MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK, COLORADO 10¢ * * * * * * * * This guide booklet has been prepared to help you enjoy one of the larger cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. The numbered stations along the front of the dwelling are points of interest which are explained by the numbered paragraphs and illustrations in this booklet. You are welcome to use this booklet. Please place it in the box at the other end of the ruin as you leave. If you wish to purchase the booklet, please drop 10 cents in

Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park. It is built in a natural cave 216 feet in length, 89 feet in greatest depth, and 60 feet in greatest height. The complete dwelling contained about 114 rooms. Most of these were living rooms, but there were many storerooms and 8 ceremonial rooms. It is thought that between 200 and 250 people may have lived in this cliff house at one time. It was occupied from about A.D. 1200 to, or shortly before, A.D. 1300. The Fi

Spruce Tree House is typical of the larger cliff dwellings found in the Mesa Verde. It consists of several groups or blocks of rooms around open courts. Within each court is an underground ceremonial room called a kiva (Key-vah). Originally, there were flat roofs on these kivas. These roofs formed the courtyard floor and provided work space for daily activities. The rooms around the court were used primarily for sleeping and storage and for shelter against the cold of winter. The rooms are gener

In the corner of the court to your left are corn grinding bins. Women knelt with their heels against the wall and ground corn, dried nuts, berries and roots on the large flat stone, the metate, with the small hand stone, the mano. The circular room directly ahead of you is one of two found in this dwelling. Circular rooms were not common but they have been found in several ruins. The Second Court. Main street section. Note the passageway or “street” which provided access to rooms at the back of

Behind the rooms in this part of the dwelling is a large enclosed area which was used as a trash room. The villagers also kept some of their domesticated turkeys penned up in it. The main village trash dump was the talus slope on which you are now standing. The black stain on the cave roof is smoke. Notice the wall decorations on the second floor room to the left. It was made by plastering colored clay on the walls. Many rooms were once decorated inside like this one. The Third Court Ground plan

Spruce Tree House 700 years ago was a thriving village. If you could have visited it you would have seen women busily cooking over firepits in the courtyards, others grinding corn, weaving baskets or making pottery. Men who were not tending their mesa-top fields might have been building a new room, making or mending their tools or performing an age-old ceremony in one of the kivas. You would have seen children playing and old people resting against the low wall across the front of the dwelling a

The cliff dwelling was named Spruce Tree House by the ranchers who first discovered it in 1888. A large tree which they misidentified as a spruce tree was found growing against the cliff right in front of the dwelling. It is said that the men first entered the ruin by climbing down this tree. This is a good place to take a picture. IF YOU HAVE NOT PURCHASED THIS BOOKLET PLEASE LEAVE IT IN THE BOX BY THE TRAIL AS YOU LEAVE. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP IT, PLEASE DROP 10 CENTS IN THE COIN BOX. Thank

Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park. It is located in Spruce Tree Canyon, a branch of the much larger Navajo Canyon. The cave, which is really a very large overhang, was formed by flaking or spalling of the cliff above a small seep-spring, and by freezing and thawing during the winter. There is no evidence that the Indians tried to shape or enlarge the caves; to do so would have been a tremendous task with their primitive tools. Spruce Tree House was

If you are interested in the work of the National Park Service, and in the cause of conservation in general, you can give active expression of this interest, and lend support by alining yourself with one of the numerous conservation organizations which act as spokesman for those who wish our scenic and historic heritage to be kept unimpaired “for the enjoyment of future generations.” Names and addresses of conservation organizations may be obtained at the Information Desk....

MISSION 66 is a 10 year development program, now in progress, to enable the National Park Service to help you to enjoy and to understand the parks and monuments, and at the same time, to preserve their scenic and scientific values for your children and for future generations....

The books and cards described below are published by the Mesa Verde Museum Association, a non-profit organization. All proceeds are used to further research and interpretation in the Mesa Verde. You can purchase these items at the sales or information desks in the Museum lobby or order them from the association, Box 38, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. On mail orders, please include 10 cents postage for each publication. INDIANS OF THE MESA VERDE , by Don Watson This 188 page book with 17 pag

The Mesa Verde Museum Association offers a number of publications for sale which deal with the archeology, ethnology and natural history of the Four Corners region and the Southwest, as well as selected children’s books. A descriptive list of publications may be obtained at the museum desk or by writing the association. This booklet is published by the MESA VERDE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION Published in cooperation with The National Park Service...