The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-20
LIFE OF A CLIFF-DWELLER
How He Dressed, DeIved, Built and
Made a Home for Himself.
Harper'S Bazaar.


He was dark-skinned fellow, this old
clifi-dweIler. as his mummified remains
show plainly enough. The hair was un-
usually black and moderately coarse and
long. He was of medium stature and the
back of mis- skull was fiattened by being
tied firmly against a board in infancy, as
among some races is the custom still. He
had fair teeth, much worn. the years
grew upon him, from munching ill-ground
corn.
1t would be difficult to say from the ar
ticles thus far discovered just how much
this prehistoric man was devoted to dress
or rather, to undress. A simple Preech-
clout was certainly in vogue, and there is
considerable reason to think that this was
at times. at least, the piece de resistance
in his costume But parts of hide jackets
fur caps, blankets made of feathers tied
on to coarse net of cord. are also in evil
furnishings Of the dead. variety of san
GALS and other footgear has been found,
some ne, woven or yucca Ieaves, some praided
OF other vegetable fiberS some rudely con-
structed from cornhusks.
A certain passion for personal adornment
and devotion to superstition is evident from
the rough beads and the strings of bones
and small shells which he wore, while ANU
let's of turquoise or shell or broken pottery
pierced for suspension about the neck, are
not seldom found He brushed his hair
with tightly tied punches of stiff grass,
with one end trimmed square, and his long,
coarse black hairs are clinging still to some
of them
ask what did he do for a living, this dark
fellow in scanty attire with a tnge of van
ity and superstition?
He was, first of all, a farmer He raised
corn and beans and gourds or squashes, at
least. in the thin soil of the mesas or upon
the lesser slopes, which still show traces
of scanty terraces. Corn is frequently
found, sometimes still on the cob, some
times shelled off and slowed in jars while
corncobS and cornhuSks are scattered
erywhere among the rubbish. The beans
and gourds are less abundant. The gourd
seeds are sometimes carefully slowed away.
The only farming implements which have
been found are, SO far as / aware. stout
sticks, pointed or fattened at one end quite
like the planting sticks still in use by prim-
tive agriculturists.
1t Is evident enough that in his time as
now, his country was very dry, and water
had to be carefully handled. One finds here
and there traces of shallow reservoirs and
what seem to have been irrigating bitches.
Slipping hollows in the rocks near the
their low ends, apparently to save the melt
ing snow or the waste of showers. The
considerable number of large jars would
indicate that water was stored, too in the
houses, it may be for times of siege. The
earthen ladies or dippers not infrequently
often much worn and beveled on the edges,
an indication that they were used to ladle
up water from holows in the rocks such
as abound on the plateaus above and about
the cliffs. Small springs still exist near
some of the largest cliff houses.
the well-shaped and finished stones, the
trim walls hung upon steep sloping rock
surfaces, sheer at the edges of cliffs where
they rest to-day firm and secure, abund-
antly prove. The mortar of most of the
houses was very skilfully laid in, and be-
We're set, giving a pleasing break to the
lines of masonry.