of the cooking must have been done by the ancients in the courts and plazas, rather than in the houses. The rooms are so small and so poorly ventilated that it would not be possible for any one to remain in them when fires are burning. ”

“ Small flakes of stone or fragments of pottery were sometimes inserted in the joints, serving both as a decoration, and as a protection by preventing the rapid wearing away of the mortar. Little pellets of clay were also used in the joints for the same purpose.
The character of masonry in different rooms varies considerably, in some places showing good, in others poor, workmanship. As a rule the construction of the corners is weak, the stones forming them being rarely bonded or tied. Component stones of the walls seldom break joints ”

“ Similar lines are still made with meal on kiva walls in Hopi ceremonies, as the author has often described. One of the pedestals of kiva A is decorated with a triangular figure on the margin of the dado, to which reference will be made later.
The author has found no conclusive answer to the question why the kivas are built under ground and are circular in form. He believes both conditions to be survivals of ancient “pit-houses,” or subterranean dwellings of an antecedent people. In this explanation the kiva is regarded as the oldest form of building in the cliff-dwellings. ”

“ Much repairing was necessary in the walls of rooms 27 and 28, since they were situated almost directly in the way of torrents of water which in time of rains fall over the rim of the canyon.
The block of rooms numbered 30-44, situated east of kiva E, have the most substantial masonry and are the best constructed of any in Spruce-tree House. (Pl. 9.) As room 45 is only a dark passageway it should be considered more a street than a dwelling. Rooms 30-36 are one story each in height, rectangular in shape, roofless, and of about the same dimensions ”

“ The triangle is much more common as a decorative motive than the circle or the rectangle, variety being brought about by the difference in length of the sides. The hourglass formed by two triangles with one angle of each united is common. The quail’s-head design, or triangle [34] having two parallel marks on an extension at one angle, is not as common as on Little Colorado pottery and that from the Gila valley.
As in all ceramics from the San Juan area, the stepped figures are most abundant. ”

“ The meander (fig. 10) is also important in Spruce-tree House or Mesa Verde pottery decoration. The form of meander homologous to the volute may be classified in the same terms as the volute, into (1) simple sinistral meander; (2) simple dextral meander; (3) compound sinistral meander; (4) compound dextral meander; and (5) composite meander. These meanders, like the volutes, may be accompanied by parallel lines or by rows of dots enlarged, serrated, notched, or otherwise modified. ”

“ The floor of the second story, which is the roof of the first, is well preserved, the sides of the hatchway, or means of passage from one room to the one below it, being almost entire. This room possesses a feature which is unique. The base of its south wall is supported by curved timbers, whose ends rest on walls, while the middle is supported by a pillar of masonry. (Pl. 8.) The T-shaped door in this wall faces south. It is difficult to understand how the aperture could have been of any use as a doorway unless there was a balcony below it, and no sign of such structure is now visible. ”

“ One of these, designated room 12, adjoins the mortuary room (11) and opens on the plaza C, D. In some respects the form of this room is similar to an “estufa of singular construction” described and figured in Nordenskiöld’s account of Cliff Palace. Certain distinctive characters of this room separate it on one side from a kiva and on the other from a dwelling. In the first place, it lacks the circular form and subterranean site. The six pedestals which universally support the roofs are likewise absent. In fact they are not needed because in this room the top of the cave serves as the roof. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every kiva has at least one such deflector, a single fireplace, and the sipapû, or ceremonial opening mentioned above.
Several small cubby-holes, or receptacles for paint or small ceremonial objects, generally occur in the lower walls of the kiva. In addition to these there exist openings ample in size to admit the human body, which serve different purposes. The first kind communicate directly with passageways through which one can pass from the kiva into a neighboring room or plaza. Such a passageway in kiva E has steps near the opening in the floor of room 35. ”

“ Not far from the Spruce-tree House, situated in the same canyon, there are small one-room houses perched on narrow ledges situated generally a little higher than the cave containing the main ruin. [25] Although it is difficult to enter some of these houses, members of the author’s party visited all of them, and two of the workmen slept in a small ledge-house on the west side of the canyon. Except in rare cases these smaller houses can not be considered dwellings ”

“ This is perhaps the first stage in the development of the cliff-dwellings to the villages whose ruins are common in the valleys and on the mesa, and which are constructed according to a fixed design.
In the plan (Pl. IX) it may be seen that the cave contains two distinct groups of rooms. At about the middle of the cliff-village a kind of passage (23) , uninterrupted by any wall, runs through the whole ruin. ”