Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Spruce-Tree House

There are eight circular subterranean rooms identified as ceremonial rooms, or kivas, in Spruce-tree House (pls. 12, 13). Beginning on the north these kivas are designated by letters A-H. When excavation began small depressions full of fallen stones, with here and there a stone buttress projecting out of the debris, were the only indications of the sites of these important chambers. The walls of kiva H were the most dilapidated and the most obscured of all, the central portion of the front wall of rooms 62 and 63 having fallen into this chamber; added to the debris were the high walls of the round room, no. 69. Kiva G is the best-preserved kiva and kiva A the most exceptional in construction. Kiva B, never seen by previous investigators, was in poor condition, its walls being almost completely broken down. Part of the wall of kiva A is double (pl. 13), indicating a circular room built inside another room the shape of which inclines to oval, the former utilizing a portion of the wall of the latter. This kiva is also exceptional in being surrounded on three sides by rooms, the fourth side being the wall of the cavern. From several considerations the author regards this as the oldest kiva in Spruce-tree House.

The typical structure of a Spruce-tree House kiva is as follows: Its form is circular or oval; the site is subterranean, the roof being level with the floor of the surrounding plaza. (Pls. 13-15.) Two walls, an outer and an inner, inclose the room, the latter forming the lower part. Upon the top of this lower wall rest six pedestals, which support the roof beams; the outer wall braces these pedestals on one side. The spaces between these pedestals form recesses in which the floors extend a few feet above the floor of the room.

The floor of the kiva is generally plastered, but in some cases is solid rock. The fireplace is a circular depression in the floor, its purpose being indicated by the wood ashes found therein. Its lining is ordinarily made of clay, which in some instances is replaced by stones set on edge.

The other important opening in the floor is one called sipapu, or symbolic opening into the underworld. This is generally situated near the center of the room, opposite the fireplace. This opening into the underworld is barely large enough to admit the human hand and extends only about a foot below the floor surface. It is commonly single, but in one kiva two of these orifices were detected. A similar symbolic opening occurs in modern Hopi kivas, as has been repeatedly described in the author's accounts of pueblo ceremonials. An important structure of a Spruce-tree House kiva is an upright slab of rock, or a narrow thin wall of masonry, placed between the fire place and the wall of the kiva. This object, sometimes called an altar, serves as a deflector, its function being to distribute the air which enters the kiva at the floor level through a vertical shaft, or ventilator. Every kiva has at least one such deflector, a single fire place, and the sipapu, or ceremonial opening mentioned above.

Several small cubby-holes, or receptacles for paint or small ceremonial objects, generally occur in the lower walls of the kiva. In addition to these there exist openings ample in size to admit the human body, which serve different purposes. The first kind communicate directly with passageways through which one can pass from the kiva into a neighboring room or plaza. Such a passageway in kiva E has steps near the opening in the floor of room 35. This entrance is not believed, however, to be the only way by which one could enter or leave this room, but was a private passage, the main entrance being through the roof. Another lateral passageway is found in kiva D, where there is an opening in the south wall communicating with the open air by means of an exit in the floor of room 26; another opening is found in the wall on the east side. Kiva C has a lateral opening communicating with a vertical passageway which opens in the middle of the neighboring plaza. In addition to lateral openings all kivas without exception have others that serve as ventilators, as before mentioned, by which air is introduced on the floor level of the kivas. The opening of this kind communicates through a horizontal passage with a vertical flue which finds its way outside the room on a level with the roof. In cases where the kiva is situated near the front wall these ventilators open through this wall by means of square apertures. All ventilator openings are in the west wall except that of kiva A, which is the only one that has rooms on that side.

The construction of kiva roofs must have been a difficult problem (pls. 14, 15). The beams (L-1 to L-4) are supported by the six pedestals (C) which stand upon the banquettes (A), and in turn are supported by the outer wall (B) of the kiva. On top of each of these pedestals is inserted a short stick (H) that served as a peg on which the inmates hung their ceremonial paraphernalia. The supports of the roof were cedar logs cut in suitable lengths by stone axes. Three logs were laid, connecting adjacent pedestals upon which they rested. These logs, which were large enough to support considerable weight, had been stripped of their bark. Upon these six beams were laid an equal number of beams, spanning the intervals between those first placed, as shown in the illustration (pl. 15). Upon the last-mentioned beams were still other logs extending across the kiva, as also shown in the plate.

The main weight of the roof was supported by two large logs which extended diametrically across the kiva from one wall to the wall opposite; they were placed a short distance apart, parallel with each other. The distance between these logs determines the width of the doorway, two sides of which they form. The other two sides are formed by two beams (L-4) of moderate size, laid across these logs, the space between them and the two beams being filled in with other logs, forming a compact framework. No nails are necessary in a roof constructed in this way.

The smaller interstices between the logs were filled in with small sticks and twigs, thus preventing soil from dropping into the room. Over the supports of the roof was spread a layer of cedar bark (M) covered with mud (N),laid deep enough to bring the top of the roof to the level of the plaza in which the kiva is situated.

No kiva was found in which the plastering of the walls was supported by sticks, as sometimes occurs here, according to Nordenskiöld and in one or more of the Hopi kivas. The plastering of the walls was placed directly on the masonry.

It is probable that the kiva walls were painted with various devices before their roofs fell in and other mutilation of the walls took place. Among these designs parallel lines in white were common. Similar lines are still made with meal on kiva walls in Hopi ceremonies, as the author has often described. One of the pedestals of kiva A is decorated with a triangular figure on the margin of the dado, to which reference will be made later.

The author has found no conclusive answer to the question why the kivas are built underground and are circular in form. He believes both conditions to be survivals of ancient "pit-houses," or subterranean dwellings of an antecedent people. In this explanation the kiva is regarded as the oldest form of building in the cliff-dwellings. We have the authority of observation bearing on this point. Pit-dwellings are recorded from several ruins. In a recent work Dr. Walter Hough figures and describes certain dwellings of subterranean character that are sometimes found in clusters,a while the present author has observed subterranean rooms so situated as to leave no doubt of their great antiquity.b

The form of the kiva is characteristic and may be used as a basis of classification of pueblo culture. The people whose kivas are circular inhabited villages now ruins in the valley of the San Juan and its tributaries, in Chelly canyon, Chaco canyon, and on the western plateau of the Rio Grande.

The rectangular kiva is a structure altogether different from a round kiva, morphologically, genetically, and geographically. It is peculiar to the southern and western pueblo area, and while of later growth, should not be regarded as an evolution from the circular kiva. Several authors have found in circular kivas survivals of nomadic architectural conditions, while the position of these rooms, in nearly every instance in front of the other rooms of the cliff-dwelling, has led others to accept the theory that they were later additions to the village, which should be ascribed to a different race. It would seem that this hypothesis hardly conforms to facts, as some kivas have secular rooms in front of them which show evidences of later construction. The strongest objection to the theory that kivas are modified houses of nomads is the style of roof construction.

This room (pl; 13), which is the most northerly of all of the ceremonial rooms of Spruce-tree House, is, the author believes, the oldest. In construction this is a remarkable chamber. It is built directly under the cliff, which forms part of its walls. In addition to its site the remarkable features are its double walls, and its floor on the level of the roofs of the other kivas. Although this kiva is not naturally subterranean, the earth and walls built up around it make it to all intents below the surface of the ground.

It appears from the arrangement of walls and banquettes that there is here presented an example of one room constructed inside of another, the inner room utilizing for its wall a portion of the outer. The inner room is more nearly circular than the outer in which it was subsequently built. In this inner room as in other kivas there are six banquettes, and the same number of pedestals to support the roof. Three of these pedestals are common to both rooms. The floor of this room shows nothing peculiar. It has a fire hole, a sipapu, and a deflector, or low wall between the fire hole and the entrance into the horizontal passageway of the ventilator. The ventilator itself opens just outside the west wall through a passageway, the walls of which stand on the wall of a neighboring room. No plaza of any considerable size surrounded the top of this kiva.

In order to get an idea as to how many rectangular rooms naturally accompany a single kiva, the author examined the ground plans of such cliff-dwellings as are known to have but one circular kiva, the majority of these being in the Chelly canyon. While it was not possible to determine the point satisfactorily, it was found that in several instances the circular kiva lies in the middle of several rooms, a fact which would seem to indicate that it was built first and that the square rooms were added later. Several clusters of rooms, each cluster having one kiva, closely resemble kiva A and its surroundings, in both form and structure.

The walls of this subterranean room had escaped all previous observers. They are very much dilapidated, being wholly concealed when work of excavation began. A large old cedar tree growing in the middle of this room led the author to abandon its complete excavation, which promised little return either in enlarging our knowledge of the ground plan of Spruce-tree House or in shedding additional light on the culture of its prehistoric inhabitants.

The two kivas, C and D, the roofs of which form the greater part of plaza C, logically belong together in our consideration. One of these rooms, C, was roofed over by the author, who followed as a model the roofs of the two kivas of the House with the Square Tower (Peabody House); the other shows a few log supports of an original roof—the only Spruce-tree House kiva of which this is true.

Not only was the roof of the kiva restored but its walls were well repaired, so that it now presents all the essential features of an ancient kiva. On one of the banquettes of this room the author found a vase which was evidently a receptacle for pigments or other ceremonial paraphernalia.

Kiva D has a passageway leading into room 26 and a second opening in the west wall on the floor level, besides a ventilator of the type common to all kivas. The top of the opening in the west wall appears covered with a flat stone in one of the photographic views (plate 11).

The wall in front of the village in the neighborhood of kivas C and D was wholly concealed by debris when work was begun on this part of the ruin. Excavation of this debris showed that opposite each kiva there was an opening with which the ventilator is believed formerly to have been connected. There seems to have been a low-storied house, possibly a cooking-place, provided with a roof, in an interval between kivas C and D; in the floor of the plaza at this point a well-made fire hole was uncovered.

Kiva E is one of the finest which was excavated, showing all the typical structures of these characteristic rooms; it almost fills the plaza in which it is situated. The exceptional feature of this room is a passageway through the west wall. Room 35 may have been the house of a chief or of a priest who kept in it his masks or other ceremonial paraphernalia. A similar opening in the wall of one of the Hopi kivas communicates with a dark room in which are kept altars and other ceremonial objects. When such a passageway into a dark chamber is not in use it is closed by a slab of stone.

Kiva F might be designated the Spruce-tree kiva from the large spruce tree that formerly grew near its outer wall. Its stump is now visible, but the tree lies extended in the canyon.

The walls of this kiva were poorly preserved, and only two of the pedestals were in place. The walls were repaired and the roof restored. This room is situated outside the walls, and in that respect recalls kiva B, described above. The ventilator opening of this kiva is situated on the south instead of on the west side of the room, as is the rule in other kivas. The large size of this room would indicate that it was of great importance in the religious ceremonials of the prehistoric inhabitants of Spruce-tree House, but all indications point to its late construction.a

Kiva G was so well preserved that its walls were thoroughly restored; it now stands as typical of one of these rooms in which the several characteristic features may be seen. For the guidance of visitors, letters or numbers accompanied by explanatory labels were painted by the author on the walls of the kiva.

Kiva G lies just below and in front of the round tower of Spruce-tree House, which is situated in the neighborhood of the main court, and may therefore be looked on as one of the most important kivas in the cliff-dwelling.a The solid stone floor of this room had been cut down about 8 inches.

aIt has no doubt occurred to others, as to the author, that the number of Spruce-tree House kivas is a multiple of four, the number of horizontal cardinal points. Later it may be found that there is some connection between them and world-quarter clan ownership, or it may be that the agreement in numbers is purely a coincidence.

Kiva H, the largest in Spruce-tree House, contained some of the best specimens excavated by the author. Its shape is oval rather than circular, and it fills the whole space inclosed by walls of rooms on three sides. In the neighborhood of kiva H is a comparatively spacious plaza which is bounded on the front by a low wall, now repaired, and on the other sides are high rooms. The plaza containing this kiva was ample for ceremonial dances which undoubtedly formerly occurred in it. The walls of kiva H formerly had a marked pinkish color, showing no sign of blackening by smoke except in places. Charred roof beams were excavated at one place, however, and charcoal occurred deep under the debris that filled this room.

There are two rooms (nos. 54, 69) of circular shape in Spruce-tree House, one of which resembles the "tower" in the Cliff Palace. This room (no. 54) is situated to the right hand of the main court above referred to, into which it projects without attachment except on one side. Its walls have two small windows or openings which have been called doorways, and are of a single story in height. This tower was apparently ceremonial in character.

It is instructive to mention that remains of a fire hole containing wood ashes occur in the floor on one side of this room, and that the walls are pierced with several small holes opening at an angle. Only foundations remain of the other circular room. It was situated on the south side of the open space containing kiva H and formed a bastion at the north end of the front wall. The floor of this room was wholly covered with fallen debris and its ground plan was wholly concealed when the excavations began; it was only with considerable difficulty that the foundation walls could be traced.

While the circular subterranean rooms above mentioned are believed to be the most common ceremonial chambers, there are others in the cliff-dwellings which were undoubtedly used for similar purposes. One of these, designated room 12, adjoins the mortuary room (11) and opens on the plaza C, D. In some respects the form of this room is similar to an "estufa of singular construction" described and figured in Nordenskiöld's account of Cliff Palace. Certain distinctive characters of this room separate it on one side from a kiva and on the other from a dwelling. In the first place, it lacks the circular form and subterranean site. The six pedestals which universally support the roofs are likewise absent. In fact they are not needed because in this room the top of the cave serves as the roof. A bank extends around three sides of the room, the fourth side being the perpendicular wall of the cliff. In the southeast corner is an opening, which recalls that in the "estufa of singular construction" described by Nordenskiöld.a

Room 9 may be designated a mortuary room from the fact that at least four human skeletons and accompanying offerings have been found in its floor. Three of those, excavated several years ago, were said to have been infants; the skull of one of these was figured and described by Prof. G. Retzius, in Nordenskiöld's memoir. The skeleton found by the author was that of an adult and was accompanied by mortuary offerings. The skull and some of the larger bones were well preserved.b Evidently the doorway of this room had been walled up and there are indications that the burials took place at intervals, the last occurring before the desertion of the village.

The presence of burials in the floors of rooms in Spruce-tree House was to be expected, as the practice of thus disposing of the dead was known from other ruins of the Park; but it has not been pointed out that we have in this region good evidence of several successive internments in the same room. The existence of this intramural burial room in the south end of the ruin is one of the facts that can be adduced pointing to the conclusion that this part of the ruin is very old.

Not far from the Spruce-tree House, situated in the same canyon, there are small one-room houses perched on narrow ledges situated generally a little higher than the cave containing the main ruin. Although it is difficult to enter some of these houses, members of the author's party visited all of them, and two of the workmen slept in a small ledge-house on the west side of the canyon. Except in rare cases these smaller houses can not be considered dwellings; they may have been used for storage, although it is more than likely that they were resorted to by priests when they wished to pray for rain or to perform certain ceremonies. The ledge-houses form a distinct type of ruin; they are rarely multiple-chambered and therefore are not capacious enough for more than one family.

There are two or three old stairway trails in the neighborhood of Spruce-tree House. These consist of a succession of holes for hands and feet, or of a series of pits cut in the face of the cliff at convenient distances. One of these ancient trails is situated on the west side of the canyon not far from the modern trail to the spring; the other lies on the east side a few feet north of the ruin. Both of these trails were appropriately labeled for the convenience of future visitors. There is still another ancient trail along the east canyon wall south of the ruin. Although all these trails are somewhat obscure, it is hoped that they can be readily found by means of the labels posted near them.

In the rear of the buildings are two large open spaces which, from their positions relative to the main street, may be called the northern and southern refuse-heaps. They merit more than passing consideration. The former, being the larger, has not yet been thoroughly cleared out, although pretty well dug over before the repair work was begun. The author completely cleared out the southern refuse-heap and excavated to its floor.a

The southern recess opens directly into the main street and is flooded with light. Its floor is covered with large fragments of rock that have fallen from the cliff above. The spaces between these bowlders were filled with debris and the bowlders themselves were covered with the same accumulations the removal of which was no small task.