--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Anderson, Joseph F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 17 number: 2 published: 1913-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Anderson, Joseph F., "Discoveries on the Colorado," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 2 (December 1913): 160–167.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1702unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1702unse start_page: 160 end_page: 167 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1913-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1702unse publication_year: 1913 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1913, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Discoveries on the Colorado Discoveries on the Colorado BY JOSEPH F. ANDERSON, OF THE UTAH ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDI- TION, 1913, FORMERLY PRINCIPAL OF THE MONROE HIGH SCHOOL // — The Homes, and Social and Religious Customs of the Cliff Dwellers. The land of the Cliff Dwellers seems to have been the north- ern frontier of a civilization, distinguished by permanent dwell- ings, and which extended northward from South America, reach- ing a marvelous climax in Central America. Mexico follows, with an almost equal culture ; and the Cliff Dwellers and Pueblos with varying stages of a somewhat lesser culture. The ruins of Mexico and Central America show evidence of peoples who were masters in architectural skill, and whose sculptural productions may favorably be compared with those of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Were their palaces and tem- ples intact today, they would easily be classed among the monu- mental works of the world. They were people who had a calen- dar, and measured time as the ancients in the Old World did. They have left evidences that they had a written language and a system of theology. The ruins of the homes of the Pueblos and Cliff Dwellers extend over large sections of Arizona, New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, southern Utah, and even into California and Nevada. The Pueblos are the community-houses out in the open — on the mesas and in the valleys. The Cliff Dwellings are the groups of houses built in the cliffs. The latter are the better preserved, having in most cases been protected by overhanging cliffs and ledges. It is to these that the Utah expedition has chiefly de- voted its attention. Just why the Cliff Dwellers built their houses so high up on the cliff walls, under the sheltering rim-rocks, has been a much- mooted question. By some it is held that the motive was defen- sive against the ravages of warlike and blood-thirsty enemies of a meaner culture, and of a nomadic life. This theory is sustained by the fact that, in most cases, strategic situations overlooking abysmal canyons, or the secluded recesses of high-walled caves in an almost inacessible country, were chosen for their homes. Usually a precipitous climb of several hundred feet up the sheer cliff would confront the invader and make it possible for the defenders to dislodge him with a stone or an arrow, before he could complete his laborious ascent. Cliff houses have been DISCOVERIES ON THE COLORADO 161 found with holes in the walls, resembling loopholes, through which missiles could be discharged. Here and there are rows of thick slabs of stone, set on edge, a few feet outside the line ot dwellings, as if used as defensive palisades. Buried in the debris of some of the ruins have been found skeletons of men who seem to have met violent death, from the fact that their skulls are indented as if by a battle ax. m The theory that the cliff dwellings were not thus peculiarly situated for purposes of defense is supported by the fact that few of the ruins show signs of combat. The weapons found are nu- merous and varied, but may have been used chiefly in hunt- ing— the small arrows for shooting small game, and the large arrows and spears for bringing down the wild mountain sheep and goats, deer and antelope, and perhaps the buffalo. Bears, lions, wolves and oth- er animals of the fiercer type were also victims of the prehis- toric hunter's aim. These home-loving people had the gregar- ious instinct strongly developed. Their houses in the cliffs were built on the apartment house plan, often containing enough rooms for a fair-sized village. The Kitsil (broken pot- tery) cliff house in Sagi-ot-Sosi Canyon, Arizona, is a community house of 148 rooms. Another in Twin Cave Cove, of Dogoshie-Boko (Grease- wood Canyon) contains over one hundred rooms, eighty-two of which were completely excavated by the Utah expedition. The Bat Woman house, also excavated by the Utah expedition, is a smaller group of forty-eight rooms. Other houses contain still fewer rooms, but everywhere there is evidence of close com- munity life. Each group had its granaries and storehouses, and Photo by I. Brooks, Utah Arch. Expd. THE UTAH ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION EXPLORING THE LAND OF THE CLIFF DWELLERS 162 IMPROVEMENT ERA Photo by Harper, Utah Arch. Expd. LIVING ROOMS OF THE CLIFF DWELLERS, SHOWING STRUCTURES TWO AND THREE STORIES HIGH a common ceremonial chamber or chapel. The respective fam- ily groups had each its living room, which was at once the kitchen, dining room, parlor and bedroom-. The large number of cliff dwellings found in the country already explored indicates that the population of the vanished people must have been nu- merous, as well as extensive. The broad areas of rough, broken country, still unexplored, undoubtedly holds many new wonders which will, in time, be found by the persistent archaeologist. In this work, the University of Utah, through Dean Byron Cum- mings, is just now taking the lead. Many of the most important discoveries of the last ten years have been made by the Dean. Besides discovering some of the largest and most unique cliff dwellings known, he has the distinction of being the explorer and discoverer of some important natural wonders, among which is Nonnezoshie (great arch), by all odds the largest natural bridge in the world. The Cliff Dweller was first of all a farmer, and a good one. But he did not live on his farm. In many cases his cliff home is far removed from any arable tract. All the products of the farm — in fact everything he used — had to be laboriously carried up the steep ascent to his home. His wood, his meat, his water, and even much of the material from which he built his house, had to be fastened to his back and thus carried, in many cases, sev- DISCOVERIES ON THE COLORADO 163 eral hundred feet up sheer cliffs. Often it was necessary to climb, hand and foot, up perpendicular rock surfaces. For this purpose he had chipped out hand and foot holes in the rock. These niches, though much weathered, are still of great service to the modern explorer, who does well to make the ascent with no load at all on his back. Not all of the cliff dwellings, however, are so extremely difficult to reach, while a few are so elevated and nearly inaccessible as to require the use of long ropes, and some- times ladders made of the tallest pine trees, to reach them. These ancient folk built strong houses of stone masonry and, less commonly, of adobe or of lattice work, plastered with clay. The apartments seem to have been laid out according to care- fully-made plans, with a view to economy of space and easy com- munication from one room to another. Looked at from a dis- tance, the typical cliff house gives the appearance of an impreg- nable fortress, with its walls of solid masonry presenting a firm and imposing front. The front walls are built near the rim of the cave platform, which is curved to the general form of the amphitheatre, the noble arch which shelters the cliff-palace often rising to an overhanging height of several hundred feet. These are, of course, natural recesses, but they appear as if some titanic hand had hewn them out. The walls of masonry are built of hewn stone, and we marvel that a people with only tools made of wood and stone could accomplish such work. The rooms of a typical dwelling may be divided into four classes according to their uses: the towers, the store rooms, the living rooms, and the kivas, or ceremonial chambers. The houses are rarely more than three stories high and usually but one. The store rooms and kivas are always on the ground floor. There is no regular entrance to the rooms ; it may be through a side wall, through a roof, or even through the ceilings of rooms, leading from one story to another by means of ladders. The entrance to the kivas is always through the roof by means of a ladder. The Cliff Dwellers "lived" in the living room. These rooms are the most numerous in any cliff dwelling. In a dwelling of one hundred fifty rooms, probably one hundred would be living rooms. If we suppose that a family of an average of six members occu- pied each of these rooms, we should have a total population of six hundred in one large cliff dwelling, which would constitute a fair sized village community. In such, a dwelling would be found one or more kivas. The kiva seems to have been the room where the religious rites and ceremonies were performed. The Hopi Indians now living in Arizona use similar kivas for those purposes. It was their church and council chamber. The whole life of the family seems to have centered about the kiva. It was the sacred place which seemed to unite the clan and solidify the community life. If 164 IMPROVEMENT ERA analogous to the Hopi kiva, it was here that the sacred rites of birth were performed. The kiva is circular, and usually sunk a few feet below the level of the surface. The floor is smooth and the walls are well plastered and often covered with inscriptions. The striking fea- tures of the kiva are the sipapu, the fire-pot, the fire-screen and the sacred flue, resembling a smoke-stack, through which, ac- cording to the Hopi belief, the new-born spirit emerges into the outer world. The sipapu is a small hole, six or eight inches deep, in the middle of the floor. Excepting the uncertain Hopi an- alogy, the whole purpose and significance of the kiva of the Cliff Photo by Rynearson, Utah Arch. Expd. A KIVA OF THE CLIFF DWELLERS, SHOWING ENTRANCE BY MEANS OF LADDER Dwellers is shrouded in mystery, but everything seems to indi- cate a deeply sacred significance, as if it were a "Holy of Holies." The living rooms may be distinguished from the store rooms, first of all, by their smoky walls; for chimneys were unknown, and the only escape for smoke was through doors and windows, or holes in the roof. The walls are usually smoothly plastered. Some walls show several successive plasterings, one over the other, indicated by the alternate layers of soot and plaster in cross section. The living rooms are also provided with smooth cement floors, strewn with rushes and corn husks, upon which the ancient farmer slept and lounged, with his family huddled about him. Other features of the living rooms are the ever-present fire- DISCOVERIES ON THE COLORADO 165 pots and mealing bins, or matatas. The fire-pot is a rock-lined hole six or eight inches deep, sunken in the floor ; sometimes, in the middle of the flooi , often in a corner, but most frequently near the front side wall. These fire-pots were evidently used for warming the room in winter, since the cooking seems to have been done in the courtyards. The matatas and mano stones al- ways found in living rooms show that each family had its own grist mill. The grinding of the meal was accomplished by crush- ing the corn and other seeds between the mano and the slanting rock bottom of the matata (mealing bin). This was done by grasping the mano stone in the hands and rubbing it on the grain in the matata. The meal was made into small rolls and baked, probably on heated rocks. The Utah expedition found several good samples of these ancient bread rolls. Its centuries of age and the uncer- Photo by Rynearson, Utah Arch. Expd. STORAGE ROOMS IN WHICH CLIFF DWELLERS STORED FOOD SUPPLIES tainty of its culinary purity prevented this prehistoric "Johnnie- cake" from appealing strongly to the appetites of the Utah ex- plorers. Often a large olla (storage jar) is found buried beneath the floor of the living room. One of these, found by Professor Cummings, in the Bat Woman cliff dwelling, contained more than a bushel of shelled corn mixed with beans and squash seed, with a few large ears of corn on the cob, in the top of the vessel. All was very well preserved. The store rooms seem to have been built with a view to protection of the contents from rats, mice, and any kind of vermin. The floors are often of the solid cliff rock; the walls of tight 166 IMPROVEMENT ERA m > - / i jl s BBsbr ^^ i IV-flK S ■, M ^ V > H^^^-1 ' "^^^^3H PS IB^yjHH HI. . ■ - « Photo by Harper, Utah Arch. Expd. HIEROGLYPHICS OF THE CLIFF DWELLERS masonry, and the openings fitted closely with doors made of slabs of stone. In these rooms the ancient American stored his winter supply of foods. The towers were built round and to a considerable height. They seem to be watch towers from the top of which prehistoric minute-men may have kept watch, guarding the community against sudden attack. In several cliff dwellings, the Utah expedition found rooms that seemed to have been artists' studios. Paint brushes, painting combs, pigments, bowls containing vari-colored paints — all be- spoke the "den" of the primitive artist. In rare cases, rooms have been devoted to burials of persons of unusual rank. In such cases the whole room is usually devoted to a single burial. The body is carefully embalmed and wrapped with numerous layers of robing, matting and wicker-work. Such a potentate frequently has a wealth of personal belongings buried with him. A room, containing a mummied dignitary, found last summer by the Utah expedition, was almost completely filled with the dead man's property, consisting of ornaments of rare stones, mats or shields, basket-ware, pottery ; numerous manu- facturing and agricultural tools and implements ; stone images of animals ; quantities of corn, beans, squash seeds, grass seeds ; materials for kindling fire, and a great variety of miscellaneous articles. DISCOVERIES ON THE COLORADO 167 Ordinarily the dead were buried in refuse heaps, near the dwellings, or in sand mounds, in the canyons below. The custom of burying the personal property of the deceased with him seems to have been general. The bodies thus far found indicate that the Cliff Dwellers were of small stature, with black hair. The skulls are well shaped with the occipital bones somewhat flattened, probably arti- ficially. The lower jawbones are heavy, and both jaws fitted with good, strong teeth. The houses also indicate a race under- sized. The rooms are small, with roof timbers rarely more than six feet above the floor. Almost invariably the doorways are too small to readily admit a large body. That these vanished people occupied a high place in the scale of civilization of their time is everywhere evidenced. Their architecture, their textile fabrics, their manufactured wares — all the products of their handicraft, teach us lessons of industry and perseverance. Their political, social and religious life far tran- scends that of any of the modern native races. But there is still much that is unknown concerning the rise and fall of the Cliff Dwellers. (The next article of this series will deal with the arts and indus- tries of the Cliff Dwellers.) - - • l-;mi: 4 '- >& m J:::;: ^ ;^ jL tci ■ ^ -Irak K •"■*■>■ f rT ■ If M * ; f ' ' 1 ' '■ T. Henry Moray, writing from Gefle, Sweden, June 6: "We have six branches here in the Sundsvall Conference, the land where we have twenty-four hours of daylight, at this time of year. In most of the branches we have Sunday School, M. I. A. and Relief Society organi- zations. The elders and Saints enjoy the work very much. Our pros- pects are bright for new members of the Church. Elders left to right, back row: J. A. Schelin, T. H. Moray, P. G. Fernelius, W. E. Malm- strom, A. C. Sanders, Gustave Anderson, C. W. Johnson; sitting: J. H. Holmquist, Conference President, Mathias Enckson, E. W. Olson, Mission President A. Theo. Johnson, C. A. Monson."