A restored talus house.

Principal Ruins of the National Monument

TALUS HOUSE. On the talus directly above Tyuonyi to the north, at the foot of the prominent cliff, there once stood a cluster of houses. The group here had as its nucleus 12 or 15 cave rooms which were supplemented by at least as many masonry rooms at the front. Excavation of these rooms was completed in 1909 and the name Sun House was given to the building, because of a prominent Sun-symbol petroglyph carved on the cliff above. A part of this house group has been restored on the old foundations, with its new ceiling beams placed in the ancient holes in the cliff. This restoration work, done by the Museum of New Mexico in 1920, serves to show faithfully the original appearance of this typical specimen of a talus house. Here again the rooms are small (by modern standards) with doors only large enough to squeeze through, and no windows. During the 1400's, it is probable that several such dwellings were occupied along a 2-mile stretch of this cliff.