Spruce Tree House Trail Guide: Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

by Mesa Verde Museum Association; United States. National Park Service

GENERAL INFORMATION

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 an Indian village and, like towns and villages today, it was not all built at one time; rather, it grew section by section over a period of years. Sometime around A.D. 1200 a group of Indians—perhaps related families—moved into the cave and built the first units. Each unit consisted of living and storage rooms clustered about an open court which contained a kiva. The courtyard and kiva probably served as a center for the social and religious activities of the group. New units were added to the structure as other families moved into the village. When people needed more space, they added new rooms alongside, in front, in back, or on top of the existing rooms. Shortly before A.D. 1300 when the Indians finally abandoned Spruce Tree House, the village contained 114 rooms.

The ground plan on [Page 6] shows the arrangement of the rooms. Most of these were in double rows within the cave; in some places there were three rows. The interior rooms, dark and poorly ventilated, were probably used for storage. The central portion of the structure was built three stories high and reached the cave ceiling; most of the buildings, however, were only two stories in height.

To us these small rooms seem cramped, cold, and dark—quite unsuitable as living spaces. But these people probably spent little time inside the rooms, using them mainly for protection against the cold, for sleeping, and for storage. Most of the time they were probably out in the courtyards or on the flat rooftops working or carrying on other daily activities.

It is unlikely that all 114 rooms in Spruce Tree House were in use at the same time. New rooms were built as older ones fell into decay; smaller rooms were probably vacated for larger ones as the number of villagers increased. A conservative guess sets 200 to 250 as the largest number of people who lived in Spruce Tree House at any one time.

The Indians of the Mesa Verde, like their neighbors in the surrounding areas, were dry-farmers—depending upon rainfall to water their crops. In the fields on the mesa tops they grew corn, beans and several varieties of squash. The rainfall probably averaged about 18 inches a year, just as it does now, which is more than sufficient for dry-farming. The Indians supplemented their diet with wild roots, nuts and berries as well as with meat from large and small game animals.

The period of the cliff dwellings is known as the Classic Period and marks the climax of Pueblo culture in this region. The Mesa Verde people made beautiful pottery and decorated it elaborately with geometric and animal figures in black on a white or light-gray background. They also made cotton cloth which they often decorated with colored designs. Their masonry was of exceptional quality with the building blocks beautifully shaped and carefully laid in clay mortar.

The Classic Period came to an end shortly before A.D. 1300 when the Indians abandoned their homes in the Mesa Verde and moved away. We can only guess the reasons for such a move. One suggestion is that the great drouth, which lasted from A.D. 1276 to A.D. 1299, caused them to leave. Another suggestion is that this was a period of strife either between the villages themselves or between these village people and nomadic groups moving into the area. Whatever the reasons, the cliff dwellings of the Mesa Verde were empty by A.D. 1300.

It was a rancher from Mancos, named Richard Wetherill, who first discovered Spruce Tree House—on December 18, 1888. He and his brother-in-law, Charley Mason, also discovered Cliff Palace that same day. The men had been looking for lost cattle when they first saw the cliff ruins.

Spruce Tree ruin before excavation.

And the ruin after excavation and stabilization.

In 1906 Mesa Verde was set aside as a National Park by Act of Congress to protect and preserve these dwellings of the prehistoric Indians. In 1908 Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution excavated Spruce Tree House. He removed the debris of fallen walls and collapsed roofs and stabilized the dwellings more or less as you see them now. It has been necessary, of course, to further stabilize the walls from time to time, but aside from minor repairs and the roofing of the three kivas, the dwelling is original work done by the Indians some 700 to 800 years ago.

The dating of Spruce Tree House and other ruins in the Mesa Verde has been done by the study of tree-rings from original roofing timbers. If you are interested in how archæologists determine the dates, see the exhibit on tree-ring dating in the museum.

This trail guide booklet is not a government publication and is not included in your fee to enter Mesa Verde National Park. It is published and sold by the Mesa Verde Museum Association, a non-profit organization, whose aims are to help in the understanding and interpretation of the park story. Your comments and suggestions concerning this booklet will be appreciated.