The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-24
Petrified Palm Leaf
Cornerstone Weigh
ing Tons Indicates
Colorado Had Semi
tropical Climate in
Cliff Dwellers' Dav
By DR.. VIM. DOUGHTY PHIFER, M. A.,
Archseologist and Explorer.

~ December day cattle men riding
the range in Colorado stopped
to rest beside a rude mound which
covered an acre and skirted the ragged edge
OF an abyss. There the huge hillock lay
almost hidden among the sagebrush and
jungle. When uncovered recently it was
found to be the Great Temple of the Sun
where armies of sun worshippers used to
gather. Ages ago it was their community
church
1t rectangular and oblong. Every
stone was dressed with stone hammer.
The gumbo mortar still grips the crannies.
The thick walls are double with a space of
several feet between them. In their ruined
condition they stand four to twenty feet
high. How strange that such magnificent
sandstone cathedral should have neither
windows nor doors. Evidently the en-
trance was from the roof, upon which those
dusky people of the long ago climbed on
ladders.
Mystery of the Circles.
Two-thirds of the floor space of this
temple was occupied by two large circular
structures of stone whose ruined walls still
stand two to five feet high. What those
circles were for is for you to guess. Others
have been guessing a long time. The re-
a suite of rooms and kva- Those quar-
tiers are thought to have been used by the
head priest of all the clans and his attend
ants The k.va is a very sacred room,
always circular, usually subterranean and
regarded by the sun worshippers kind
of holy of holes
The broken walls of this mighty ruin lay
covered with weeds, vines, pinon, sage
brush and cedars. 1t must have made the
I,,yy ino for hn
wind to bring the gray dust of ages from
miles away where by the ceaseless grind of
friction they dragged the surface of the
ground, gored the red sides of canyons and
tore at the rocky skin Of the cliffs, piling
sand and rubbish of every kind over the
fallen temple.
splendid cedar had sprouted in the
ruins and grown up large and strong.
When cut down with crosscut saw 1853
annual growth rings were counted on the
stump. The core of the tree had rotted
away, thus destroying 200 other growth
rings. It is safe to say that old cedar had
stood there 500 or 500 years. The temple
must have been in ruins many centuries be-
fore the cedar tree sprouted.
I do not know when the cornerstone OF
the Temple of the Sun was laid. Some say
500 A. D. and some say 500 B. c. Others
saw it was built when the Roman soldiers
marched under the arches of triumph.
However, all agree the grand old temple
dates far back into antiquity, and was the
last work of the cliff jewellers on Colorado's
soil This building shows better intellectual
deveIopment of its builders than any Of the
cliff dwellings or pueblos in the region OF
the Four Corners.
Petrified Palm Leaf as Cornerstone.
No temple In all the world has such
cornerstone. It is petrifed palm leaf. 1t
is almost round and about two feet In
diameter, in the centre of stone six feet
squire. The ribs OF the palm leaf go out
every way from the centre like rays of the
sun. These people were sun worshippers.
The palm leaf was their shrine. Depend
upon it, the men who laid the cornerstone Of
the sun temple knew astronomy. On June
FL, II is said, when the sun crosses the line
it's shadow falls directly on an east and west
line across the palm leaf.
Here is a mystery. Where did the palm
leaf come from? The Four Corners where
Arizona. Colorado, New Mexico and Utah
touched is no place for palm trees to carry
on their business; the altitude is 5000 feet.
Deep SHOWS fall and the temperature drops
low in winter Palm trees require tropical
or semi-tropical climate not found at the
Four Corners. Be sure of this: this corner
stone with its palm leaf weighing several
tons could not have been brought from a
distant place. Men of the stone age had no
vehicles to carry heavy loads. They had
not discovered the wheel. They could not
carry such a stone in their arms or drag
II from a distant place skids. 1t was
too heavy.
The fact is, il was produced very near
the spot where IL row rests as the corner
stone OF the great Temple of the Sun. Once
the palm tree grew there and lifted it's head
on high, fits splendid leaves basked in the