218 



FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE 



at Sun Temple has stimulated my desire to know more of archi- 

 tectural details and especially the use to which these towers were 

 formerly put. So far as the question of use is concerned their 

 resemblances to ceremonial rooms called kivas would appear con- 

 clusive. Let us consider some of the known architectural fea- 

 tures of these towers, on the theory that they are ceremonial in 

 character. 



Fig. 3. Tower ruin in Ruin Canyon, Utah. 



The central room of one of these towers is circular in form, 

 suggesting a kiva, but its inner walls show no evidences of the 

 former presence of pedestals, or pilasters, or supports of a roof. 

 Evidently if a roof once covered the central room, it was not 

 vaulted as in the majority of circular kivas, but flat, the beams 

 supporting it having been laid parallel, with ends resting on top 

 of the walls. One of the characteristic features of a typical 

 tower is the double wall with intervening rooms separated by 

 partitions. 6 Unfortunately we do not know the character of the 

 floors of these towers, as they still await the spade of the arche- 



6 I am inclined to doubt the existence of triple walled towers. 



