FEWKES] RUINS ON THE UPPER VERDE RIVER 193 
were inhabited. Room M has one small niche and two large niches; 
the open front shows no vestige of masonry. 
Excavated in the northeastern corner (pl. 84) of the bluff, some- 
what to the east of the middle series of rooms and separated therefrom 
by an impassable cliff, are the eastern caves, which open toward the 
east, overlooking the Cornville-Verde road and Oak Creek. There 
are but three rooms (N, O, P) in this cluster (fig. 57). Room N 
faces more to the southward than the remainder. This room is irreg- 
ular in shape. The rear wall is 21 feet from the edge of the cliff at 
the floor level; the dome-shaped roof, which is blackened with smoke, 
slopes uniformly backward, the highest point being near the entrance; 
the average height is 5 feet. A peephole cut through the rock par- 
tition looks out over Oak Creek, on the southern side. One of the 
walls contains a niche. Room N opens into rooms O and P. The 
R 
CAD 7 CORNV/LLE —> 
10 1S FT. 
3 
Fic. 57. Ground plan of cave rooms on Oak Creek (eastern end). 
former is about 8 feet high; this can be entered by a passageway 
from front and side. The roof is vaulted; the floor on the north side 
is slightly raised. Passage through the narrow opening from one of 
these rooms to another can be effected only by crawling on all fours. 
Room P has a vaulted roof, averaging 7 feet in height; there are two 
niches at the floor level, the openings of which are pear-shaped. 
Tn their general features the Oak Creek cavate lodges,! as shown in 
the preceding paragraphs, are not unlike structures of similar char- 
acter in the Verde Valley. They closely resemble inhabited caves in 
various parts of the world, excavated in similar rock formations by 
people of the Stone Age. 
1No sufficient reason to reject the word ‘‘cavate’’ occurs to the writer ner does he know of any better 
term that has been suggested by those who object to its use to designate caves of this type. Most of these 
artificial caves are found in cliffs and may be properly called cliff-dwellings, especially those which have 
buildings in front of them. They undoubtedly grade into other types, as natural caves having houses 
built in them, but the term is the most expressive yet suggested for cliff-rooms artificially excavated. 
20903°—28 ErH—12——13 
