308 



CLIFF-DWELLINGS 



[b. a. b. 



of chambers at points where no openings 

 previously existed. In cases where the 

 front opening was large, either originally 

 or through the effects of weathering, it 



iS^Mlfc W^^l ' (lit/ 



TYPICAL CLIFF-HOUSE, MANCOS CANYON, COLORADO. 

 (holmes, JACKSON ) 



was walled up as in the ordinary cliff- 

 dwelling, the doors and openings being 

 of usual type; but the typical cavate 

 dwelling is entered through a small hewn 

 opening or doorway and consists of one 



^^J^^-~^^ J: 





\Mi~ 





EXCAVATED DWELLINGS IN CLIFFS OF VERDE VALLEY, ARIZONA. 



(c. mindeleff) 



or more chaml^ers, approximately rectan- 

 gular or roundish in outline, adapted to 

 the needs of the occupants. The floor is 

 often below the level of the threshold, 



and both floors and walls are sometimes 

 plastered, and, in cases, a simple orna- 

 mental dado in one or more colors is car- 

 ried aroun<l some of the principal rooms. 

 Frequently crude fireplaces occur near 

 the entrance, sometimes provided with 

 smoke vents; and numerous niches, al- 

 coves, and storage places are excavated 

 at convenient points. In front of the ex- 

 cavated rooms, porches were sometimes 

 built of poles, brush, and stones, holes 

 cut in the cliff wall furnishing the pos- 

 terior support for roof and floor beams. 

 These cavate dwellings are most numer- 

 ous on the E. side of the Jeinez plateau, 

 facing the Rio Grande, where almost 

 every northern escarpment of the mesas 

 between the mountains and the river 

 is honeycombed with them (Bandelier, 

 Hewett, Mindeleff). They are also nu- 

 merous along the Rio San Juan and itsN. 



ground-plan and section of excavated dwelling, VERDE 

 VALLEY, ARIZONA. (c. MINDELEFf) 



tributaries in New Mexico and Colorado 

 (Holmes), and in the valley of the Rio 

 Verde in Arizona (Fewkes, Mindeleff). 



Belonging to the cavate class, yet meas- 

 urably distinct from the dwellings last 

 described, are certain rude habitations 

 excavated in the slopes of cinder cones 

 and in the steep faces of scoriaceous de- 

 posits in the vicinity of Flagstaff, Ariz. 

 These are entered by doorways excavated 

 in the steep slopes of cliffs, or by shafts 

 descending obliquely or vertically where 

 the slopes are gentle. The rooms are of 

 moderate or small size and generally of 

 rather irregular outline. The walls have 

 been plastered in some cases, and not in- 

 frequently exterior chambers have been 

 built of the rough scoriaceous rocks. The 

 correspondence of these habitations and 

 their accompanying artifacts with the 

 architectural and minor remains of the 



