j^EWKEs] ANTIQUITIES OP MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 23 



PEEHISTORIC TRAILS TO CLIFF PALACE 



It is evident that the prehistoric farmers of Cliff Palace repeatedly 

 visited their fields among the cedars on top of the mesa, and well- 

 worn trails led from their habitation to these clearings. Several such 

 trails have long been known, one of which was formerly exclusively 

 used by white visitors and was facetiously called "" Fat Man's Misery." 

 To another ancient pathway, near which ladders were placed, the 

 name '* Ladder Trail " may be applied. The pathways now used by 

 visitors follow approximately these old trails, which were simply 

 series of shallow footholes cut in the clifl\ Although the lapse of 

 time since they were pecked in the rock has somewhat diminished 

 their depth, thej^ can still be used by an adventurous climber. 



GENERAL FEATURES 



Cliff Palace (pis. 1, 2), the most instructive cliff-house yet dis- 

 covered in the Mesa Verde National Park, if not in the United States, 

 is one of the most picturesque ruins in the Southwest. A^liile its gen- 

 eral contour follows that of the rear of the cave in wli'ch it is situ- 

 ated, its two extremities project beyond the cavern. The entire cen- 

 tral part is protected by the cave roof; the ends are exposed. 



The general orientation of Cliff Palace is north and south, the cave 

 lying at the eastern end of the canyon of which it is an extension. 

 The southern end is practicall}^ outside this cave, and tlie few rooms 

 westward from kiva Y are unprotected. An isolated kiva, W, with 

 high surrounding walls, is situated some distance bej'ond the extreme 

 western end of the ruin. Although not in the same cave as the main 

 ruin, certain other rooms in the vicinity of Cliff Palace may have 

 been ceremonially connected with it. They are built in shallow 

 depressions in the cliffs and may have been shrines or rooms to which 

 priests retreated for the purpose of performing their rites. In the 

 category of dependent structures may also be mentioned numerous 

 rings of stones on top of the mesa. The existence of calcined human 

 bones in the soil over which these stones are heaped indicates the prac- 

 tice of cremation, of which there is also evidence in the ruin itself. 



Destruction by the Elements 



The constant beating of rain and snow, often accompanied in 

 winter by freezing of water in the crevices of the masonry, iias sacliy 

 dilapidated a large part of the front walls of Cliff palace, especially 

 those at the northern and southern ends (pi. 3) where they do not 

 have the protection of the overhanging roof of the cave. 



