fewkes] PKEHISTORIC VILLAGES, CASTLES, A:N t I> TOWERS 37 



Cliff-Dwellings 



There are numerous cliff-houses in this district, but while, as u 

 rule, they are much smaller than the magnificent examples in the 

 Mesa Verde, they are built on the same architectural lines as their 

 more pretentious relatives. Both large and small have circular 

 subterranean kivas, similarly constructed to those of Spruce-tree 

 House, and have mural pilasters (to support a vaulted roof, now de- 

 stroyed), ventilators, and deflectors. 



There are also many rooms in cliffs, possibly used for storage or 

 for some other unknown purposes, but too small for habitations. It 

 is significant that these are identical so far as their size is concerned 

 with the "ledge houses," near Spruce-tree House, indicating similar 

 or identical uses. 



The kivas of cliff-dwellings of size in the region considered have the 

 same structural features as those of adjacent ruins, but very little 

 resemblance, save in site, to those of cliff-dwellings in southern Ari- 

 zona, as in the Sierra Ancha or Verde Valley, the structure of which 

 resembles adjacent pueblos. 



The absence in the McElmo region of very large cliff-houses is due 

 partly but not wholly to geological conditions, the immense caves of 

 the Mesa Verde not being duplicated in the tributaries of the McElmo; 

 but wherever caverns do occur, as in Sand Canyon, we commonly find 

 diminutive representatives. While differences in geological features 

 may account for the size of these prehistoric buildings, the nature 

 of the site or its size is not all important. 1 



Here and there one sees from the road through the McElmo Canyon 

 a few small cliff-houses, and if he penetrates some of the tributaries, 

 he finds many others. The canyon is dominated by the Ute Moun- 

 tain on the south, but on the north are numerous eroded cliffs in 

 which are many caves affording good opportunities for the con- 

 struction of cliff-houses. 



These buildings do not differ save in size from the cliff-houses of 

 the Mesa Verde. Their kivas resemble the vaulted variety and the 

 masonry is identical. 



Although the existence of cliff-dwellings in the tributaries of the 

 McElmo has long been known, the characteristic circular kivas which 

 occur in the Mesa Verde had not been recognized previous to the 

 present report. 



The relative age of the pueblos and great towers and the same 

 structures in caves can not be decided by the data at hand, but the 

 indications are that they were contemporary. 



On account of the similarity in structure of the McElmo cliff- 

 dwellings to those on Mesa Verde, only a few examples from the 



i Attention may be called to the fact that often we find very commodious eaves wil hout correspondingly 

 largo cliff-houses, even in the Mesa Verde. 



