86 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANIiOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. ']2 



The general form and arrangement of rooms at the east and west 

 ends of the central court of Fire Temple differ from any cliff ruin 

 or pueblo in the Southwest. Significant facts show that the building 

 (fig. 97) is unique, as will readily appear from the following state- 

 ments. Excavations in other cliff' houses of the same size reveal 

 household utensils, as pottery, and other domiciliary objects. No 

 cooking places, grinding bins, or household implements were found 

 in the extensive work at Fire Temple. Moreover, every cliff house 

 of size on the Mesa Verde has one or more specialized gener- 



Fic;. 103. — Oak Tree House from Sun Point Road. Photograph hy G. L. Beam. 

 Courtesy of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. 



all\ circular subterranean rooms for ceremonies. There were no 

 kivas in Fire Temple. But the one exceptional positive feature in this 

 ruin that separates it widely from the cliff' dwelling is stronger than 

 these negative evidences. In no cliff' house, and indeed in no pueblo, 

 do we find a similar large circular fire pit filled with ashes in the center 

 of a rectangular court. This structure would seem to be the key to 

 the meaning of the whole building. That great fires were once built 

 in this fireplace, as the abundant ashes indicate, no one can doubt. 

 This fire]:)lace is too large for an oven for culinary purposes and 

 although we know that the cliff" people sometimes cremated the dead 

 the absence of calcined human bones would disprove the theory that 



