Antiquities of the Mesa Verde national park, Cliff palace / by Jesse Walter Fewkes.

  • Fewkes, Jesse Walter, 1850-1930.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Antiquities of the Mesa Verde national park, Cliff palace / by Jesse Walter Fewkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/164 (page 10)
    form the nucleus of a collection from Cliff Palace. The increasing interest, local and national, in the prehistoric culture of the South- west and the influence of these antiquities in attracting visitors to localities where they exist, furnish a reason for considering in some detail various other questions of general interest connected with cliff- dwellings that naturally suggest themselves to those interested in the history of man in America. The method of wmrk in this undertaking has been outlined in the report on Spruce-tree House published by the Secretary of the Inte- rior.® The primary thought has been to increase the educational value of Cliff Palace by attracting tourists and students of archeology. The reader is reminded that from the nature of the work at Cliff Palace very few specimens can be exjDected from it in the future, and that so far as the minor antiquities are concerned the objective mate- rial from this ruin is now all deposited in public museums or in pri- vate collections. Additional specimens can be obtained, however, from other ruins near it which will throw light on the culture of Cliff Palace. It is appropriate, therefore, to point out, at the very thresh- old of our consideration, that a continuation of archeological work in the Mesa Verde National Park is desirable, as it will add to our knowledge of the character of prehistoric life in these canyons. The next work to be undertaken should be the excavation and repair of a Mesa Verde pueblo. The extensive mounds of stone and earth on the promontory west of Cliff Palace have not yet been excavated, and offer attractive possibilities for study and a promise of many specimens. Buried in these mounds there are undoubtedly many rooms, secular and ceremonial, which a season’s work could uncover, thus enlarging indirectly our knowledge of the cliff-dwellers and their descendants.^ The writer considers it an honor to have been placed in charge of the excavation and repair of Cliff Palace, and takes this occasion to express high appreciation' of his indebtedness to both the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Secretary of the Interior for their confidence in his judgment in this difficult undertaking. Maj. Hans M. Kandolph, superintendent of the Mesa Verde National Park, gave assistance in purchasing the equipment, making out accounts, and in other ways. During the sojourn at Cliff Palace the writer Avas accompanied by Mr. E. G. Fuller, of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, a volunteer assistant, who con- « In his Annual Report for 1908. See also Bulletin Jfl of the Bureau of American Etli- nolof))/. ** A few holes that have been dug here and there in these mounds have brought to light sections of walls with good masonry, but no excavations that could be called extensive or scientific have yet been attempted on this site. The excavation of these mounds might reveal a pueblo like Walpi, and a comparison of objects from them with those from Cliff Palace would be important in tracing the relationship of cliff-dwellings and pueblos.