The rooms in Cliff Palace, now numbered from 1 to 94,
include all those on the ground floor, but do not embrace the second,
third, and fourth stories nor the elevated ledge rooms secluded in the
crevices of the cave roof at a high level. Their classification by
function already having been considered, a brief enumeration by form and
other characters will be given.
Room 1, situated at the extreme southern end,
presents no striking features except that one of its entrances is by
stairs through the floor from kiva A. Its western and northern walls are
of masonry; the remaining sides are formed by the vertical cliff.
The walls of room 2 are constructed of masonry on the
northern, western, and southern sides; the eastern side is the cliff
face. As the floor of this room is made of hardened clay laid on small
sticks, it was at first supposed that a human burial was concealed
beneath, but excavation showed no signs of an interment.
Room 3 (pl. 17) is a square inclosure between walls
of other rooms. A portion of its floor is level with that of rooms 1 and
2, but a projecting rock forms an elevated bench on the eastern side.
On the underside of this rock there are pictographs, apparently
aboriginal, one of which has a well-known terrace form, recalling the
outlines of a T-shaped doorway and the white figures on the outer wall
of the ledge room above mentioned.
Room 4 is three stories high, without openings into
adjoining rooms or exterior entrances. Its western corner is rounded
below and angular above.
Room 5 was apparently two stories high, with a
fireplace in its southeastern corner. The foundation rests on a large
rock. The arrangement of post holes in the south and west walls of this
dwelling is exceptional, and their purpose enigmatical. There is a
passage from room 5 to the neighboring plaza, which is occupied by kiva
D.
Room 6 is a small rectangular chamber, about 2 feet
square and 7 feet high; it has an entrance on the western side into room
7, and, as it utilizes the walls of the adjacent rooms it was doubtless
built subsequent to them. Evidences of rebuilding or secondary construction
of walls on old foundations are so numerous in this section of the
ruin that this may be the oldest part of Cliff Palace.
Rooms 7, 8, and 9 are outside rooms, the western
walls of which are more or less broken, while the front is entirely
destroyed. It appears that their connected roofs once formed a terrace
overlooking kiva D on the west. There are doorways in walls of one of
these rooms, but entrance may have been gained by means of hatchways. It
was approached from plaza B by the aid of ladders or stone steps.
Room 11, which may be called the square tower, is the
only four-story building standing in Cliff Palace, its walls reaching
from the floor to the roof of the cave. When work began on this building
the whole northwestern angle had fallen, and the remaining walls were
tottering. To prevent total destruction, the entire corner was built up
from a foundation laid on the floor level of the neighboring kiva. A
small entrance to the ground floor, or the lowest of the four rooms, is
from a banquette (10) on the western side, where there is a passageway
from this lower story of room 11 to room 12, situated in its rear. Room
12 has a good floor, and room 11 a fireplace in the southwestern corner
of the lowest room of the square tower. Almost all the beams of the
higher rooms of this tower had been taken out leaving nothing but the
holes in the walls to indicate the former existence of floors. The
beams now connecting the walls were placed there by our workmen to serve
as staging and for tying the sides together. The second and third
stories of the square tower are also without floors. Their inner walls
are plastered a reddish color, in places whitewashed, and the third wall
is decorated with interesting paintings. In the western wall of the
second story was a small window, and portions of a large T-shaped
doorway still show on the northern wall of the third story. Split sticks
support the section of wall from the top of this doorway to the roof of
the cave. From the arrangement of its rear walls it would appear that
the whole of this tower was built subsequently to the rooms back of it,
which extend on each side, north and south. The repair of a doorway of
the northern wall was difficult; the foundation walls of the eastern and
northern corners of the tower being slabs of stone set on edge, quite
inadequate to support the lofty wall above. This insufficient foundation
leads to the belief that when the base of the square tower was
constructed there was no thought of erecting upon it the four stories
that we now find. (Pl. 12, 13a, 14a.)
Some of the rooms of the square tower bear evidence
of having been living rooms, and possibly the approaches to the upper
chambers were by ladders from the outside; otherwise the T-shaped
doorway on the northern side, above the painted room, remains
unexplained.
Room 12, situated east of the square tower, has no
characteristic features, being more a passageway than a room, opening at
one end into room 13 and connecting with kiva D at the other end.
Room 13 likewise presents no distinctive features;
its rear wall is considerably blackened by smoke, and it has a large
square window opening into room 12.
A large part of the front walls of rooms 14, 16, and
24 has fallen, having been destroyed by falling water. To obviate
future destruction, the southwestern corner of room 16 was repaired
with cement, thus preventing further harm from dripping water. Rooms 16
and 24 evidently formed a front terrace, perhaps one story high, their
rear wall being the front wall of rooms 17 and 18.
Rooms 17 and 18 are of two stories; both are square.
The upper part of its walls shows that a portion of room 18 was formerly
one story high and that the walls were erected before those of room 17.
A coping of masonry around three walls is a feature of room 18, the
construction of which is superior to that of room 17. This room has a
large front window and two smaller openings higher up in the second
story of the western wall. The combined front walls of rooms 17 and 18
may be ranked among the finest examples of masonry in Cliff Palace. The
large embrasures made in this wall by vandals were repaired.
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Plate 18. KIVA H, BEFORE REPAIRING (photographed
by R. G. Fuller)
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Rooms 19 and 20 also present fine examples of masonry
and were evidently constructed before rooms 21, 22, and 23. The inner
walls of room 19 were plastered; the outer wall was left rough. Room 20
shows crude masonry; its rear wall is the vertical cliff, and the inner
surfaces of the three remaining walls of the upper story were plastered,
and painted with yellow sand or pigment. Apparently the lower
room was used as a granary, having no entrance, except possibly through
a hatchway in its roof, which forms the floor of the room above. The
presence of sticks projecting from the walls of this room adds weight to
the conclusion that it was used for storage. There is no indication of a
fireplace.
Room 22 has a stepping-stone, which may have
facilitated entrance, projecting from the wall under an opening that
probably served as a doorway.
Room 23 has a fireplace in one corner, and rooms 25,
26, and 27, which are situated in a row, have for their rear wall the
vertical face of the cliff. Although these rooms are only one story
high, the roof of the cave slopes down low enough in the rear to form
their roofs. The outer walls were plastered, and each room was entered
by a separate doorway. Although their side walls were somewhat
destroyed, they appear not to have been intercommunicating. It is, in
fact, rare to find a doorway from one room into another on the same
level, or suites of rooms communicating with one another, but chambers
one above another are generally provided with hatchways.
Room 28 is a two-story structure of excellent
masonry, with an entrance on its southern side and a window frame of
stone. Its second story formerly opened on the western side into room
29. Not much now remains of the plastering that once covered the inner
walls of room 28, but the interior walls of room 29 still show
well-preserved plaster. Although the latter room has excellent masonry,
its southern wall, or that facing kiva J, is entirely destroyed. The
floor was so well preserved that but little work was required to put it
in good condition.
Rooms 30 to 33 are represented almost entirely by the
side walls, the front walls being more or less destroyed. Their floors
lie on the same level as those of the second terrace, and their roofs
may have been continuous with the third terrace. There is indication of
a room (unnumbered) in the southwestern corner of plaza J, and another,
too mutilated to be described, on the second terrace below it.
Room 34 is irregularly rectangular in shape; its
floor is on the leve] of the roof of kiva H. It has good masonry and a
smoothed stone sill with a groove cut in the upper surface for the slab
that formed the door. Its interior walls show evidences of
plastering.
Room 35, situated on the same level as the kiva roof,
has no window, but there is an opening directly into kiva H. Its roof
is a continuation of that of the kiva, and has the old rafters, some
still in place, supporting a few of the flat stones which formed the
upper walls. As this chamber opens directly into the kiva, we may regard
it as a repository for kiva paraphernalia;a the Hopi designate a
similar chamber Katcinakihu, "Katcina house." On the roof of
this room the writer set in place a smooth, ovoid stone with flat base,
artificially worked. Possibly this stone was formerly used as an
idol.
aThe Mongkiva at Walpi has such a chamber
which is closed by a door and is opened only when paraphernalia for
certain ceremonies are desired, in the Warrior House at Walpi there is a
similar chamber ordinarily closely sealed, in which the fetishes of the
Warrior Society are kept. Masked dancers among the Pueblos are called
Katcinas and the masks they wear would naturally be kept in a house
(kihu) called "Katcinakihu."
In Hano, a pueblo on the East mesa of the Hopi, masks
are kept in a special room back of a living room, a custom common to
all the Hopi. There is no evidence that the Cliff Palace people
performed masked dances.
The most picturesque building of Cliff Palace is the
round tower, room 36, perched on a high rock overlooking kivas G and H.
From it the observer may have a fine view of the entire ruin and the
canyon, especially the view down the latter, which is unsurpassed. This
tower is not unlike other towers in the San Juan and Mesa Verde regions,
one of the most perfect of which is that in Navaho canyon, repeatedly
figured. This prominent tower is built of worked stones laid in reddish
mortar, and apparently was plastered both inside and outside. It is two
stories high, but is without a floor in the upper story, or a roof. The
theory in certain quarters that this round tower formerly extended to
the roof of the cave is not accepted by the author, who believes that it
was formerly only a few feet higher than at present. The break in the
upper wall adds much to its picturesque character, which is likewise
increased by its association with neighboring buildings. The round
tower has a doorway in its lower story, and above is another smaller
opening, possibly a window. Several small peepholes are present on the
western side. The sides of this structure are symmetrical its walls
slanting gradually inward from the base upward, and its vertical lines
curving slightly on the western side. (Pl. 4a, 11.)
Room 37 is a well-preserved room with a metataki, or
grinding bin, in the middle.
While rooms 38 and 39 appear to be living rooms, they
present no special peculiarities. The northern wall of room 39 was
wholly undermined and tottering when the work of repair was commenced,
so that its foundations had to be built up from the floor of kiva M. To
make this difficult repair work effective it was necessary to enlarge
the base of the wall, making the side of kiva M curve slightly inward
and thereby insuring a good foundation.
The walls of rooms 41 and 42 are well preserved; the
top of the cave served as the roof. These rooms were entered from the
plaza containing kiva M. In room 42 a stepping-stone is set in the outer
wall below the doorway, the object being to facilitate entrance. It is
said that this room, the roof of which shows signs of smoke, was
occupied by campers while engaged in rifling the ruin of its
contents.
Plate 19. SOUTHEASTERN WALL OF KIVA Q, BEFORE REPAIRING
(photographed by F. K. Vreeland)
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The cluster of rooms numbered 43 to 45 have
well-constructed walls, but they have been considerably mutilated. Pegs
from which, no doubt, objects were formerly hung, project from the
smoothly plastered interior walls of one of these rooms.
Rooms 47 and 48 show the holes of floor joists, so
placed as to indicate two stories. These rooms form the southern side
of the court, which extends from the main plaza of the settlement to the
round rooms at the northern extremity. In front of room 50 there is a
low platform from which one steps into the room through an entrance
situated about midway of its length.
Room 51 has a very well preserved fireplace in the
northwestern corner and a doorway about midway in the northern wall. Its
well-plastered walls show impressions of the hands and fingers of the
plasterers.
The eastern side of the "street"a is bordered
by rooms 60 to 63, inclusive, which open into it. In the wall of the
last room (61) to the south there is a small peephole that enabled the
owners to see from within the room anyone entering the street from the
court. Room 59, probably the largest angular room in Cliff Palace, is
without an entrance. Its high walls form a part of the northern and
eastern ends of the court and almost the whole western side of the
street. A large embrasure in its southern wall had been repaired by the
ancient masons before Cliff Palace was deserted. North of room 59
remains of the foundations of rooms (not numbered on the plan) were
found, and it may be possible that at this point there was a small open
space, without a kiva; if so, it would have been exceptional in Cliff
Palace.
aA passage or inclosure surrounded by high
walls is called kisombi by the Hopi.
Rooms 66 and 68 are round rooms, not kivas, although
possibly ceremonial in character. From the roof of room 66, the walls of
which are now lower than formerly, it was possible to pass on a level
into one of the series of ledge rooms previously described. The floor of
room 68 is exceptional in being lower than that of the cave outside, so
that on entering it one descends by a step or two. Room 67 appears to
have been more a passageway (kisombi) than a room, a step from it
leading down to the level of the triangular plaza in front of the
Speaker chief's House, south of room 70.
Room 70 is a milling room, with two well-preserved
metatakis in one corner, each with a set of metates. In the wall above
these mealing troughs there is a small window through which the women
engaged in grinding corn could see the passers through the court east
of this room. The opposite corner is occupied by a fireplace, and the
adjacent wall is pierced by a doorway with elevated threshold, through
which one passed from the milling room to the broad Speaker-chief's
platform south of rooms 71 and 72.
The inclosed space west of rooms 71 and 73 is
separated from the rear of the cave by a high wall which shuts off
entrance on this side. The series of rooms numbered 71 to 74, and the
two rooms west of these, form, with the banquette and the neighboring
plaza, what is here arbitrarily designated the Speaker-chief's House,
the walls of which consist of some of the finest masonry in Cliff
Palace. It is protected on the western side by a high, well-plastered
wall extending southward from the corner of room 72, so placed as to
shield the plaza from storms from this side. The banquette south of
rooms 72 and 73 is also finely plastered, and is approached from the
plaza by a single step. This banquette probably was designed for the use
of the Speaker-chief, but a similar structure on the eastern side of the
plaza quarter served another purpose.
The masonry, the doors and windows, and other
structural features of the Speaker-chief's House are the best in Cliff
Palace. Lintels, jambs, and door and window sills are of smooth-dressed
stones and project beyond the wall. The rear rooms of this cluster
extend to the roof of the cave, being three stories high, while those in
front are two stories in height. The line of holes shown in plate 15
indicates the former position of rafters, but all signs of woodwork
have disappeared from this section of the ruin.
On the western side of the Speaker-chief's House are
two rooms, 79 and 80, likewise, well built. The former has a banquette
extending across the eastern side, and the latter is triangular in
shape, with the exterior side rounded. The foundations of these rooms
rest upon a large rock that has settled and cracked, the crack extending
vertically into the walls, showing that it has developed since the wall
was constructed.
The inclosures 76 to 78, extending to the cave roof,
are more like granaries for the storage of corn. They are built of flat
stone slabs placed on edge, and rest on bowlders that have fallen from
the cave roof, which is here lower than in the middle part of the
cavern. Of these inclosures, 78 is the best preserved, all holes in its
angles being skillfully closed with adobe mortar, so that even now if
the door were replaced it would be almost rat proof. The door opening is
square, and is situated at the western side. There is no adequate
evidence that these rooms served as turkey houses, as some have
interpreted them.
The rear walls of rooms 89 and 90 are well preserved,
but those in front have been completely destroyed. The former has a
banquette like that of the Speaker-chief's House. The walls of rooms
situated north and east of kiva U, now reduced in height, formerly
extended to the roof of the cave, which is here somewhat lower than in
the middle of the cavern. The existence of these former walls is indicated
by light bands on the smoke-covered surface of the cave roof, and
fragments of clay still adhering to the side of the cliff show that the
walls here were two and three stories high.
In rooms 84, 85, and 86 the builder took advantage of
the cliff for rear walls. The middle of the floor of 84 has a depression
lined with vertical slabs of stone, evidently a fireplace, as it
contained a quantity of wood ashes. In the floor on the eastern side of
this fireplace there is a short trench also lined with stone and
containing wood ashes, the relation of which to the other inclosure is
unknown. It appears that this exceptional structure was not used in the
same way as the fireplaces so constantly met with in other rooms, but
that it might have been used for baking paper-bread, called piki
by the Hopi. In a corner of room 91 there is another depression, half
under the floor, covered with a flat stone, that appears quite likely
to have been used for this purpose. Unlike the fireplaces sunken in the
floor, the one in room 84 is partially or wholly above the floor, its
confining stones being several inches above the floor level.
Room 92 is the best example of a milling room in
Cliff Palace. It has four grinding bins, or metatakis, arranged side by
side, with all the parts entire and in working condition. When
excavation was begun in this part of the ruin these structures were
wholly concealed under fallen rocks. As streams of water from a vertical
cleft in the cliff poured down upon them after exposure during periods
of rain, it was necessary to construct a roof to protect them.a
The discovery of this and of other grinding rooms shows that the
cliff-house metatakis are the same in structure as those in the Hopi
pueblos. In an inclosure south of these metatakis was found a granary.
Fragments of walls projecting from the cliff west of room 93 show the
former existence of rooms in this section, but as their front walls have
been obliterated by the downpour of water their form is obscure.
aOn the top of the rock that forms the
foundation of the walls of these rooms, and south of them, are hollows
or grooves where the metates were ground, and shallow pits used in some
prehistoric game. There are similar pits In some of the kiva floors.
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