Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-01-28
PREHISTORIC
BUILDING IS EXCAVATED
DR.. J. W. Fewkes Finds Pueblo in
Colorado Possibly More Than
600 Years Old. a

IDr. j. W alter Fewkes. ethnologlSt III
the Smithsonian bureau of American
ethnology, who returned recently from
his field work in the Mesa Verde Ma
tional Park, Col, reports that his work
has revealed for the first time a new
type of prehistoric building possibly
more than 500 years old-a pueblo.
commonly defined as a terraced COM
munity building, not attached to a cliff
but constructed in the open. During
the past few years the Smithsonian IN
stitution. in cooperation with the De-
partment OF the Interior, has directed
the excavation and repair OF several
prehistoric ruins in the Mesa Verde
National Park. among them the "Sun
Temple" excavated by DIR. Fewkes last
year. which proved unique example OF
aboriginal building specialized for re-
Ilsious purposes. and Spruce Tree
istic cliff dwellings of the culture of the
early dwellers.
Abandoned Before Conquest.
The building excavated last summer.
forms one Of what is known as the
Mummy Lake group of mounds. which
might be termed type locality, for it
seems representative of q considerable
area now comprising Arizona, Utah.
Colorado and New Mexico was inhabited
in prehistoric times, by Indians similar
to those of any other region of North
America, but their dwellings were very
different.
The immigrant clans that first peo-
Piled the southwest built neither cliff
dwellings nor pueblos." says DR..
Fewkes. consequently this style of
dwelling originated exactly where We
now find them.
when man first entered the south
west he knew little of the advantages
of stone as a building material. for he
built his hut of mud and sticks. or
possibly skins of animals. The North
American Indian became a stone mason
as result of life in cliffs, and no
where outside of the southwest Were
buildings constructed of stone by the
aborigines of the section north OF
Mexico. The prehistoric masonry in
| this region is a development which oc-
CURED before the advent of the white
! man. And yet no European ever saw
| an inhab ited cliff dwelling on the Mesa
Verde. and no article of European
manufacture has ever been found in
the undisturbed debris of the rooms.
All of which shows that these early
dwellings were abandoned before the
Spanish conquest
Four States Seen From Mound.
The mound chosen to be excavated
stands near the government road at
the southwest corner of the group area
and only a few steps from the rim of
Soda canyon. TT might we'll be called
Far View House." says the excavation.
| since the southern outlook is very
fine. and from the upper rooms four
states-Utah. Arizona, New Mexico and
Colorado-may be seen"
When the building was eXcavated
forty domiciliary rooms and four cir
cular ceremonial kivas were found on
the ground floor. The former were
mainly two stories in height. the
rafters of the lower floors forming the
beams for the second, and extending
along the north, east and west sides
of the main building. A row of rooms
| to the north of kiva "A" shows evil
| dences of third story, which would
probably have brought the original
\ number of rooms to more than fifty. To
| the south is a great court supposed
| to have been dance plaza and still
| inclosed by the remnants of a wall.
! The main north wall of the pueblo
measures 113 feet from the east to
west, and was, apparently, about TWEEN
ty feet high. The east and west walls
| extend toward the south. fifty and
sixty-four feet, respectively, averaging
! ten feet in height.
| No Trowel Marks of Builders.
| The masonry throughout is of fairly
good construction, but shows all the
| eults of the cliff-dweller's work