52 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



ings of the Smithsonian advisory committee on printing and publi- 

 cation. 



Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, ethnologist, having been detailed to con- 

 tinue the excavation and repair of prehistoric ruins in the Mesa 

 Verde National Park, Colo., under the joint auspices of this Bureau 

 and the Department of the Interior, left Washington for that locality 

 in August, 1915, and remained in the park continuous!}'- until the 

 close of October. Dr. Fewkes devoted his attention mainly to a large 

 mound of stones and earth situated near the point of a promontory 

 opposite Cliff Palace, across Cliff Canyon, the excavation of which 

 revealed a type of structure hitherto unknown in the Mesa Verde 

 National Park, and architecturally different from any that had been 

 previously excavated in the Southwest. The rooms of this building, 

 which Dr. Fewkes designates as " Sun Temple," were thoroughly 

 cleared out, the debris removed, and the walls v/ere repaired in such 

 manner that they will not be likely to deteriorate for many years. A 

 report on the work of excavation and on the structural features of 

 this interesting building forms the subject of an illustrated pamphlet 

 published by the Department of the Interior in June, 1916, under the 

 title " Excavation and repair of Sun Temple, Mesa Verde National 

 Park." 



Structurally the Sun Temple consists of two parts — an original 

 building, to which an annex is so united as to give the two a D- 

 shape ground plan, the southern or straight wall of which extends 

 almost exactly east-west. This wall measures 131 feet 7 inches in 

 length ; the highest wall of the structure is 11 feet 7 inches, the lowest 

 5 feet. The walls are massive, varying in thickness from 2 to 5 

 feet, and are composed of a core of rubble faced on both sides, 

 the exposed stones ha^dng been carefully fashioned by hand and 

 accurately fitted, although, as in the case of pueblo masonry gen- 

 erally, the stones are usually neither "broken" at the joints nor 

 bonded at the corners. Nevertheless the walls of the Sun Temple 

 display excellent structural qualities that will compare favorably 

 with any of its class north of Mexico. Architectually the annex re- 

 sembles certain tower-like structures in the ancient pueblo region, 

 and in plan the whole ruin bears resemblance also to Pueblo Bonito 

 in Chaco Canyon, N. Mex. 



The building contains three circular rooms resembling kivas, 

 or ceremonial chambers, still used by some of the Pueblo Indians, 

 and many other rooms of unusual shape and doubtful significance. 

 There was no indication that the Sun Temple had been roofed; 

 indeed, there is strong evidence that the construction of the buildings 

 was never finished. Dr. Fewkes was not able to determine the age 

 of the Sun Temple, but he is of the opinion that it was built later 



