FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 25 



Although it is difficult to enter some of these houses, members of the 

 author's party visited all of them, and two of the workmen slept in 

 a small ledge-house on the west side of the canyon. Except in rare 

 cases these smaller houses can not be considered dwellings ; they may 

 have been used for storage, although it is more than likely that they 

 Avere resorted to by priests when they wished to pray for rain or to 

 perform certain ceremonies. The ledge-houses form a distinct type 

 of ruin ; they are rarely multiple-chambered and therefore are not 

 capacious enough for more than one family. 



STAIRWAYS 



There are two or three old stairway trails in the neighborhood of 

 Spruce- tree House. These consist of a succession of holes for hands 

 and feet, or of a series of pits cut in the face of the clilf at convenient 

 distances. One of these ancient trails is situated on the west side of 

 the can3^on not far from the modern trail to the spring; the other lies 

 on the east side a few feet north of the ruin. Both of these trails 

 were appropriately labeled for the convenience of future visitors. 

 There is still another ancient trail along the east canyon wall south 

 of the ruin. Although all these trails are somewhat obscure, it is 

 hoped that they can be readily found by means of the labels posted 

 near them. 



REFUSE- HEAPS 



. In the rear of the buildings are two large open spaces which, from 

 their positions relative to the main street, may be called the northern 

 and southern refuse-heaps. They merit more than passing consider- 

 ation. The former, being the larger, has not yet been thoroughly 

 cleared out, although pretty well dug over before the repair work 

 was begun. The author completely cleared out the southern refuse- 

 heap and excavated to its floor.*^ 



The southern recess opens directly into the main street and is 

 flooded with light. Its floor is covered with large fragments of 

 rock that have fallen from the cliff above. The spaces betAveen these 

 bowlders were filled with debris and the bowlders themselves were 

 covered with the same accumulations the removal of Avhich was no 

 small task. 



Minor Antiquities 



The rooms and refuse-heajjs of Spruce-tree House had been pretty 

 thoroughly ransacked for specimens by those who preceded the author, 

 so that few minor antiquities were expected to come to light in the exca- 

 vation and repair work. Notwithstanding this, however, a fair col- 



« 



« From the great amount of bird-lime and bones in these heaps it has been supposed that 

 turkeys were domesticated and Ijept in those places. 



69392— Bull. 41—09 V. 



