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Spruce Tree House
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Using nature to advantage, Ancestral Puebloans built their dwellings beneath the overhanging cliffs. Their basic construction material was sandstone that they shaped into rectangular blocks about the size of a loaf of bread. The mortar between the blocks was a mix of mud and water. Rooms averaged about six feet by eight feet, space enough for two or three persons. Isolated rooms in the rear and on the upper levels were generally
used for storing crops. Undergound kivas, ceremonial chambers, were built in front of the rooms. The kiva roofs created open courtyards where many daily routines took place. Kiva is a Hopi word for ceremonial room.
Source: National Park Service
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