Let’s take the year 1268. It is as good as any. It was a normal, happy year for the people of Cliff Palace.
Let the centuries roll back—it is 1268 A.D.
As we walk into Cliff Palace we find it at the very peak of its development. For generations it has been growing until now it fills the great sheltering cave. There are over two hundred one-room houses in the city; they fill the cave from end to end and rise in terraces to a height of three and even four stories. At the south end and again at the north end the terraced structures rise to touch the cave roof.
Scattered about the city are twenty-three kivas, the underground ceremonial chambers. Their flat roofs serve as courts where many of the activities take place. The roofs of the terraced houses are also the scene of much activity and throughout the city many ladders lean against the walls, leading from one level to the next.
To us Cliff Palace seems like a great two-hundred-room apartment house. To the occupants it is a city of two hundred houses, occupied by scores of families. Over four hundred people live in the city; they swarm about the courts and over the roofs like so many busy brown ants.
As we enter the city we notice immediately the appearance of the people. They are typical Indians. They seem rather short, the men averaging about five feet four inches in height and the women about five feet. They are heavy-set and as we watch them we get the impression that as a rule they are a short, stocky people. The skin color varies from light to dark brown; some of them are so dark they seem almost black. The eyes are also brown and the hair varies from dark brown to a deep lustrous black.
The people have broad heads and the back of each head is flattened, a deformity caused in infancy by a hard cradle board. The faces are broad and the cheek bones are prominent. Occasionally we notice “slanting” Mongoloid eyes. The people seem to have certain Mongoloid tendencies although they are not a pure Mongoloid type.
This town where we are going to spend the year is simply a large terraced apartment house built in a great cave. In the two hundred or more rooms live at least four hundred Indians, short, stocky, brown-skinned people whom we will know well before the year is over.
The centuries have rolled back to the year 1268 A.D., and we take our seats on a roof.
It is spring.