24 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 41 



CEREMONIAL R003I OTHER THAN KIVA 



While the circular subterranean rooms above mentioned are be- 

 lieved to be the most common ceremonial chambers, there are others 

 in the cliff-dwellings which Avere undoubtedly used for similar pur- 

 poses. One of these, designated room 12, adjoins the mortuarj' room 

 (11) and opens on the plaza C, D. In some respects the form of this 

 room is similar to an " estufa of singular construction "" described and 

 figured in NordenskicUd's account of Cliff Palace, Certain distinctive 

 characters of this room separate it on one side from a kiva and on the 

 other from a dwelling. In the first place, it lacks the circular form 

 and subterranean site. The six pedestals which universal^ support 

 the roofs are likewise absent. In fact they are not needed because in 

 this room the top of the cave serves as the roof. A bank extends ■ 

 around three sides of the room, the fourth side being the perpendicu- 

 lar wall of the cliff. In the southeast corner is an opening, which 

 recalls that in the " estufa of singular construction " described by 

 Nordenskiold." 



MORTUARY ROOM 



Room may be designated a mortuary room from the fact that at 

 least four human skeletons and accompanying offerings have been 

 found in its floor. Three of those, excavated several j^ears ago, were 

 said to have been infants; the skull of one of these was figured and 

 described by Prof. G. Retzius, in Nordenskiold's memoir. The skele- 

 ton found by the author was that of an adult and was accompanied 

 by mortuary offerings. The skull and some of the larger bones were 

 well preserved.^ Evidently the doorway of this room had been walled 

 up and there are indications that the burials took place at intervals, 

 the last occurring before the desertion of the village. 



The presence of burials in the floors of rooms in Spruce-tree House 

 was to be expected, as the practice of thus disposing of the dead was 

 known from other ruins of the Park, but it has not been pointed out 

 that we have in this region good evidence of several successive inter- 

 ments in the same room. The existence of this intramural burial 

 room in the south end of the ruin is one of the facts that can be ad- 

 duced pointing to the conclusion that this part of the ruin is very old.- 



SMALL LEDGE- HOUSES 



Not far from the Spruce-tree House, situated in the same canyon, 

 there are small one-room houses perched on narrow ledges situated 

 generally a little higher than the cave containing the main ruin. 



« The CUff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, p. 63. 



* In clearing the kivas several fragments of human bones and skulls wore found by the 

 author. The horizontal passagewajs, called ventilators, of four of the kivas furnished a 

 single broken skull each, which bad not been buried with care. 



