Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-20
had lived in half-sunken pit

people had lived in half-sunken pit
dwellings on the top Of. the mesa.
Along the sides of the canyons which
cut '1nto the mesa were high. shallow
caverns. caused by the erosion Of soft
strata OF rock between harder sorts.
To these caverns, probably, they first
took their corn for storage.
This would not be good storage.
for rains and snows would beat into
the caverns and dampen the corn.
The next step in their progress vas
to build dry granaries for the storage
of their crops. Anthropologists have
long observed that the only primitive
peoples who have ever amounted to
anything have been those who built
only prehistoric tribe north OF the
Rio Grande River that used stone as
q building material. ., a.
Beginnings of Communal Idfc.
Thus these people gradually beca me
sK1llfil artisans in. the use Of stone.
Eventually they left their earth lodges
on the top of the mesas and went to
live in h safer and more comfort
able caves Here they built. them
solves houses. and naturally built
them Of stone. A communal life be-
gan. At first, perhaps, only a single
family occupied a cavern with a small
house built on the cav floor. Family
lGcscent was through mothers. Pres
entity q branch would break off the
original family and become a clan.
adjo!n the original house. Thus the
various cliff dwellings gre in size
Each clan provided for itself cerei
monial rooms and living quarters.
and the. house grew until it became
a Village in itself. The Cliff Palace,
the first of these ruins to be discov-
ered is 800 feet long, nearly 100 fec;
wide, and it contained 200 rooms
Parts OF 1t were three and four stories
high.
This sort of building developed TO,
architecture. The typical building
was constructed in the form Of n let.
ter-D. This corresponded to the shape
Of a cliff .cavern--the straight edge o1
the precipice In front and the cutvinl
wall Of the cave behind. The cliff.
jewellers became sur twOrshippers. and
, when they build their Sun Temple or
the mesa top, each of/the two sections
Of the temple followed this form.
These people also became skillfu'
and artistic. This in itself was a tire.
mendohs advance over most Of tbt
prehistoric people in America. The
pOtlSIt VI lAG not Onl.
served its use but In form and decora
ton it was beautiful, judged even b,
our standards of beauty today.
Thus necessity operated then as /
has in historic times to advance civil
ization. The cliff jewellers reache.
the top o-ftheir greatness about tn,
twelfth century-thes time Of the Cru.
sades in Europe, when Robin Hooi
and his merry men held shcrwoo,
\ Forest in England and the baron
were forcing the Magma Chasta fron
tyrannical King John. At the sam
time the Indian tribes that range,
more favored sections of what is nov
the United States suffered their oc
casional famines and advanced it'll
lin culture.
What happened to the cliff-dwell
ers? Nothing Isl known definitely. blu
|. there Is reaso to believe that the oil
story OF Rome and the %barbarians wa
repeated there .on the Mesa Verde
: The conjecture Is that the Ute Indian
drove out the ctff-dwellers, VIII,
moved, to the south and became tn,
ancestors OF what we know today a
the Pueblo Indians