Expeditions organized or participated in by the Smithsonian . wall of Sun Temple, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado,looking east from annex. Half excavated. Photograph by Fewkes. 92 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 Fewkes Canyon, Mesa A erde National Park, under a perfectly archednatural roof, below the mysLerious ruin above mentioned. Oak-treeHouse is not referred to in Nordenskiolds classic on the ClififDwellers of the Mesa Aerde. and has not been figured nor describedby other archeologists, although it presents several very exceptionalarchitectural features. This
Expeditions organized or participated in by the Smithsonian . wall of Sun Temple, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado,looking east from annex. Half excavated. Photograph by Fewkes. 92 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 Fewkes Canyon, Mesa A erde National Park, under a perfectly archednatural roof, below the mysLerious ruin above mentioned. Oak-treeHouse is not referred to in Nordenskiolds classic on the ClififDwellers of the Mesa Aerde. and has not been figured nor describedby other archeologists, although it presents several very exceptionalarchitectural features. This oversight may be due in part to thefact that it was practically inaccessible previous to last summer(1915). Notwithstanding its neglect by archeologists this ruin isof no mean size, having had at least six circular subterranean cere-monial chambers, and 25 rooms, some of which were habitations,indicating the existence of a population of at least six clans. Itsground plan shows that it occupied the whole floor of a large cave ;the houses were in places four stories Fig. 115.—Birdseye view of Sun Temple, Mesa \erde National Park, Colorado, looking- northeast. At the close of the work on the Sun Temple, above mentioned,the rooms of Oak-tree House were cleaned out, and the walls repairedand put in condition for permanent preservation. Ladders wereplaced in position to afford descent from the rim of the mesa to apathway made on the talus on which it stands. This descent is asomewhat difficult task, but once accomplished it offers beautifulviews of Cliff Palace and other ruins down Soda Canyon, as far asMancos River. Perhaps the most unusual ceremonial room of Oak-tree House () is a kiva shaped like the letter D, in which there is a rectangularchamber between the firehole and the south wall. This chamber com-municates with the outside by means of a vertical flue and opensinto the main room by two passageways in a wall, corresponding tothe deflector of other kivas. An
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectscienti, bookyear1912
