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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 66 



Fewkes Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park, under a perfectly arched 

 natural roof, below the mysterious ruin above mentioned. Oak-tree 

 House is not referred to in Nordenskiold's classic 'on the " Clifif 

 Dwellers of the Alesa ^'erde," and has not been figured nor described 

 by other archeologists. although it presents several very exceptional 

 architectural features. This oversight may be due in part to the 

 fact that it was practically inaccessible previous to last summer 

 (ICJ15). Notwithstanding its neglect by archeologists this ruin is 

 of no mean size, having had at least six circular subterranean cere- 

 monial chambers, and 25 rooms, some of which were habitations, 

 indicating the existence of a population of at least six clans. Its 

 ground plan shows that it occupied the whole floor of a large cave ; 

 the houses were in places four stories high. 



Fig. 115. — Birdseye view of Sun Temple, Mesa \'erde National Park, Colorado, 



looking northeast. 



At the close of the work on the Sun Temple, above mentioned, 

 the rooms of Oak-tree House were cleaned out, and the walls repaired 

 and put in condition for permanent preservation. Ladders were 

 placed in position to afford descent from the rim of the mesa to a 

 pathway made on the talus on which it stands. This descent is a 

 somewhat difficult task, but once accomplished it ofifers beautiful 

 views of Cliff Palace and other ruins down Soda Canyon, as far as 

 Mancos River. 



Perhaps the most unusual ceremonial room of Oak-tree House (fig. 

 117) is a kiva shaped like the letter D, in which there is a rectangular 

 chamber between the firehole and the south wall. This chamber com- 

 municates with the outside by means of a vertical flue and opens 

 into the main room by two passageways in a wall, corresponding to 

 the deflector of other kivas. Another exceptional feature of Oak- 

 tree House is the presence in the rear of the cave of a circular room, 



