6 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



Indians, and many other rooms of unusual shape and doubt- 

 ful significance. There was no indication that the Sun 

 Temple had been roofed; indeed, there is strong evidence 

 that the construction of the buildings was never finished. 

 Dr. Fewkes was not able to determine the age of the Sun 

 Temple, but he is of the opinion that it was built later than 

 Cliff Palace. One evidence of its antiquity, however, was 

 observed — namely, a cedar tree growing from the top of the 

 highest walls was found to have 360 annual rings of growth, 

 indicating that it sprouted a few years after Coronado led 

 his expedition into the Southwest in 1540. 



The builders of the Sun Temple are supposed by Dr. 

 Fewkes to have been the former cliff dwellers of the neigh- 

 boring canyons. As to its purpose, he is of the opinion that 

 the building was used primarily for worship, but that like 

 other temples among primitive peoples it was intended sec- 

 ondarily as a place of refuge in case of attack, and for the 

 storage of provisions. The impression of a fossil palm leaf 

 on the comer stone at the southwestern angle is believed to 

 mark a shrine where rites to the sky or sun god were per- 

 formed long before the temple was built. It is this sup- 

 posed shrine that suggested the name for the edifice. 



On the completion of the excavation and repair of the 

 Sun Temple, Dr. Fewkes similarly treated Oak-tree House, 

 a cliff dwelling in the precipice of Fewkes Canyon above 

 which stands the Sun Temple. A collection of artifacts 

 found in this dwelling was gathered in the course of the exca- 

 vation and later deposited in the National Museum. 



En route to Washington, Dr. Fewkes visited the so-called 

 "Buried City of the Panhandle," on Wolf Creek in Ochiltree 

 County, Tex., which had been reported to the bureau by 

 residents of the neighborhood and had become locally cele- 

 brated. The remains examined hardly justify the name 

 given to the site, which in former days was used as an en- 

 campment by wandering Indians rather than by sedentary- 

 people. Dr. Fewkes's attention was drawn also to a sup- 

 posed artificial wall which gave name to Rockwall, not far 



