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HOMES OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS.

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CLIFF-DWELLERS.

The name Cliff-Dwellers is generally used to designate a race of Indians formerly living in the cliffs scattered throughout the canyons and mesas of the Southwest along the upper waters of the Colorado and Rio Grande-in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico - and the ruins are either upon the summits of the mesas or on shelfs on the rocky walls of the canyons. The origin of the Cliff-Dwellers has for a long time been the subject of speculation, but investigation has proved that these ruins are not the work of any extinct or distinct race but were built by the immediate ancestors of the Pueblo Indians, some of whom, notably the Hopi, still have their villages upon the summits of these mesas.

The homes of the Cliff-Dwellers were built in the recesses of these cliffs at a height often several hundred feet from the ground, at the present time seemingly inaccessible, as the paths used by the Cliff-Dwellers have been obliterated. The dwellings may be divided into two types: first, habitations built in niches or clefts in the rocky walls, and second, domiciles excavated in softer beds between hard ledges in the clefts sometimes called "cavate lodges." The habitations sometimes consisted of many rooms, and in some cases were two or more stories in height, hewn in the rock, with wooden lintels in the doors and windows and probably closed with skins or blankets.

The walls were finished with plaster made of clay. It is not known exactly how the inhabitants subsisted, however, though undoubtedly by hunting and fishing, for the soil about these localities is barren and unproductive. Among the more important of the remains of the cliff dwellings are the Casa Grande, the Mesa Encantada, and the Mesa Verde.

The Mesa Encantada, or enchanted mesa, called by the Indians "Katzimo," is situated in west central New Mexico near the village of Acoma. It is a perpendicular sandstone wall rising from the grassy plain, is about 2,050 feet long, and from 100 to 300 feet wide; the sloping talus is 100 to 200 feet in height, and the perpendicular wall rises to about 430 feet above the plain. The summit is nearly level and consists of a hard rock, very much weather beaten and supported by a few stunted cedars. There is a tradition among the neighboring Indians that their remote ancestors once inhabited the summit. An artificial stone monument, several fragments of pottery, and some stone implements have been found at the top.

The Mesa Verde is a plateau 15 miles long and 8 miles wide situated on the right bank of the Mancos River in the southwestern part of Colorado. Above its talus, 300 to 500 feet high, rises a wall of yellow sandstone, 150 to 300 feet further, the top of the mesa being 400 to 800 feet above the plain. The rocky walls of the Mesa

Verde are cut up by numerous horizontal ledges occupied by the ruins of ancient cliff dwellings some of which are in a remarkable state of preservation. In these ruins have been found large numbers of stone implements, some mummies, and other prehistoric remains.

The Casa Grande is the ruins of a prehistoric building in Arizona, near the Gila River, within 20 miles of the Casa Grande station. Built of adobe with walls, in some places five feet thick at the base, narrowing toward the top, it is the best preserved structure of a type which was probably widely distributed. The space enclosed by the walls now standing measures about 43 by 59 feet; and the walls, which are high, show that there were three, and perhaps four, stories. There are three central rooms, and two end rooms. A large area surrounding this building is covered. with mounds and débris of other buildings, indicating that there was originally a considerable settlement on the site. It was built by a Pueblo or allied race, and the evidence is in favor of the theory that they were the ancestors of the Pima Indians who now inhabit the region. In 1889 Congress made an appropriation for the preservation and repair of the Casa Grande, and the whole area has been made government property. During the removal of the débris a number of specimens of pottery and stone implements have been found. The ruins were seen by Coronado's

expedition and mentioned by Cataneda; they were carefully described by Father Menge, who, with Father Pinto, visited them in 1694 and 1697. John R. Bartlett was the first to give a detailed description of them in modern times in his Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua (1849). The best and most recent accounts are found in the publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology (13th and 15th annual reports).

Bibliography.- Mound Builders.- The articles on the Mound Builders in the Reports of the Smithsonian Institution are too numerous to

mention here. Of other writings the list is long including F. H. Cushing, A Mound-Builder's Village, in The Antiquarian, vol. i., pp. 7-10 (1897); Thomas Featherstonhaugh, The Moundbuilders of Central Florida, in Southern History Association Publications, vol. iii., pp. 1-14 (1899); C. B. Moore, Certain Aboriginal Mounds of the Florida Central West-Coast, etc. (1903); articles by Moore on the Mound-Builders in Florida, in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Science, series ii., vol. xi., pp. 5-138, 167–172, 173-184, 419-497; vol. xii., pp. 127-358, 359-438, 439-494; vol. xiii., pp. 333-476; in Alabama, in ibid, vol. xi., pp. 289–348, 498-514; Arkansas and Mississippi, in ibid, vol. xiii., pp. 477-605 (1908); and in South Carolina, in ibid, vol. xi., pp. 147-166; H. M. Baum, Antiquities of the United States, the Cahokia Mounds, in Records of the Past, vol. ii., pt. vii., pp. 214-222 (1903); D. I. Bushnell, Jr., The Cahokia and Surrounding Mound Groups, in Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archæology and Ethnology, vol. iii., pp. 1-20 (1904); W. B. Nickerson, Mounds of Northwestern Illinois, in Records of the Past, vol. vii., pp. 85-95 (1908); Cyrus Thomas, Cahokia or Monk's Mound, in American Anthropologist, vol. ix., pp. 362-365 (1907); Gerard Fowke, The Montezuma Mounds, in Collections of the Missouri Historical Society, vol. ii., no. 5 (1905); W. H. Poole, Evidence of Mound-Builders in Johnson County, Iowa, in American Anthropologist, vol. xi., pp. 41-46

PREHISTORIC REMAINS.

[graphic]

Photos copyright by Detroit Publishing Co.

1. THE PUEBLO DE TAOS, NEW MEXICO (South side).

2. CLIFF RUINS OF WALNUT CAÑON, ARIZONA.

3. EXTERIOR DETAIL OF THE HOPI BUILDING, GRAND CAÑON OF ARIZONA.

TO NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR LENOL AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

(1898); D. J. H. Ward, Some Iowa Mounds, An Anthropological Survey, in Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. ii., pp. 34-68 (1904); Bennett H. Young, The Prehistoric Man of Kentucky: A History of What is Known of their Lives and Habits, together with a Description of their Implements and Other Relics of the Tumuli (1910, Filson Club Pubs. no. 25); G. E. Beyer, The Mounds of Louisiana, Louisiana Historical Society Publications, vol. i., pt. iv. (1896), vol. ii., pt. i. (1897); John Campbell, Recently Discovered Relics of American Mound Builders, in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, series ii., vol. iv., sec. 2, pp. 3-22; Henry Gillman, The Mound-Builders in Michigan, in Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, vol. ii., pp. 40-52 (1880); Charles Peabody, Exploration of Mounds, Coahoma County, Miss., in Papers of the Peabody Museum, vol. iii., no. 2 (1904); G. H. Fountain, Shell-Heaps of the Shrewsbury River, N. J., in the Antiquarian, vol. i., pp. 4850 (1887); W. M. Beauchamp, Perch Lake Mounds, etc., New York State Bulletin 87 (1905); Cornelius Baldwin, Ancient Burial Cists in Northeastern Ohio; N. C. Nelson, The Ellis Landing Shell Mound, in University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. vi., pp. 357-426 (1910); W. D. Gates, Pottery of the Mound Builders, in American Archæologist, vol. ii., pp. 113-118; A. J. Hill, Mounds in Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, in Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, vol. vi., pp. 311-319; W. H. Holmes, Certain Notched or Scolloped Stone Tablets of the Mound Builders, in American Anthropologist, n. s., vol. viii., pp. 101-108 (1906); S. D. Peet, Coast and Maritime Structures in American Antiquarian, vol. xxii., pp. 157-180; ibid, The Southern Mound Builders: Their Works and Relics, in ibid, vol. xxv., pp. 215-246; and other writings by the same author; T. E. Pickett, The Testimony of the Mounds, etc.; E. C. Smith, Suggestions of Mexico in the Mound Relics, in Wisconsin Archæologist, vol. viii., pp. 65-78 (1909); H. I. Smith, The Great American Pyramid, in Harper's Magazine, vol. civ., pp. 199-202 (1901); N. C. Nelson, Shell Mounds of the San Francisco Bay Region, in University of California Publications, vol. vii., no. 4 (1909); Max Uhle, The Emeryville Shell Mound, in ibid, vol. vii., no. 1 (1907); W. H.

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Holmes, Aboriginal Shell-Heaps of the Middle Atlantic Tidewater Region, in American Anthropologist, n. s., vol. ix., pp. 113-128 (1907); W. C. Mills, Certain Mounds and Village Sites in Ohio (1907); ibid, The Seip Mound (1909); E. O. Randall, The Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio (1905); G. F. Wright, A New Serpent Mound in Ohio and Its Significance, in Records of the Past, vol. vii., pp. 219-232 (1908); J. P. McLean, Ancient Works at Marietta, Ohio, in Ohio Archæological Pubs., vol. xii., pp. 37-66 (1903); A. H. Thompson, The Stone Graves of Tennessee, in American Antiquarian, vol. xxiii., pp. 411-419 (1901); H. S. Halbert, Nanih Waiya: the Sacred Mound of the Choctaws, in Pubs. of the Mississippi Historical Society, vol. ii., pp. 223-234 (1899); Charles E. Brown, The Preservation of the Man Mound (1908); E. O. Randall, The Masterpieces of the Ohio Mound Builders (1908).

The Cliff-Dwellers.- Mindeleff, Origin of the Cliff-Dwellings, in Journal of the American Geographic Society, vol. xxx., pp. 111-123; S. D. Peet, The Cliff-Dwellers and the Wild Tribes, in American Antiquarian, vol. xxi., pp. 349-368; ibid, Social and Domestic Life of the CliffDwellers, in ibid, pp. 17-10; ibid, Relics of the Cliff-Dwellers, in ibid, pp. 99-122; Henry M. Baum, Pueblo and Cliff-Dwellers of the Southwest, in Records of the Past, vol. i., no. 12, pp. 357-361 (1902); N. O. G. Nordenskiöld, The Cliff-Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, Southwest Colorado; articles by Peet, in American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, vol. xx., pp. 1936, 81-100, 143-168, 193-210, 275-298; O. C. S. Carter, Acoma: The Cliff City of New Mexico, in Journal of the Franklin Institute, vol. clxii., pp. 449-466 (1906); Frederick Monsen, Pueblos of the Painted Desert: How the Hopi Build their Community Dwellings on the Cliffs, in The Craftsman, vol. xii., pp. 16-33 (1907); J. W. Fewkes, Ventilators in Ceremonial Rooms of Pre-historic Cliff Dwellings, in American Anthropologist, vol. x., pp. 387-398 (1908); Shimer, Lithological Section of Walnut Canyon, Arizona, with Relation to the Cliff Dwellings of this and other Regions of Northwestern Arizona, in American Anthropolo gist, vol. xii., pp. 237-249 (1910); J. W. Fewkes, Cremation in Cliff-Dwellings, in Records of the Past, vol. ix., pp. 154-156 (1910).

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