BULL. 80] 



CLIFF PALACE 



309 



general region make it clear that the 

 occupants of these strange dwellings were 

 a part of the great Pueblo family (Powell, 

 Fewkes). 



The minor works of art associated with 

 the cliff-dwellings are in general closely 

 analogous to similar remains from the 

 ancient plateau and village sites of the 

 same section. This applies to basketry, 

 •pottery, textile products, stone imple- 

 ments and utensils, and various kinds of 

 weapons and ornaments. The presence 

 of agricultural implements and of de- 

 posits of charred corn in many places 

 indicates that the people depended largely 

 on agriculture. 



The antiquity of the cliff-dwellings can 

 only be surmised. That many of them 

 were occupied in comparatively recent 

 times is apparent from their excellent 

 state of preservation, but their great 

 numbers and the extent of the work ac- 

 complished suggest very considerable 

 antiquity. Just when the occupancj' of 

 the cliffs began, whether 500 or 5,000 

 years ago, must for the present remain a 

 question. Some travelers have reported 

 the occurrence of ancient stone houses 

 overwhelmed and destroyed by flows of 

 lava, and have inferred great age from 

 this; but verification of these reports is 

 wanting. Striking differences in the 

 crania of earlier and later occupants of 

 the cliff-dwellings are cited to prove early 

 occupancy by a distinct race, but crani- 

 ologists observe that equally striking dif- 

 ferences exist between tribes living side 

 by side at the present day. It may be 

 safely said that to the present time no 

 evidence of the former general occupancy 

 of the region by peoples other than those 

 now classed as Pueblo Indians or their 

 neighbors to-day has been furnished. 

 Among the more important examples of 

 the cliff ruins are the so-called Cliff 

 Palace in Walnut canyon and the Spruce 

 Tree House in Navaho canyon. Mesa 

 Verde, Colo. (Chapin, Nordenskiold) ; 

 Casa Blanca in Canyon de Chelly (Min- 

 deleff); and the so-called Montezuma 

 Castle on Beaver cr., Ariz. (Mearns). 

 Intimately a.ssociated with these cliff- 

 dwellings, and situated on the plateaus 

 immediately above or at the base of the 

 cliffs belovv, are ruins of pueblos in every 

 way identical with the pueblos in the 

 open country. See Pueblos. 



In the canyons of the Piedras Yerdes 

 r.. Chihuahua, Mexico, are cliff-dwell- 

 ings corresponding in many respects with 

 those of the Pueblo region. These are in 

 ruins, but in other sections of the same 

 state there are similar dwellings occupied 

 to-day by the Tarahumare (Lumholtz). 

 The most southerly cliff-dwellings thus 

 far observed are in the state of Jalisco, 

 central Mexico (Hrdlicka). 



Quite distinct in type from the cliff- 

 dwellings of the arid region are the pic- 

 turesque and remarkable dwellings of the 

 Eskimo fishermen of King id., near the 

 N. margin of Bering sea. Here there are 

 some 40 dwellings partly excavated in 

 the side of the precipitous cliffs and 

 partly built of stone and wood. The 

 exterior portions are constructed of drift- 

 wood poles and covered with hides and 

 earth. A low-covered passage, 10 to 15 ft. 

 in length, leads under the center of the 

 dwelling, which is entered by a small 

 opening in the floor. In summer these 

 caves sometimes become too damp for 

 comfortable occupancy, and the people 

 erect summer houses over them, which 

 consist of a framework of wood covered 

 with walrus hides, forming rooms from 

 10 to 15 ft. square. These houses are 

 anchored to the rocks with ropes of raw- 

 hide which prevent their being Ijlown 

 into the sea (Jackson, Nelson). See Pile- 

 dwellings. 



Among works treating of the cliff-dwell- 

 ings of the arid region are: Bandelier in 

 Papers Arch. Inst. Am., iii, 1890; iv, 

 1892; Birdsall in Bull. Am. Geog. Soc, 

 XXIII, 1891; Chapin, Land of the Cliff 

 Dwellers, 1892; Fewkes in 17th and 22d 

 Reps. B. A. E., 1898, 1904; Hewett in 

 Smith.'jon. Rep. 1904, 1905; Holmes in 

 Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. of Terr, for 1876, 

 1879; Jackson, ibid., 1874, 1876; Lum- 

 mis (1) Strange Corners, 1892, (2) Land 

 of Poco Tiempo, 1893; Mearns in Pop. 

 Sci. Mo., XXXVII, 1890; Mindeleff (V.) in 

 8th Rep. B. A. E., 1891; Mindeleff (C.) 

 in 13th Rep. B. A. E., 1896; Nordens- 

 kiold, Cliff Dwellings of the Mesa Verde, 

 1893; Powell in 7th Rep. B. A. E., xviii, 

 1901; Prudden in Am. Anthrop., v, no. 

 2, 1903; Simpson, Exped. into Navajo 

 Country, 1850; Stevenson in Bull. Am. 

 Geog. Soc, xviii, 1886. The Mexican 

 cliff-houses are described by Lumholtz 

 in Unknown Mexico, i, 1902, and by 

 Hrdlicka in Am. Anthrop., v, 1903; and 

 those of Alaska hv Nelson in 18th Rep. 

 B. A. E., 1899, "^and by Jackson in 

 Metropol. Mag., Jan., 1905. See Archi- 

 tecture, Habitations, Popular Fallacies, 

 Pueblos. (w. n. h. ) 



Cliff Palace. A celebrated ruined cliff- 

 dwelling in Walnut canyon, IVIesa Verde, 

 s. Colo., 2 m. across the mesa, s. e. of 

 the Spruce Tree House. It consists of a 

 group of houses in a fair state of preser- 

 vation, all connecting and 0{)ening one 

 into another, the whole forming a cres- 

 cent about 100 yds. from end to end. It 

 contains ruins of 146 rooms, some of which 

 are on a secondary ledge. The village 

 contained 5 kivas or estufas. See H. R. 

 Rep. 3703, 58th Cong., 3d sess.,1905, and 

 consult Chapin and Nordenskiold cited 

 above under Cliff-divellings. 



