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Show oo Old Fortress of Cliff Dwellers Excavated A huge stone building, believed to 'be an uncompleted fortress, has been uncovered in tho Mesa Verde National Na-tional park. It is across the canyon from tho ancient home of tho cliff dwellers, generally referred to as the Cliff Palace. The structure is of cut and polished stone. The building has the form of a capital D, Tho straight elevation is 123 feet long and the curved part 245 feet in length. The outer walls arc double and between Urem are a series of narrow rooms. As the outer walls are unbroken, tho entrance to this building must have been either subterranean or by means of ladders through the top. i Dr. Jesse Fewkes, of the Smithsonian Smithson-ian institution, who conducted tho excavation ex-cavation for tho dopartment of the interior, believes the ruin was an uncompleted un-completed fortress abandoned when the cliff dwellers disappeared from the Rocky Mountain region. Ho does not think the cliff dwellers were exterminated, ex-terminated, however, but believes that, about the time they abandoned their unfinished fortress, they had become be-come strong enough to leave their mountain refuges and mingle with tho tribes of the lowlands. After that, perhaps, they became amalgamated with the various Indian races and lost their separate identity. At Moki Springs, a short distance from these ruins there are a number of other tree-grown mounds very similar sim-ilar in appearance to the one just excavated. It Is possible there is a buried city beneath these moundB. Dr. Fewkes hopes next spring to find whether there is a burled and prehistoric prehis-toric city concealed beneath. |
