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May 10, 2001
By Janelle Holden EDITOR’S NOTE: May is Archaeology and Historic Preservation Month in Colorado. The Journal is publishing weekly stories about the area’s past. Tourists rarely forget the long ladders and narrow tunnel in Balcony House, one of Mesa Verde National Park’s most famous and remote ancient cliff dwellings. And just like all of Balcony House’s former explorers, more modern tourists have left their mark —marks which are now being studied to decipher the site’s history. "People want to see Cliff Palace. They remember Balcony House," explained Kathy Fiero, a Mesa Verde archaeologist who has written a soon-to-be-published book on the site. But tracking down the history of who first entered Balcony House and when has landed squarely on the shoulders of Fred Blackburn, a Cortez researcher who is currently interpreting the site’s graffiti. Blackburn is working under the auspices of Save America’s Treasures, a $3 million program announced by Hillary Clinton at the park in May 1999. Blackburn has found that Balcony House’s early explorers often recorded their visits by inscribing their names within the site. "You’re dealing with a time period where there essentially were no local newspapers, and you’re dealing with many reasons for recording it — either camps, or discoveries, or claim-staking. "But it also was an incredible shock to these guys when they walked in to see this stuff. They felt a little bit more insignificant, and you can tell by the size of their inscriptions," explained Blackburn. Blackburn’s latest graffiti discovery has proven what the National Park Service always suspected, but never knew for sure. A prospector named S.E. Osborn explored the area for coal with William H. Hayes, a Mancos prospector and judge, and George W. Jones, a freighter from Rockwood. Last week, Blackburn found two sets of both Hayes’ and Osborn’s names in the site that are scratched out, but still discernible. The Park Service knew Osborn was in the area because he wrote about his ventures into Mesa Verde in the Denver Republican on Dec. 20, 1886. His name and the date March 20, 1884, were also found in a dwelling in lower Soda Canyon. But Osborn combined features from both Cliff Palace and Balcony House in his article, and the Park Service was never sure if he had entered Balcony House — until now. Osborn’s article did, however, refute journalist Virginia McClurg’s claim that she was the first to step foot in the site. "The gal was not a credible source," Blackburn explained. "During my stay in the canon (sic) I gathered dozens, yes, hundreds, of relics that would have made the heart of an antiquarian glad, but did not carry one away with me when I left," wrote Osborn. But Blackburn doubts Osborn left the relics alone. According to Al Wetherill’s journals, the site had already been looted when he entered it in 1885, one year after Osborn’s foray into the park. Osborn was also accused of destroying or stealing an ancient loom with an intact blanket and sacred prayer sticks in the late 1920s and 1930s, but from McClurg’s journals Blackburn concludes it was actually McClurg who stole or cached away the objects. "We have no idea where those artifacts are. All we can do is record what these people saw when they went in there, and try to figure out some use for the different rooms by that association," Blackburn explained. This discovery backs up Fiero’s theory that the site may have been used to build and house sacred objects. Before the Park Service modified the site to make it easier for tourists to pass through, there were three tunnels that limited access from the ancient entrance through its 40 rooms. "Something was going on here," said Fiero. "These rooms have features that you don’t find on any other site," she explained. "Usually if a site is divided in half you get everything on one half that you find on the other, but that’s not what you find here. There’s no second kiva." At the end of the three controlled points of access is the first thing that tourists see — a lone sunny plaza area that could have only been accessed in ancient times by a series of hand and toe holds. Restoring the ancient feel to the site is one of Fiero’s goals. "It’s hard for the Park Service to get the interpretation of limited access across because they have to shuffle people through the site," she said. "My bet is that about 80 percent of the graffiti that we look at has been destroyed," said Blackburn, who found 150 names on a beam within the site — most of which were partially scraped off. A total of four sites are under Blackburn’s study: Spruce Tree, Cliff Palace, Balcony House, and Hemenway. So far, Blackburn found 1,200 markings in Spruce Tree House, more than 800 in Cliff Palace, and approaching 300 in Balcony House. Blackburn’s work will also be used to update the interpretation of the site and eliminate even more graffiti. "I consider graffiti normal human behavior. You can prevent it but you can’t get rid of it," said Blackburn. It’s such human behavior that those who wanted to claim the first sighting of Balcony House removed others’ names and replaced them with their own, as Jesse Nussbaum did in the early 1900s. Nussbaum was a photographer who explored the area with Cortez teacher Kitty Dillon, and eventually excavated the site in 1910. "Graffiti from any period is still graffiti. It tells you about the culture at that moment of time," Blackburn said. "The culture that was in here originally certainly had a more aesthetic reason for putting on their rock art. So what you’re really getting is a feel for how healthy your culture is." |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
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