Cliff dwelling - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Cliff Dweller) Human dwelling in a cliff This article is about human dwelling in cliffs. For birds dwelling in cliffs, see Bird cliff.

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 natural recesses or openings.

Rock-cut architecture generally refers to rather grander temples, but also tombs, cut into rock, although for example the Ajanta Caves in India, of the 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE, probably housed several hundred Buddhist monks and are cut into a cliff, as are the Mogao Caves in China.

Famous cliff dwellings are found around the world. In China, the Guyaju Caves located near Dongmenying, Yanqing District, Beijing are a cave complex of many rock hewn dwellings that form a community. In the United States and Mexico, among the canyons of the southwest, in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Chihuahua, some cliff dwellings are still used by Native Americans. There has been considerable discussion as to their antiquity, but modern research finds no definite justification for assigning them to an earlier culture distinct from the ancestors of the modern Pueblo people. The area in which they occur coincides with that in which other traces of the Pueblo tribes have been found. The niches that were used are often of considerable size, occurring in cliffs up to a thousand feet in height, and approached by rock steps or log ladders.

References

^ Chisholm 1911.
"Guyaju caves covered in snow- China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. China: China Internet Information Center. Retrieved 2019-09-02.

Noble, David Grant. "Ancient Ruins of the Southwest. Northland Publishing, Flagstaff, Arizona 1995. ISBN 0-87358-530-5
Oppelt, Norman T. "Guide to Prehistoric Ruins of the Southwest". Pruett Publishing, Boulder, Colorado, 1989. ISBN 0-87108-783-9.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cliff-dwellings". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 507.

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Cliff dwellings

Ancestral Puebloan

United States	Arizona Colorado Nevada New Mexico Texas Utah
Mexico	Chihuahua Sonora

Others

Afro-Eurasia	Bandiagara Escarpment Ellora Caves Guyaju Caves Petra
Americas	Cuarenta Casas Huápoca

Prehistoric technology

Tools

Farming

Food processing

Hunting

Arrow Boomerang throwing stick Bow and arrow history Nets Spear spear-thrower baton harpoon Schöningen woomera
Projectile points	Arrowhead Transverse Bare Island Cascade Clovis Cresswell Cumberland Eden Folsom Lamoka Manis Mastodon Plano
Systems	Game drive system Buffalo jump

Toolmaking

Other tools

Architecture

Ceremonial	Kiva Pyramid Standing stones megalith row Stonehenge
Dwellings	Neolithic architecture long house British megalith architecture Nordic megalith architecture Burdei Cave Cliff dwelling Dugout Hut Quiggly hole Jacal Longhouse Mudbrick Mehrgarh Pit-house Pueblitos Pueblo Rock shelter Blombos Cave Abri de la Madeleine Sibudu Cave Roundhouse Stilt house Alp pile dwellings Stone roof Wattle and daub
Water management	Check dam Cistern Flush toilet Reservoir Well
Other architecture	Archaeological features Broch Burnt mound fulacht fiadh Causewayed enclosure Tor enclosure Circular enclosure Goseck Cursus Henge Thornborough Megalithic architectural elements Midden Oldest extant buildings Timber circle Timber trackway Sweet Track

Arts and culture

Material goods	Baskets Beadwork Beds Chalcolithic Clothing/textiles timeline Cosmetics Glue Hides shoes Ötzi Jewelry amber use Mirrors Pottery Cardium Cord-marked Grooved ware Jōmon Linear Unstan ware Sewing needle Weaving Wine winery wine press
Prehistoric art	Art of the Upper Paleolithic Art of the Middle Paleolithic Blombos Cave List of Stone Age art Bird stone Cairn Carved stone balls Cave paintings Cup and ring mark Geoglyph Hill figure Golden hats Guardian stones Gwion Gwion rock paintings painting pigment Megalithic art Petroform Petroglyph Petrosomatoglyph Pictogram Rock art Rock cupule Stone carving Sculpture Statue menhir Stone circle list British Isles and Brittany Venus figurine
Burial	Burial mounds Bowl barrow Round barrow Mound Builders culture U.S. sites Chamber tomb Cotswold-Severn Cist Dartmoor kistvaens Clava cairn Court cairn Cremation Dolmen Great dolmen Funeral pyre Gallery grave transepted wedge-shaped Grave goods Jar burial Long barrow unchambered Grønsalen Megalithic tomb Mummy Passage grave Rectangular dolmen Ring cairn Simple dolmen Stone box grave Tor cairn Unchambered long cairn
Other cultural	Archaeoastronomy sites lunar calendar Behavioral modernity Evolutionary musicology music archaeology Evolutionary origin of religion Paleolithic religion Prehistoric religion Spiritual drug use Origin of language Prehistoric counting Prehistoric medicine trepanning Prehistoric music Alligator drum flutes Divje Babe flute gudi Prehistoric warfare Symbols symbolism

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