Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-07-30
RESTORING CASA eRANDE
DIFFICULT WORK BEING DONE
BY PSYCHOLOGISTS.
Task Of the Expedition to the CliK
Palaces Of the Mesa Verde
National Park.

Gcrham Fuller. In the Boston Transcript
It was great step for the ADVANCE
ment of American archaeology when the
federal government enacted laws which
forbade the molestation OF antiquities
situated on public lands. Up 10 that
time they had been the prey OF pothunt-
ers who dug into the mounds and tore
down ruins in the hope OF finding speci-
mems which they could sell. The loss
which science has suffered through the
depreciation of these vandals can scarce
ly be overestimated. The law has now
practically put a stop 10 that sort OF
work, and permits for excavation have
first TO be obtained from the Secretary
OF the Interior and the material collected
mus, go TO some museum.
Casa Grande Work.
Still further We're the interests of Amer
lean archaeology carried forward when
the government decided 10 engage in tn.
excavation and repair of some Of the
ruins situated on its national parks. Late
in the fail Of 1906 work was started on
Casa Grande. great adobe ruin on tho
ella river in southwestern Arizona. II
was in a shocking condition, its upper
stories had fallen, the wallis were badly
cracked and II was only question OF
few decades before he whole strae, ,o
winters work the repair was finished
and the compounds which surrounded il
excavated. Until then the existence of
these compounds had never been suspect
ed, as they were entirely covered by the
drifting sand. Casa Grande finished, tho
repair of Spruce Tree House. cliff dwell
ing on the Mesa Verde National Park.
was started and at the end OF two
months a crumbling ruin that had been
mutilated and partially destroyed by pot
hunters was put in such a thorough state
of preservation that 1t should last for
generations to come. Attention was then
turned to Cliff Palace, another cliff dwell
ing Of the Mesa Verde, and so far as
is known the largest I'm the country. IL
, not in the world. May IL this year DR.,
J. Walter Fewkes Of the bureau of
American ethnology again started the
work Of saving a ruin and erecting TO
himself another monument to bear wit
ness to his energy and knowledge of the
archaeology Of the southwest
There is perhaps. at the outset. no such
diScouraging a proposition and at the
finis nothing SO gratifying as the repair
of a. ruin. The visitor who comes today
to the Mesa Verde and looks down upon
Cliff Palace. with its row of kiyas and
terraces. its smooth plazas and gray
walls. will little know the difficulties that
had 10 be met and overcome. Even To
those who have watched the progress
from day to day. it is hard TO remember
debris which Uttered its front and gave
1t an almost hopeless appearance. Indeed.
1t might have been said to have no head
nor tail Where TO start work was a
problem, and at last, after careful study
and examination, the southern end was
determined upon. Here. stretching half
way along the front. was line OF shall
low circular depressons covered with de-
bris. They had every appearance or be-
ing kivas. and it has turned out that the
appearances justified the facts.
What the Kiva Is.
From the archaeological point OF view
the kiva is the most interesting and inn
portant building found in the southwest
In its oldest type 1t was a round room OF
varying size. which was always sunk be-
low the ground level. Time. however.
at present the Moki use square kiva.
while the Zuni take one OF the rooms in
the pueblo. According to the Moki. the
reason for its subterranean character il
due to the fact that the kiva is the SYM
bolic representation OF the first OF the
two underworlds from which came the
people who populated the earth.
They made their way through hole
Moki kiva there is small round hole
in the floor which symbolizes this open
ing and which is supposed to lead d.
rectly to the underworld below.
1nfOuSn TINS Sipapu the pTlcStS Huiu
communication with the dead, and dur
ing the ceremonies they shout down it
in order to let the spirits know that
things have begun. for the spirits are
supposed to hold the same ceremony
and to go through il step by step with
those in the kiva above.
The kivas of Cliff Palace and the other
ruins of the Mesa Verde are all of the
round type and below the level of tn,
ground or of the surrounding rooms.
They vary from nine to seventeen feet
in diameter and from eight to ten feet
in depth. but in the details of construc-
ton they are practically identical Near
the center is the fre-hole. some two
feet across and from a foot to two feet
in depth. Between the fire-hole and the
wall there is set an upright slab OF
stone or wall. and back of this I'm the
wall Is an opening which runs back for
several feet. and then turns directly up
and opens on the ground. This deflector
and ventilator shaft, as il has been
termed. is peculiar TO the kivas of the
San Juan watershed. and its meaning
has never been satisfactorily explained.
When a fire is lighted a draught of cold
air comes sweeping down it and is de-
fiected by the stone slab. sending thu
smoke curling upward through the
opening in the roof.