Travels of The Mercury: Travels to Death Valley, February 2014

Mindeleff Cavates

A grand entrance.

We visit friends Kim and Lisa who have been wintering in Camp Verde, AZ. They’ve planned a special hike for us to the Mindeleff Cavates. These cavates were surveyed in 1891 by archeologist Cosmos Mindeleff and are one of the largest cluster of hand dug caves in the Southwest along with those in Frijoles Canyon at Bandelier, New Mexico. They were dug into a soft layer of calcareous sandstone in a cliff face below the edge of a mesa and occupied during the 1300 and 1400’s. The term cavate was coined by John Wesley Powell to distinguish this type of dwelling from a cliff dwelling.

Living life like a swallow.

The Verde Valley would be austere and sunbaked but for the deep ribbon of the Verde River that wends through it fed by Clear Creek and other streams that flow out of the Mogollon Rim. In this valley as others in the southwest where rivers flow, civilization flourished. The people here built pueblos but also created these unique homes.

Many doorways

We bump along a dirt road to the mesa edge overlooking the Verde River, its cottonwoods and willows still in winter gray, the river deep and cold, the land asleep. A steep, rubble path takes us to the second tier of the mesa and we drop down a narrow cut to the slope below the cliffs. Here are the cavates cut into two tiers of cliffs like gaping black mouths, honey combs or swallow nests, haunting and alluring. We work our way along the cliff base to investigate.

Small doorways . . .

On a prominent point of the mesa are large cavates with high, carved doors and a commanding view of the valley. These may have been ceremonial or a focal point for communal life. The point is so narrow that the end cavate has an opening on both sides. It’s a strategic place as one can look up and down the valley from one side and at the cavates in the side canyon from the other. The cavates in the side canyon have a limited view of the river and are more protected.

and large doorways.

Lisa & Kim inside a cavate.

We enter the cavates cautiously but find no wintering bats or other critters like coyote though there are signs they occasionally occupy these places so we don’t go poking around into the darker depths. There are no old ghosts or artifacts as everything was looted long ago. A few old corncobs can be found and pot shards on the slopes below. We find some small stone tools but leave everything in its place. The empty houses contain only scattered rocks, dust and smoke blackened ceilings.

Vault ceilings and spacious great room.

The cavates have a general floor plan, a large circular central room with a dome ceiling and one or two small rooms off the main room with low ceilings and small openings that we’d have to crawl through to enter so we don’t. We imagine these rooms were used for sleeping or storage. Many have niches and hearths or shallow square depressions cut into the floor. Some of the best cavates have alcoves with floors a foot or so higher than the main floor. There are a few with interconnecting doors which may have been multiple family homes. Lisa and I evaluate the attributes of each cavate as if we are real estate hunting and wonder about the people’s lives. We think of how welcoming the cavates must have been with the glow of firelight coming from the doorways.

Room for a growing family.

The cavates are slowly crumbling as all things will. The mesa edge is wearing away with wind and weather and tumbling down in front of the doors. Some of the ceilings have collapsed. It’s a lonely place now but once something vibrant was happening here. We’re glad to have the opportunity to come, to appreciate and connect with past a civilization.