FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE 213 



structed for habitation, and it is now believed that it was intended for 

 the performance of rites and ceremonies ; the first of its type yet recog- 

 nized in the Southwest. 



The ruin was purposely constructed in a commanding situation in 

 the neighborhood of large inhabited cliff houses. It sets somewhat 

 back from the edge of the canyon, but near enough to present a marked 

 object from all sides, especially the neighboring mesas. It must have 

 presented an imposing appearance, rising on top of a point above 

 inaccessible, vertical cliffs. No better place could have been chosen 

 for a religious building in which the inhabitants of many cliff dwell- 

 ings could gather and together perform their great ceremonial dramas 

 (see fig. 1). 



The ruin was found to have the form of the large letter D, as shown 

 in the accompanying illustration (fig. 2). It was composed of two 

 sections, one of which may be called the original building, and the 

 other the Annex. The side wall, which was situated on the south 

 side, is 121.7 feet long. The whole building is 64 feet wide. The 

 walls, including the central core of rock and adobe, average four feet 

 in thickness. The entire outer facing of the wall is composed of well 

 cut stones, some of which were smoothed by rubbing. There are 

 about 1000 feet or more, containing 28,000 cubic feet of masonry. It 

 is estimated that the building was once several feet higher than it is 

 at the present time. 



The rooms in this building vary in form and type, one kind being 

 circular, the other rectangular. The circular rooms are identified as 

 kivas, or sacred rooms; the purpose of the rectangular rooms is un- 

 known. There are two circular rooms, or kivas, of about equal size 

 in the original building, and a third occupies the center of the Annex. 



There are 23 other rooms; 14 of these are in the original building, 

 and have parallel walls; several have curved walls, others straight. 

 Of the rooms with curved walls three had entrances from the roofs, 

 four had lateral doors into the plaza, and the remainder are arranged 

 in two series, the members of which communicate with each other. 



Not a single room, either circular or rectangular, shows any signs 

 of plastering, but all joints between stones from the bottom to the 

 top were carefully pointed with adobe and generally chinked with 

 stones, the impressions of human fingers and palms of small hands of 

 the workmen, probably women, still showing in the clay mortar. 



The principle of the arch was unknown, but the corners were practi- 

 cally vertical, implying the use of a plumb bob. The curved walls 

 are among the best in the ruin. Outside the main building is a cir- 

 cular building with walls four feet thick, which closely resembles the 

 base of a tower. This was probably intended for ceremonial rites. 

 One of the most interesting features is the embellishment of the walls 

 by geometrical figures cut in their surfaces — a rare form of decoration. 

 Several stones bearing incised figures were set in the walls. Generally 

 the designs are geometric, but there are others, including the figure 



