  The term “living room,” as we use it today, is really not a good term for the rooms in the cliff dwellings. Actually these were, for the most part, sleeping and storage rooms. Probably few of the activities of daily life took place in them. The real “living space” was the great open areas in the villages, the kiva courts and the terraced housetops. The cave itself served as a roof over the entire village and the people probably spent most of their active life outside the rooms. Most of the rooms were small and dark. In the pictures below the small size of the doors is clearly evident and the few windows were little more than peepholes. Very few of the rooms had fires inside so the light was poor. Weaving, sewing, pottery making, and such activities could not have been carried on inside the rooms. For the most part the rooms should be considered as sleeping and storage rooms. If an adult could stretch out at full length on the floor the room was large enough for sleeping purposes. If it were too small for normal sleeping it served as storage space for food supplies and family possessions. In the winter there may have been more crowding into the rooms. However, it must be remembered that fires were seldom built in the houses so there was little warmth unless a person actually bundled up in skins and blankets and went to bed. The fires were built in the courts and on the open roofs and in cold weather the people probably huddled about them. This upper section of Double House is typical of the small, high caves that are so common in the Mesa Verde. The rooms were very small and the roof so low that a person could not stand upright. Only a narrow ledge was left between the houses and the sheer cliff. The kivas were at the foot of the cliff and most of the activities may have been carried on there. These structures at the south end of Cliff Palace were from one to four stories in height. The rooms were built one on top of another so more families could enjoy the security of the cave. In front of the houses was a row of kivas. The kiva roofs and the house roofs provided space for the activities of daily life. In constructing their houses the Indians did not try to change the cave to fit their needs. Notice how the house walls were made to fit the irregularities of the cave. Working with tools of stone they seldom tried to cut into the cave walls. The north end of Balcony House is an outstanding example of ancient architecture. The rooms are much larger than usual and the masonry is of the highest quality. The balcony is the finest in the Mesa Verde. In front of the houses was a large court that was shared by the various families. The low parapet wall at the right protected the people, especially the children, from the high cliff in front of the cave. |
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