FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 67 



A half oval stone, smooth and flat at one pole, is supposed to have 

 been an idol, possibly the earth goddess, who is repeatedly represented 

 by the Hopi m a similar way. It was left near where it was found at 

 the northwest corner of kiva H. Our masons used rectangular slabs 

 of soft stone, which were doubtless door-closes, as mortar boards. 

 They were held in place in the door opening by jambs made of 

 mortar laid on sticks, and by a horizontal rod which passed between 

 two osier eyelets set in the uprights of the door-frame and projecting 

 from it. These stone doors were sometimes held in place by a groove 

 cut in the threshold or b}^ a ledge of adobe. 



Two thin, flat, circular stone disks (pi. 22, c), with smooth surfaces 

 and square edges, accompanied the calcined human bones in the 

 inclosure at the northern end of the large refuse heap. It is probable 

 that some of these disks were used as covers for mortuary vases. 

 Irregularly shaped flat stones with pits and incised figures pecked 

 in their surface were used in a game, and a slab covered with incised 

 figures but without the pits (pi. 23, c) probably served a similar 

 purpose. 



Several large stones, which the builders of Cliff Palace had begun 

 to dress and had later rejected, show the method adopted by them in 

 cutting stones the required size. AMien stones were found to be too 

 large to be laid, or had projections that interfered with the required 

 shape, a groove was pecked where the fracture was desired and the 

 stone broken along the groove. 



Pottery 



No ruin in the Mesa Verde National Park has yielded more 

 specimens of pottery than Cliff Palace, many pieces of which are 

 preserved in various museums in Colorado and elsewhere. The col- 

 lection gathered b}^ the writer was small compared with some of these, 

 and although only a few whole pieces were found, by restoration from 

 fragments a fair number of specimens, ample perhaps for generaliza- 

 tion, were procured. In the following mention of the pottery ob- 

 tained from the ruin a very comprehensive idea of the perfection in 

 the ceramic art attained in Cliff Palace can hardly be hoped. 



Southwestern pottery may be divided into two tjq^es, so far as 

 superficial appearance goes: (1) coiled or indented undecorated 

 ware; (2) smooth polished ware. Of the latter there are two sub- 

 types: {a) pottery with a surface slip, generally white, on which 

 designs are painted, and (h) decorated pottery without a superficial 

 slip, and generally reddish in color. Cliff Palace pottery, when 

 decorated, belongs to the last two divisions, but some of the best 

 made specimens belong to the coiled or indented type. Although 

 there are several fragments of red pottery ornamented with designs 



