38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [buix. 70 



former region are here considered. It may be worthy of note that 

 while McElmo cliff-dwellings are generally accompanied by large 

 open-air pueblos and towers or great houses on the cliffs above, in 

 the Mesa Verde open-air buildings 1 are generally situated some 

 distance from the cliff-dwellings. 



CLIFF-DWELLINGS IN SAND CANYON 



Several small cliff -houses occur in Sand Canyon, one of the northern 

 tributaries of the McElmo. Stone Arch House, here figured (pi. 

 6, a), so called from the eroded cliff (pi. 4, b) near by. It is situated 

 in the cliff, about a mile from where the canyon enters the McElmo 

 Canyon near Battle Rock. Abundant pinon trees and a few scrubby 

 cedars grow in the low moimds of the talus below the ruin, near which, 

 on top of a neighboring rock pinnacle, still stand the well-constructed 

 walls of a small house (pi. 4, a). 



DOUBLE CLIFF-IIOUSE 



The formerly unnamed cliff -house shown in plate S 2 is one of the 

 best preserved in Sand Canyon. It consists of an upper and a lower 

 house, the former situated far back hi the cave, the latter on a pro- 

 jecting terrace below. Unfortunately it is impossible to introduce 

 an extended description of this building as it was not entered by the 

 author's party, but from a distance the walls exhibit fine masonry. 

 It is unique in having double buildings on different levels, an arrange- 

 ment not rare in a few examples of cliff -dwellings on the Mesa Verde. 

 As shown in plate 8, the character of the rock on which the lower 

 house stands is harder than that above in which the cave has been 

 eroded. The upper house is wholly protected by the roof 3 of the cave 

 and occupies its entire floor. The lower house shows from a distance 

 at least two rooms, the front wall of one having fallen. 



From a distance the walls of both the lower and the upper house 

 seem to be well preserved, although many of the component stones 

 have fallen to the base of the cliff. 



SCAFFOLD IN SAND CANYON 



One of the cliffs bordering Sand Canyon has an inaccessible cave 

 in which is an artificial platform or lookout shown in plate 7, a. 

 Al though this structure is not as well preserved as the scaffold in 

 the neighborhood of Scaffold House in Laguna (Sosi) Canyon, on the 

 Navaho National Monument, it seems to have had a similar purpose. 



1 Sun Temple, however, is a seeming exception and follows the McElmo rule of proximity; several large 

 cliff-dwellings occur under the cliff on which this mysterious building stands. 



2 Taken from a point across the canyon, the only one from which both houses can he included in the same 

 photograph. 



5 For a good example of clilf-houses at different levels, see Clill'-J >wellings in Fewkes Canyon, Mesa Verde 

 National Park, Holmes Anniversary Volume. 



