NO. 6 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS. I92O 



91 



In one of the grinding bins there was excavated a bundle of grass, 

 Koelcria cristata, of exactly the same form as the brushes with which 

 Hopi maidens sweep their metates after grinding meal ; one more 

 resemblance between clifif dweller and Hopi customs. 



In his classic on the " Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde," Baron G. 

 Nordenskiold figured and described a nameless ruin designated a 

 tower (fig. 104). situated in the cedars about a mile north of Spruce 

 Tree House. To this ruin the author has given the name Cedar Tree 



Fig. 107. — Section uf iloor n\ iV-dar Tree Tower, showing 

 ceremonial opening. Pliotograpli 1)y J. A. Jeancon. 



Tower, on account of an ancient cedar tree ( hg. 105) hanging over 

 the top of the north wall. Nordenskiold closes his brief description 

 with the remark, '' Perhaps it should be regarded a religious building." 

 The desirability of testing this surmise of the talented Swede led 

 the author, in August, 1920, to excavate this tower and the area about 

 its base, which led to the discovery that although it appeared to stand 

 alone there were two subterranean rooms connected with its base 

 situated on the west and south sides. The larger of these rooms 

 (fig. 106) had all the structural features of a typical kiva of a ^lesa 

 Verde cliff' dwelling. This subterranean structure, its floor excavated 



