SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 
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Fewkes Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park, under a perfectly arched 
natural roof, below the mysierious ruin above mentioned. Odak-tree 
House is not referred to in Nordenskiold’s classic on the ‘ Cliff 
Dwellers of the Mesa Verde,” and has not been figured nor described 
by other archeologists, although it presents several very exceptional 
architectural features. This oversight may be due in part to the 
fact that it was practically inaccessible previous to last summer 
(1915). Notwithstanding its neglect by archeologists this ruin is 
of no mean size, having had at least six circular subterranean cere- 
monial chambers, and 25 rooms, some of which were habitations, 
indicating the existence of a population of at least six clans. Its 
ground plan shows that it occupied the whole floor of a large cave; 
the houses were in places four stories high. 
Fic. 115.—Birdseye view of Sun Temple, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 
looking northeast. 
At the close of the work on the Sun Temple. above mentioned, 
the rooms of Oak-tree House were cleaned out, and the walls repaired 
and put in condition for permanent preservation. Ladders were 
placed in position to afford descent from the rim of the mesa to a 
pathway made on the talus on which it stands. This descent is a 
somewhat difficult task, but once accomplished it offers beautiful 
views of Cliff Palace and other ruins down Soda Canyon, as far as 
Mancos River. 
Perhaps the most unusual ceremonial room of Oak-tree House (fig. 
117) 1s a kiva shaped like the letter D, in which there is a rectangular 
chamber between the firehole and the south wall. This chamber com- 
municates with the outside by means of a vertical flue and opens 
into the main room by two passageways in a wall, corresponding to 
the deflector of other kivas. Another exceptional feature of Oak- 
tree House is the presence in the rear of the cave of a circular room, 
