58 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 'J2 



on the Mesa Verde they are quite different from the pueblos now 

 inhabited. A logical interpretation of the geographical distribution 

 of ruins with kivas like those of Square Tower House would not be 

 that the knowledge of stone masonry was introduced from Mexico, 

 but that the craft was acquired after the original inhabitants entered 

 the country, and that the pure pueblo type, or that with kivas like 

 those of Square Tower House, was born, cradled, and reached its 

 highest development in the area where it was found. But we may 



Fig. 58. — Wall of Earth Lodge A, showing adobe plastering on earth ; the 

 horizontal log is a roof l^eam. ■ Photograph liy T. G. Lemmon. 



take another step, and jioint out that the prototyj^e of these pre- 

 historic kivas has a morphological likeness to " earth lodges." 



The discovery of Earth Lodge A in this area by my assistant, 

 Mr. Ralph Linton, was important, considering the light it may 

 throw on the genesis of cliff dwellings. This ancient prototype (fig. 

 58) of a kiva is a semicircular isolated room with a slightly depressed 

 floor in which is a centrally placed firej^it. the surrounding walls 

 being either adobe ])lastered on the earth or molded into clumps 

 shaped like rolls. \w this rude sunken wall were set at an angle 

 posts, now charred at the free ends, all that remains of the sup]:)orts 

 of roof and sides. 



