Finishes Analysis: Room 121

Room 121 has not been previously analyzed. It was treated in 1998 due to emergency conditions. Samples removed at that time were subsequently analyzed during this study.

Photomontage of Room 121 showing all sectors. Sample locations are indicated in red.

Architecture
Room 121 is a unique upper room in a four-story room block (not tower) enclosed by three masonry constructed walls and the natural rock of the alcove. The space is the most intact complex, fully finished room at Cliff Palace and contains among the best know examples of ancestral puebloan wall painting in the Mesa Verde region. The finishes are both prehistoric and reconstructed (1934). The south wall finish is original, the west wall finish is approximately 40% original (south end) and 60% reconstructed (north portion), the north wall finish is approximately 50% original (east half) and 50% reconstructed (west half), the east wall finish is approximately 80% original except for the upper 20% which appears reconstructed. Only one scheme was applied.

The walls are of irregular, semi-coursed masonry with a leveling coat of extruded smooth mortar averaging 1-2cm thick, being thicker at the lower wall. The reconstructed finishes are comprised of a thicker plaster with thinly applied red and white washes imitating the original design. These occur only on the 1934 repairs of the northwest corner. The original mural painting was never treated.

The earliest images of the mural paintings in Room 121 of Square Tower are by Nordenskiöld (1893, 110, Fig. 78) and McKee (1898). The loss of the entire northwest corner required Fewkes to repair the masonry up to the third story allowing visibility of the painted interior (1911, 32, Pls. 12 & 13). Fewkes' 1908 repair was later removed and the entire corner rebuilt by Morris and Lancaster in June and July of 1934 adding conjectural doorways on the fourth story north and west elevations. The lost plaster and mural painting flanking the northwest corner was reconstructed at this time as well. All new masonry was set in cement and the surfaces pointed or plastered with "mud to match original walls". The Tower was closed to visitation after World War II.

Surface Finishes-Stratigraphy
The complex, full wall finish consists of a bi-chrome scheme of a red (10R4/8) dado on a white (2.5Y8/1) field with repetitive and discreet embellishments including groupings of three red triangles separated by a red finger tip border at the dado top, a series of discreet red horizontal and vertical lines in the field, and a red bi-fold rectangular panel separated into two halves by a finger-tip bordered vertical bar with 4 zigzag vertical bands in each half on the south wall . The west wall consists of a small square window and a partial reconstruction of the painting including three sets of three triangles with a fingertip border. Only the first three triangles are original.

Wash overlap indicates that the white field was applied first, then the triangles and the fingertip border last. The top edge of the dado and the triangles' perimeters were clearly finger applied indicating an outlining technique to create precise forms and lines. In the horizontal panel, directional striations and thickened areas of application were also found identifying the order of the application of the painting beginning with the layout of the panel perimeter, followed by the interior zigzag bands applied from top to bottom. Surface characteristics of the overall finishes in Room 121 exhibit distinct application striations made with the hand.

Evidence of old impact cuts or slashes were observed almost exclusively on the triangles and the zigzag panel. This appears in the earliest photographs and may well be ritual defacement associated with disempowerment of the symbols or space.

Representative samples were selected for subsequent examination in 2001-02. Samples were found to have only two to three layers depending on the location. Only three colors were found in Room 121. A conjectural plaster finishes scheme was made in gouache based on the Munsell color match.

Fabric Analysis
Quantitative analysis of the micro fabric of the surface finishes of Room 121 reveals similarities between the red and white wash layers. This is evident in the ratio of matrix to aggregate and the arrangement, size, shape and frequency of individual particles and voids within the layers as a whole, and within features themselves. The thickness of the washes averages between 200µm -450 µm while the thickness of the leveling plaster is greater, varying between 1 - 3 cm. Most of the aggregate was found to be anhedral and irregular, very few grains are subhedral. The plaster and wash layers are not separated by soot confirming a synchronic application.

The ratio of the matrix to the aggregate is expressed in the chart to the right (top). The ratio determined for the extruded smooth mortar (Layer 1 on most samples) indicates the highest percentage of aggregate to matrix of all the subsequent layers. The wash layers in contrast display an equal ratio (1:1) of aggregate to matrix, thus being binder rich. This confirms the distinction between plasters and washes based on the mineral matter ratio.

The aggregate grain size and grain size distribution patterns for the plaster and wash layers in the various samples of Room 121 are illustrated in the figure to the right (bottom). The aggregate grain size is finer for the washes, however similarities in distribution pattern for all layers indicate a well sorted distribution.

No qualitative analysis was done on the finishes of Room 121.