Aboriginal Remains In Verde Valley, Arizona Part 6

At first sight it would appear that the ancient ditch antedated the deposit of alluvial soil forming the bottom land at this point, and this hypothesis is supported by several facts of importance. It is said that ten years ago the bottom land, whose edge now forms the bluff referred to, extended some 25 or 30 feet farther out, and that the river then flowed in a channel some 200 or 300 feet north of the present one.

Be this as it may, the bottom land now presents a fairly continuous surface, from the banks of the river to the foothills that limit the valley on the west and south, and it is certain that this bottom land extended over the place occupied by the ancient ditch; nor is it to be supposed that the ancient ditches ended abruptly at the point where they now enter the bluff. The curves in the line of the ancient ditch might indicate that it was constructed along the slope of a hill, or on an uneven surface, as a deep excavation in fairly even ground would naturally be made in a straight line.

The face of the bluff shows an even deposit of sand, without apparent stratification, except here and there a thin layer or facing of mud occurs, such as covers the bottom of the ancient ditch and also of the modern ditch. Singularly enough, however, over the ancient ditch, about 5 feet above its bottom, there is a stratum of sand and gravel, and on top, within a few inches of the surface of the ground, a thin stratum of mud. This mud stratum extends only about 8 feet horizontally and is slightly hollowed, with its lowest part over the center of the ditch.

The gravel stratum also was laid down over the ditch, is tilted slightly southward and occurs in two layers, together about a foot thick. It first appears a few feet south of the point where the main ditch enters the bluff and over the ditch both layers are distinctly marked, as shown in plate x.x.xVIII. Both layers are clearly marked to a distance of 4 feet north of the northern side of the main ditch; here the lower layer thins out, but the upper layer continues faintly marked almost to the edge of the small ditch. At this point the gravel stratum becomes p.r.o.nounced again and continues over the small ditch, almost pure gravel in places, with a decided dip westward. At a point just beyond the northern side of the small ditch the gravel layer disappears entirely.

The occurrence of this gravel in the way described seems to indicate that the ditch was built along the slope of a low hill forming the edge of the bottom land at that time, and that subsequently detritus was deposited above it and over the adjacent bottom land forming a smooth ground surface. Against this hypothesis it must be stated that no evidence whatever was found of more than a single deposit of sandy loam, although the exposures are good; but perhaps were an examination made by a competent geologist some such evidence might be developed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XL.

ANCIENT DITCH AROUND A KNOLL, CLEAR CREEK.]

There is one fact that should not be lost sight of in the discussion, viz, the very low elevation of the ditch above the river. The Verde is, as already stated, a typical mountain stream, with an exceptionally high declivity, and consequently it is rapidly lowering its bed. If, as already conjectured, the water for the ancient ditch was taken from the river but a short distance above the point where remains of the ditch are now found--and this a.s.sumption seems well supported by the character of the adjacent topography--the slight elevation of the bed of the ditch above the river would indicate that, in the first place, the ditch was located, as already suggested, along the slope of a hill, and in the second place, that the ditch was built at a period of no great antiquity. The occurrence of the high bluff under which the ditch now pa.s.ses does not conflict with this suggestion, for the deposition of the material composing it and its erosion into its present form and condition may be the result of decades rather than of centuries of work by a stream like the Verde, and certainly a hundred, or at most a hundred and fifty years would suffice to accomplish it. At the present time a few floods deposit an amount of material equal to that under discussion, and if subsequently the river changed its channel, as it does at a dozen different points every spring, a few decades only would be required to cover the surface with gra.s.s and bushes, and in short, to form a bottom land similar to that now existing over the ancient ditch.

In conclusion it should be noted, in support of the hypothesis that the ditch was built before the material composing the bluff was laid down, that immediately under the ditch there is a stratum of hard adobe-like earth, quite different from the sand above it and from the material of which the bluff is composed. This stratum is shown clearly in plate x.x.xVIII.

The hypothesis which accords best with the evidence now in hand is that which a.s.sumes that the ditch was taken out of the river but a short distance above the point ill.u.s.trated, and that it was built on the slope of a low hill, or on a nearly flat undulating bottom land, before the material composing the present bottom or river terrace was deposited, and that the ditch, while it may be of considerable antiquity, is not necessarily more than a hundred or a hundred and fifty years old; in other words, we may reach a fairly definite determination of its minimum but not of its maximum antiquity.

On the southern side of Clear creek, about a mile above its mouth, there are extensive horticultural works covering a large area of the terrace or river bench. These have already been alluded to in the description of the village ruin overlooking them, but there are several features which are worthy a more detailed description. For a distance of 2 miles east and west along the creek, and perhaps half a mile north and south, there are traces of former works pertaining to horticulture, including irrigating ditches, "reservoirs," farming outlooks, etc.

At the eastern end of these works, about 3 miles above the mouth of Clear creek, the main ditch, after running along the slope of the hill for some distance, comes out on top of the mesa or terrace nearly opposite the Morris place. The water was taken from the creek but a short distance above, hardly more than half a mile. West of the point where the ditch comes out on the mesa top, all traces of it disappear, but they are found again at various points on the terrace. Plate x.x.xIX shows a portion of the terrace below and opposite the rectangular ruin previously described. In the distant foreground the light line indicates a part of the ancient ditch. Plate XL shows the same ditch at a point half a mile below the last, where it rounds a knoll. In the distance is the flat-topped hill or mesa on which the rectangular ruin previously described is located. About a hundred yards southeast of this point further traces of the ditch may be seen, and connected with it at that point are a number of rectangular areas, which were cultivated patches when the ditch was in use.

The whole surface of the terrace within the limits described is covered by small water-worn bowlders scattered so thickly over it that travel is seriously impeded. In many parts of it these bowlders are arranged so as to inclose small rectangular areas, and these areas are connected with the old ditch just described. Plate x.x.xIX shows something of this surface character; and in the right hand portion of it may be seen some of the rows of bowlders forming the rectangular areas. The rows which occur at right angles to the ditch are much more clearly marked than those parallel to it, and the longer axes of the rectangular areas are usually also at right angles to the ditch line. On the ground these traces of inclosures can hardly be made out, but from an elevated point, such as the mesa on which, the rectangular ruin overlooking these works is located, they show very clearly and have the appearance of windrows.

Traces of these horticultural works would be more numerous, and doubtless more distinct, were it not that a considerable part of the area formerly under cultivation has been picked over by the modern settlers in this region, and immense quant.i.ties of stone have been removed and used in the construction of fences. This has not been done, however, in such a manner as to leave the ground entirely bare, yet bare areas occur here and there over the surface, where doubtless once existed a part of the general scheme of horticultural works.

One such bare area occurs close to the edge of the terrace about a mile and a half above the mouth of the creek. In its center is a structure called for convenience a reservoir, although it is by no means certain that it was used as such. It occurs about 100 yards from the creek, opposite the Wingfield place, and consists of a depression surrounded by an elevated rim. It is oval, measuring 108 feet north and south and 72 feet east and west from rim to rim. The crown of the rim is 5 feet 8 inches above the bottom of the depression and about 3 feet above the ground outside. The rim is fairly continuous, except at points on the northern and southern sides, where there are slight depressions, and these depressions are further marked by extra large bowlders. At its lowest points, however, the rim is over 2 feet above the ground, which slopes away from it for some distance in every direction. Plate XLI shows the eastern side of the depression; the large tree in the middle distance is on the bank of Clear creek and below the terrace. Plate XLII shows the northern gateway or dip in the rim, looking southward across the depression. The large bowlders previously referred to can be clearly seen. A depression similar to this occurs on the opposite side of the valley, about half a mile from the river. In this case it is not marked by bowlders or stones of any description, but is smooth and rounded, corresponding to the surface of the ground in its vicinity. In the latter as in the former case, the depression occurs on a low knoll or swell in the bottom land, and the surface of the ground slopes gently away from it for some distance in every direction.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XLI.

ANCIENT WORK ON CLEAR CREEK.]

The purpose of these depressions is not at all clear, and although popularly known as reservoirs it is hardly possible that they were used as such. The capacity of the Clear creek depression is about 160,000 gallons, or when two-thirds full, which would be the limit of its working capacity, about 100,000 gallons. The minimum rate of evaporation in this region in the winter months is over 3 inches per month, rising in summer to 10 inches or more, so that in winter the loss of water stored in this depression would be about 10,000 gallons a month, while in summer it might be as high as 35,000 or even 40,000 gallons a month.

It follows, therefore, that even if the reservoir were filled to its full working capacity in winter and early spring it would be impossible to hold the water for more than two months and retain enough at the end of that time to make storing worth while. It has been already stated, however, that these depressions are situated on slight knolls and that the land falls away from them in every direction. As no surface drainage could be led into them, and as there is no trace on the ground of a raised ditch discharging into them, they must have been filled, if used as reservoirs, from the rain which fell within the line that circ.u.mscribes them. The mean annual rainfall (for over seventeen years) at Verde, a few miles farther northward in the same valley, is 11.44 inches, with a maximum annual fall of 27.27 inches and a minimum of 4.80 inches. The mean annual fall (for over twenty-one years) at Fort McDowell, near the mouth of the Rio Verde, is 10-54 inches, with a maximum of 20.0 inches and a minimum of 4.94 inches.[8]

[Footnote 8: Report on Rainfall (Pacific coast and western states and territories), Signal Office U.S. War Dept., Senate Ex. Doc. 91, 50th Cong., 1st Sess., Washington, 1889; pp. 70-73 (Errata, p. 4).]

If these depressions were used as reservoirs it is a fair presumption that the bottoms were plastered with clay, so that there would be no seepage and the only loss would be by evaporation. Yet this loss, in a dry and windy climate such as that of the region here treated, would be sufficient to render impracticable a storage reservoir of a cross section and a site like the one under discussion. Most of the rainfall is in the winter months, from December to March, and it would require a fall of over 12 inches during those months to render the reservoir of any use in June; it would certainly be of no use in July and August, at the time when water is most needed, save in exceptional years with rainfall much in excess of the mean.

On the other hand, there is the hypothesis that these depressions represent house structures; but if so these structures are anomalous in this region. The contour of the ground does not support the idea of a cl.u.s.ter of rooms about a central court, nor does the debris bear it out.

Mr. F. H. Cushing has found depressions in the valleys of Salt and Gila rivers somewhat resembling these in form and measurement, and situated always on the outskirts of the sites of villages. Excavations were made, and as the result of these he came to the conclusion that the depressions were the remains of large council chambers, as the floors were hard, plastered with mud, and dish-shaped, with a fire-hole in the center of each; and no pottery or implements or remains of any kind were found except a number of "sitting stones." Mr. Cushing found traces of upright logs which formed the outer wall of the structure; he inferred from the absence of drainage channels that the structure was roofed, and as the ordinary method of roofing is impracticable on the scale of these structures, he supposed that a method similar to that used by the Pima Indians in roofing their granaries was employed, the roof being of a flattened dome shape and composed of gra.s.s or reeds, formed in a continuous coil and covered with earth. If the depressions under discussion, however, are the remains of structures such as these described, they form a curious anomaly in this region, for, as has been already stated, the affinities of the remains of this region are with the northern architectural types, and not at all with those of the southern.

There is a third hypothesis which, though not supported by direct evidence, seems plausible. It is that the depression of Clear creek, and perhaps also the one on the opposite side of the Verde, were thrashing floors. This hypothesis accords well with the situation of these depressions upon the tillable bottom lands, and with their relation to the other remains in their vicinity; and their depth below the surface of the ground would be accounted for, under the a.s.sumption here made of their use, by the high and almost continuous winds of the summer in this region. Perhaps the slight depressions at the northern and southern side of the oval were the gateways through which the animals which trampled the straw or the men who worked the flails pa.s.sed in and out. Whether used in this way or not, these depressions would be, under the a.s.sumption that the bottom was plastered with mud, not only practicable, but even desirable thrashing floors, as the grain would be subjected during thrashing to a partial winnowing. This suggestion would also account for the comparatively clean ground surface about the depressions and for their location on slightly elevated knolls.

Scattered over the whole area formerly under cultivation along Clear creek are the remains of small, single rooms, well marked on the ground, but without any standing wall remaining. These remains are scattered indiscriminately over the terrace without system or arrangement; they are sometimes on the flat, sometimes on slight knolls. They number altogether perhaps forty or fifty. Plate XLIII shows an example which occurs on a low knoll, shown also in plate XL; it is typical of these remains. It will be noticed that the masonry was composed of river bowlders not dressed or prepared in any way, and that the debris on the ground would raise the walls scarcely to the height of a single low story.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XLII.

GATEWAY TO ANCIENT WORK, CLEAR CREEK.]

The location of these remains, their relation to other remains in the vicinity, and their character all support the conclusion that they were small temporary shelters or farming outlooks, occupied only during the season when the fields about them were cultivated and during the gathering of the harvest, as is the case with a.n.a.logous structures used in the farming operations among the pueblos of to-day. Their number and distribution do not necessarily signify that all the terrace was under cultivation at one time, although there is a fair presumption that the larger part of it was, and the occurrence of the ditch at both the upper and the lower ends of the area strengthens this conclusion.

As it is impossible that an area so large as this should be cultivated by the inhabitants of one village, it is probable that a number of villages combined in the use of this terrace for their horticultural operations; and, reasoning from what we know to have been the case in other regions, it is further probable that this combination resulted in endless contention, and strife, and perhaps finally to the abandonment of these fields if not of this region. The rectangular ruin already ill.u.s.trated is situated on a hill south of the terrace and overlooks it from that direction; on the opposite side of Clear creek, on the hill bounding the valley on the north, there are the remains of a large stone village which commanded an outlook over the terraces in question; and a little farther up the creek, on the same side and similarly situated, there was another village which also overlooked them. There were doubtless other villages and small settlements whose remains are not now clearly distinguishable, and it is quite probable that some of the inhabitants of the large villages in the vicinity, like those near Verde, hardly 3 miles northward, had a few farming houses and some land under cultivation on this terrace.

Thus it will be seen that there was no lack of cultivators for all the tillable land on the terrace, and there is no reason to suppose that the period when the land was under cultivation, and the period when the villages overlooking it were occupied, were not identical, and that the single-house remains scattered over the terrace were not built and occupied at the same period. The relation of the stone villages to the area formerly cultivated, the relation of the single-room remains to the area immediately about them, the character of the remains, and the known methods of horticulture followed by the Pueblo Indians, all support the conclusion that these remains were not only contemporaneous but also related to one another.

STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS.

MASONRY AND OTHER DETAILS.

The masonry of the stone villages throughout all the region here treated is of the same type, although there are some variations. It does not compare with the fine work found on the San Juan and its tributaries, although belonging to that type--the walls being composed of two faces with rubble filling, and the interstices of the large stones being filled or c.h.i.n.ked with spalls. This c.h.i.n.king is more p.r.o.nounced and better done in the northern part of the region than in the south.

The rock employed depended in all cases on the immediate environments of the site of the village, the walls being composed in some cases of slabs of limestone, in other cases of river bowlders only, and in still others of both in combination. The walls of the large ruin near Limestone creek were composed of rude slabs of limestone with an intermixture of bowlders. The bowlders usually occur only in the lower part of the wall, near the ground, and in several cases, where nothing exists of the wall above the surface of the ground, the remains consist entirely of bowlders. A good example of this peculiarity of construction is shown in plate XLIV, and plate XLV shows the character of stone employed and also a section of standing wall on the western side of the village. A section of standing wall near the center of the ruin is ill.u.s.trated in plate XIII. It will be noticed that some of the walls shown in this ill.u.s.tration are c.h.i.n.ked, but to a very slight extent. The wall represented in plate XLV has slabs of limestone set on edge. This feature is found also in other ruins in this region, notably in those opposite Verde, though it seems to be more used in the south than in the north. An example occurring in the ruin opposite Verde is shown in plate XLVI. In this case c.h.i.n.king is more p.r.o.nounced; the walls are from 2 to 2 feet thick, built in the ordinary way with two faces and an interior filling, but the stones are large and the filling is almost wholly adobe mortar. The two faces are tied together by extra long stones which occasionally project into the back of one or the other face.

The western cl.u.s.ter of the ruin last mentioned, shown on the ground plan (plate XVII), has almost all its walls still standing, and the masonry, while of the same general character as that of the main cl.u.s.ter, is better executed. The stones composing the walls are smaller than those in the main cl.u.s.ter and more uniform in size, and the interstices are carefully c.h.i.n.ked. The c.h.i.n.king is distinctive in that spalls were not used, but more or less flattened river pebbles. The different color and texture of these pebbles make them stand out from the wall distinctly, giving quite an ornamental effect.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XLIII.

SINGLE-ROOM REMAINS ON CLEAR CREEK.]

That portion of the standing wall of the ruin opposite Verde, which occurs in the saddle northeastward from the main cl.u.s.ter, shown on the plan in plate XVII, represents the best masonry found in this region. As elsewhere stated, this was probably the last part of the village to be built. These walls are shown in plate XLVII. It will be noticed that the stones are of very irregular shape, rendering a considerable amount of c.h.i.n.king necessary to produce even a fair result, and that the stones are exceptionally large. The masonry of this village is characterized by the use of stones larger than common, many of them being larger than one man can carry and some of them even larger than two men can handle.

All the larger and more important ruins of this region are constructed of limestone slabs, sometimes with bowlders. The smaller ruins, on the other hand, were built usually of river bowlders, sometimes with an intermixture of slabs of limestone and sandstone but with a decided preponderance of river bowlders. This would seem to suggest that this region was gradually populated, and that the larger structures were the last ones built. This suggestion has been already made in the discussion of the ground plans, and it is, moreover, in accord with the history of the pueblo-builders farther northward, notably that of the Hopi.

Plate XXI ill.u.s.trates a type of bowlder masonry which occurs on Clear creek; plate XLVIII shows the masonry of the ruin at the mouth of the East Verde, and plate XVI shows that of a ruin at the month of Fossil creek. In all these examples the stone composing the walls was derived either from the bed of an adjacent stream or from the ground on which they were built, and was used without any preparation whatever; yet in the better examples of this type of masonry a fairly good result was obtained by a careful selection of the stones. A still ruder type of masonry sometimes found in connection with village ruins is shown in figure 290. This, however, was used only as in the example ill.u.s.trated, for retaining walls to trails or terraces, or a.n.a.logous structures.

In a general way it may be stated that the masonry of the village ruins of this region is much inferior to that of the San Juan region, and in its rough and unfinished surfaces, in the use of an inferior material close at hand rather than a better material a short distance away, and in the ignorance on the part of the builders of many constructive devices and expedients employed in the best examples of pueblo masonry, the work of this region may be ranked with that of the Tusayan--in other words, at the lower end of the scale.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 301.

Walled front cavate lodges.]

There is but little masonry about the cavate lodges, and that is rude in character. As elsewhere stated, walled fronts are exceptional in this region, and where they occur the work was done very roughly. Figure 301 shows an example that occurs in the group of cavate lodges already described. It will be noticed that little selection has been exercised in the stones employed, and that an excess of mortar has been used to fill in the large interstices. Figure 290 (p. 221), which shows a storage cist attached to the group of cavate lodges, marked _D_ on the map (plate XXV), exhibits the same excessive use of adobe or mud plastering. At several other points in the area shown on this map there are short walls, sometimes inside the lodges, sometimes outside. In all cases, however, they are rudely constructed and heavily plastered with mud; in short, the masonry of the cavate lodges exhibits an ignorance fully equal to that of the stone villages, while the execution is, if anything, ruder. It is singular that, notwithstanding the excessive use of mud mortar and mud plastering in the few walls that are found there, such plastering was almost never used on the walls in the interiors of the lodges, perhaps because no finer finish than the rough surface of the rock was considered desirable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XLIV.

BOWLDER FOUNDATIONS NEAR LIMESTONE CREEK.]

The cavate lodges seem to have been excavated without the aid of other tools than a rough maul or a piece of stone held in the hand, and such a tool is well adapted to the work, since a blow on the surface of the rock is sufficient to bring off large slabs. Notwithstanding the rude tools and methods, however, some of the work is quite neat, especially in the pa.s.sageways (which are often 3 or 4 feet long and quite narrow) and in the smaller chambers. In the excavation of these chambers benches were left at convenient places along the wall and niches and cubby-holes were cut, so that in the best examples of cavate lodges the occupants, it would seem, were more comfortable, so far as regards their habitation, than the ordinary Pueblo Indian of today, and better supplied with the conveniences of that method of living. It should be stated in this connection, however, that although the group of cavate lodges gives an example of an extensive work well carried out, the successful carrying out of that work does not imply either a large population or a high degree of skill; the only thing necessary was time, and the amount of time necessary for the work is not nearly so great, in proportion to the population housed, as was required for the better types of pueblo work in the San Juan country (the village ruins of the Chaco canyon for example), and probably no more than would be required for the construction of rooms of equal size and of the rather poor grade of work found in this region.

Although no examples of interior wall-plastering were found in the group of cavate lodges described, such work has been found in neighboring lodges; and in this group plastered floors are quite common. The object of plastering the floors was to secure a fairly even surface such as the soft rock did not provide, and this was secured not by the application of layers of clay but by the use of clay here and there wherever needed to bring the surface up to a general level, and the whole surface was subsequently finished. This final finishing was sometimes omitted, and many floors are composed partly of the natural rock and partly of clay, the latter frequently in spots and areas of small size.

The floors were often divided into a number of sections by low ridges of clay, sometimes 8 inches broad. These ridges are shown on the ground plans (figures 294 to 298, and in plate XXV). Their purpose is not clear, although it can readily be seen that in such domestic operations as sorting grain they would be useful.

DOOR AND WINDOW OPENINGS.

The masonry of this region was so roughly and carelessly executed that little evidence remains in the stone villages of such details of construction as door and window openings. Destruction of the walls seems to have commenced at these openings, and while there are numerous standing walls, some with a height of over 10 feet, no perfect example of a door or window opening was found. It is probable that the methods employed were similar or a.n.a.logous to those used today by the Hopi, and that the wooden lintel and stone jamb was the standard type.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 302.

Bowlders in footway, cavate lodges.]