Spruce Tree House

Spruce Tree House, the third largest cliff dwelling among several hundred within the park boundary (Cliff Palace and Long House are larger), was constructed between A.D. 1200 and 1276 by the ancestors of the Puebloan peoples of the southwest. The dwelling contains about 140 rooms and 9 kivas (kee-vahs), or ceremonial chambers, built into a natural cave measuring 216 feet (66 meters) at greatest width and 89 feet (27 meters) at its greatest depth. It is thought to have been home for about 75 people.

Spruce Tree House was opened for visitation following excavation by Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Fewkes removed the debris of fallen walls and roofs and stabilized the walls approximately as you see them now. Due to the protection of the overhanging cliff, Spruce Tree House had deteriorated very little through the years

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