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In archaeology, cliff dwellings are dwellings formed by using niches or caves in high cliffs, and sometimes with excavation or additions in the way of masonry. Two special types of cliff dwelling are distinguished by archaeologists: the cliff-house , which is actually built on levels in the cliff, and the cavate , which is dug out, by using ...
Cliff dwellings – Constructed in the sides of the mesas and mountains of the Southwest, cliff dwellings comprised a large number of the defensive structures of the Pueblo people. Jacal is a traditional adobe house built by the ancestral Pueblo peoples. Slim close-set poles were tied together and filled out with mud, clay and grasses, or adobe ...
There were buildings for housing, defense, and storage. These were built mostly of blocks of hard sandstone, held together and plastered with adobe mortar. Constructions had many similarities, but unique forms due to the unique rock topography. The best-known site is at Mesa Verde, with a large number of well-preserved cliff dwellings.
Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The structure built by the Ancestral Puebloans is located in Mesa Verde National Park in their former homeland region. The cliff dwelling and park are in Montezuma County , in the southwestern corner of Colorado , in the Southwestern United States .
Cliff dwellings were built in shallow caves and under rock overhangs along canyon walls. In Mesa Verde, the structures within the alcoves were mostly made of sandstone blocks and adobe mortar . At Bandelier, the dwellings were carved directly into the soft ashy rock formations that make up the cliff faces of the finger mesas (the Bandelier Tuff ).
Contrary to popular belief, the dwellings were not erected over water, but on nearby marshy land. They were set on piles to protect against occasional flooding. Because the lakes have grown in size over time, many of the original piles are now under water, giving modern observers the false impression that they have always been this way. [3]
Navajo National Monument is a national monument located within the northwest portion of the Navajo Nation territory in northern Arizona, which was established to preserve three well-preserved cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people: Keet Seel (Broken Pottery) (Kitsʼiil), Betatakin (Ledge House) (Bitátʼahkin), and Inscription House (Tsʼah Biiʼ Kin).
The cliff dwellings were built to take advantage of solar energy. The angle of the sun in winter warmed the masonry of the cliff dwellings, warm breezes blew from the valley, and the air was 10 to 20 °F (5-10 °C) warmer in the canyon alcoves than on the top of the mesa.