FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 77 



threads, with a selvage at two ends. The material out of which 

 it was made has not been definitely determined, but it closely 

 resembles that of the specimen figured by Nordenskiold (plate l) 

 from Mug House. Our excavations were rewarded with a fine woven 

 head-band with loops at the ends (fig. 4), similar to that described 

 and figured in the report on Spruce-tree House. Several small frag- 

 ments of cloth were recovered from the refuse heap, but none of them 

 was large enough to indicate the form of the garment to which they 

 originally belonged. 



In the group of fabrics ma}^ be included nets and cloth with 

 feathers woimd around warp and woof, similar to those figured from 

 Spruce-tree House. 



There were several specimens of j-ucca strings, tied in loops, gen- 

 *!rally six in number, which presumably were devoted to the same 

 purpose as by the present Hopi, who attach to the string six ears of 

 corn, representing the cardinal points on the six-directions altar, and 

 hang them on the walls of a priest's house. If the cliif-dwellers used 

 this string for a similar purpose, it would appear that they, like the 

 Hopi, recognized six cardinal points^north, west, south, east, above, 

 and below — and worshiped gods of these directions, to which they 

 erected altars.*^ 



HUMAN BURIALS 



As has been seen, there were two methods of disposing of the 

 dead — by inhumation and by cremation. The former may have been 

 either house burial or burial in the refuse heaps in the rear of the 

 buildings. With both forms of disposing of the dead mortuary food 

 oiferings were found. Evidences of prehistoric burials and cremation 

 were found both on the mesa above Clilf Palace and in the ruin.^ 



The practice of cremation among the cliff-dwellers has long been 

 known. Nordenskiold writes (p. 49) : 



That cremation, however, was sometimes practiced by the Cliff Dwellers 

 seems probable from the fact that Richard AVetherill observed in the same niin, 

 when the above-mentioned burial chamber was found, bodies which had appar- 

 ently been burnt, together with the pottery belonging to the dead. 



The evidences of cremation found in the inclosure at the northern 

 end of the refuse space of Cliff Palace is conclusive. The calcined 

 bones uncovered here were also accompanied with mortuary pottery, 

 cloth, and wooden objects. 



The flexed position of the bodies of the dead occurs constantly in 

 the earth burials, which may be explained by the almost universal 



"For a Hopi six-directions altar, see Journal of Americrin Elhnolngii and ArchcEology, 

 Vol. II, 1892. 



* The house burials appear to have been mainly those of priests or other important 

 personages. 



