Eighth Annual Report Part 12

There is also great diversity in the arrangement of rooms. In some cases the cl.u.s.ters are quite compact, and in others the rooms are distributed in narrow rows. In the large cl.u.s.ter at the northwestern extremity the houses are arranged around a court; with this exception the cl.u.s.ters of rooms are scattered about in an irregular manner, regardless of any defensive arrangement of the buildings. The builders evidently placed the greatest reliance on their impregnable site, and freely adopted such arrangement as convenience dictated.

[Footnote 4: See Millstone for April, 1884, Indianapolis, Indiana.]

The masonry of these villages was roughly constructed, the walls being often less than a foot thick. Very little adobe mortar seems to have been used; some of the thickest and best preserved walls have apparently been laid nearly dry (Pl. LXI). The few openings still preserved also show evidence of hasty and careless construction. Over most of the area the debris of the fallen walls is very clearly marked, and is but little enc.u.mbered with earth or drifted sand. This imparts an odd effect of newness to these ruins, as though the walls had recently fallen. The small amount of debris suggests that the majority of these buildings never were more than one story high, though in four of the broadest cl.u.s.ters (see plan, Pl. LX) a height of two, and possibly three, stories may have been attained. All the ruins are thickly covered by a very luxurious growth of braided cactus, but little of which is found elsewhere in the neighborhood. The extreme southeastern cl.u.s.ter, consisting of four large rooms, differs greatly in character from the rest of the ruins. Here the rooms or inclosures are defined only by a few stones on the surface of the ground and partly embedded in the soil.

There is no trace of the debris of fallen walls. These outlined inclosures appear never to have been walled to any considerable height.

Within one of the rooms is a slab of stone, about which a few ceremonial plume sticks have been set on end within recent times.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XLI. Back of Oraibi house row.]

The motive that led to the occupation of this mesa was defense; the cause that led to the selection of the particular site was facility for procuring a water supply. The trail on the west side pa.s.ses a spring half way down the mesa. There was another spring close to the foot trail on the south side; this, however, was lower, being almost at the foot of the talus.

In addition to these water sources, the builders collected and stored the drainage of the mesa summit near the southern gap or recess. At this point are still seen the remains of two reservoirs or dams built of heavy masonry. Only a few stones are now in place, but these indicate unusually ma.s.sive construction. Another reservoir occurs farther along the mesa rim to the southeast, beyond the limits of the plan as given.

As may be seen from the plan (Pl. LX) the two reservoirs at the gap are quite close together. These receptacles have been much filled up with sediment. Pl. LXII gives a view of the princ.i.p.al or westernmost reservoir as seen from the northeast. On the left are the large stones once incorporated in the masonry of the dam. This masonry appears to have originally extended around three-fourths of the circ.u.mference of the reservoir. As at Ketchipauan, previously described, the upper portion of the basins merged insensibly into the general drainage and had no definite limit.

The Zui claim to have here practiced a curious method of water storage.

They say that whenever there was snow on the ground the villagers would turn out in force and roll up huge s...o...b..a.l.l.s, which were finally collected into these basins, the gradually melting snow furnishing a considerable quant.i.ty of water. The desert environment has taught these people to avail themselves of every expedient that could increase their supply of water.

It is proper to state that in the ill.u.s.trated plan of the Taaiyalana ruins the mesa margin was sketched in without the aid of instrumental sights, and hence is not so accurately recorded as the plans and relative positions of the houses. It was all that could be done at the time, and will sufficiently ill.u.s.trate the general relation of the buildings to the surrounding topography.

KIN-TIEL.

All the ruins above described bear close traditional and historic relationship to Zui. This is not the case with the splendidly preserved ancient pueblo of Kin-tiel, but the absence of such close historic connection is compensated for by its architectural interest. Differing radically in its general plan from the ruins already examined, it still suggests that some resemblance to the more ancient portions of Nutria and Pescado, as will be seen by comparing the ground plans (Pls. LXVII and LXIX). Its state of preservation is such that it throws light on details which have not survived the general destruction in the other pueblos. These features will be referred to in the discussion and comparison of these architectural groups by constructional details in Chapter IV.

This pueblo, located nearly midway between Cibola and Tusayan, is given on some of the maps as Pueblo Grande. It is situated on a small arm of the Pueblo Colorado wash, 22 or 23 miles north of Navajo Springs, and about the same distance south from Pueblo Colorado (Ganado post-office).

Geographically the ruins might belong to either Tusayan or Cibola, but Mr. Cushing has collected traditional references among the Zui as to the occupation of this pueblo by related peoples at a time not far removed from the first Spanish visit to this region.

The plan (Pl. LXIII) shows a marked contrast to the irregularity seen in the ruins previously described. The pueblo was clearly defined by a continuous and unbroken outer wall, which probably extended to the full height of the highest stories (Pl. LXIV). This symmetrical form is all the more remarkable in a pueblo of such large dimensions, as, with the exception of Pueblo Bonito of the Chaco group, it is the largest ancient pueblo examined by this Bureau. This village seems to belong to the same type as the Chaco examples, representing the highest development attained in building a large defensive pueblo practically as a single house. All the terraces faced upon one or more inclosed courts, through which access was gained to the rooms. The openings in this outer wall, especially near the ground, were few in number and very small in size, as shown in Pl. CIV. The pueblo was built in two wings of nearly equal size on the opposite slopes of a large sandy wash, traversing its center from east to west. This wash doubtless at one time furnished peculiar facilities for storage of water within or near the village, and this must have been one of the inducements for the selection of the site.

At the time of our survey, however, not a drop of water was to be found about the ruin, nor could vestiges of any construction for gathering or storing water be traced. Such vestiges would not be likely to remain, as they must have been washed away by the violent summer torrents or buried under the acc.u.mulating sands. Two seasons subsequent to our work at this point it was learned that an American, digging in some rooms on the arroyo margin, discovered the remains of a well or reservoir, which he cleared of sand and debris and found to be in good condition, furnishing so steady a water supply that the discoverer settled on the spot. This was not seen by the writer. There is a small spring, perhaps a mile from the pueblo in a northeasterly direction, but this source would have been wholly insufficient for the needs of so large a village. It may have furnished a much more abundant supply, however, when it was in constant use, for at the time of our visit it seemed to be choked up. About a mile and a half west quite a lagoon forms from the collected drainage of several broad valleys, and contains water for a long time after the cessation of the rains. About 6 miles to the north, in a depression of a broad valley, an extensive lake is situated, and its supply seems to be constant throughout the year, except, perhaps, during an unusually dry season. These various bodies of water were undoubtedly utilized in the horticulture of the occupants of Kin-tiel; in fact, near the borders of the larger lake referred to is a small house of two rooms; much similar in workmanship to the main pueblo, evidently designed as an outlook over fields. This building is ill.u.s.trated in Pl. LXVI.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XLII. The site of Moen-kopi.]

The arrangement of the inner houses differs in the two halves of the ruin. It will be seen that in the north half the general arrangement is roughly parallel with the outer walls, with the exception of a small group near the east end of the arroyo. In the south half, on the other hand, the inner rows are nearly at right angles to the outer room cl.u.s.ters. An examination of the contours of the site will reveal the cause of this difference in the different configuration of the slopes in the two cases. In the south half the rows of rooms have been built on two long projecting ridges, and the diverging small cl.u.s.ter in the north half owes its direction to a similar cause. The line of outer wall being once fixed as a defensive bulwark, there seems to have been but little restriction in the adjustment of the inner buildings to conform to the irregularities of the site. (Pl. LXIII.)

Only three clearly defined means of access to the interior of the pueblo could be found in the outer walls, and of these only two were suitable for general use. One was at a reentering angle of the outer wall, just south of the east end of the arroyo, where the north wall, continued across the arroyo, overlaps the outer wall of the south half, and the other one was near the rounded northeastern corner of the pueblo. The third opening was a doorway of ordinary size in the thick north wall. It seems probable that other gateways once existed, especially in the south half. From its larger size and more compact arrangement this south half would seem to have greatly needed such facilities, but the preserved walls show no trace of them.

The ground plan furnishes indications, mostly in the north half, of several large rooms of circular form, but broken down remains of square rooms are so much like those of round ones in appearance, owing to the greater amount of dbris that collects at the corners, that it could not be definitely determined that the ceremonial rooms here were of the circular form so common in the ancient pueblos. While only circular kivas have been found a.s.sociated with ancient pueblos of this type, the kivas of all the Cibola ruins above described are said by the Zuis to have been rectangular. The question can be decided for this pueblo only by excavation on a larger scale than the party was prepared to undertake. Slight excavation at a point where a round room was indicated on the surface, revealed portions of straight walls only.

The large size of the refuse heap on the south side of the village indicates that the site had been occupied for many generations.

Notwithstanding this long period of occupation, no important structure of the village seems to have extended beyond the plan. On the north side, outside the main wall, are seen several rectangles faintly outlined by stones, but these do not appear to have been rooms. They resemble similar inclosures seen in connection with ruined pueblos farther south, which proved on excavation to contain graves.

The positions of the few excavations made are indicated on the plan (Pl.

LXIII). Our facilities for such work were most meager, and whatever results were secured were reached at no great distance from the surface.

One of these excavations, ill.u.s.trated in Pl. C, will be described at greater length in Chapter IV.

PLANS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF INHABITED VILLAGES.

NUTRIA.

Nutria is the smallest of the three farming pueblos of Zui, and is located about 23 miles by trail northeast from Zui at the head of Nutria valley. The water supply at this point is abundant, and furnishes a running stream largely utilized in irrigating fields in the vicinity.

Most of the village is compactly arranged, as may be seen from the plan (Pl. LXVII and Fig. 17), but a few small cl.u.s.ters, of late construction, containing two or three rooms each, are situated toward the east at quite a distance from the princ.i.p.al group. It is now occupied solely as a farming pueblo during the planting and harvesting season.

The outline of this small pueblo differs greatly from those of most of the Cibolan villages. The village (Pl. LXVIII), particularly in its northernmost cl.u.s.ter, somewhat approximates the form of the ancient pueblo of Kin-tiel (Pl. LXIII), and has apparently been built on the remains of an older village of somewhat corresponding form, as indicated by its curved outer wall. Fragments of carefully constructed masonry of the ancient type, contrasting noticeably with the surrounding modern construction, afford additional evidence of this. The ancient village must have been provided originally with ceremonial rooms or kivas, but no traces of such rooms are now to be found.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 17. Nutria, plan; small diagram, old wall.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XLIII. Plan of Moen-kopi.]

At the close of the harvest, when the season of feasts and ceremonials begins, lasting through most of the winter, the occupants of these farming villages close up their houses and move back to the main pueblo leaving them untenanted until the succeeding spring.

The great number of abandoned and ruined rooms is very noticeable in the farming pueblos ill.u.s.trated in this and two of the succeeding plans (Pls. LXIX and LXXIII). The families that farm in their vicinity seem to occupy scarcely more than half of the available rooms.

PESCADO.

This village, also a Zui farming pueblo, is situated in a large valley about 12 miles northeast from Zui. Although it is much larger than Nutria it is wholly comprised within the compact group ill.u.s.trated. The tendency to build small detached houses noticed at Nutria and at Ojo Caliente has not manifested itself here. The prevalence of abandoned and roofless houses is also noticeable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 18. Pescado, plan, old wall diagram.]

The outlines of the original court inclosing pueblo (Pl. LXX) are very clearly marked, as the farming Zuis in their use of this site have scarcely gone outside of the original limits of the ancient pueblo. The plan, Pl. LXIX and Fig. 18, shows a small irregular row built in the large inclosed court; this row, with the inclosures and corrals that surround it, probably formed no part of the original plan. The full curved outline is broken only at the west end of the village by small additions to the outer wall, and the north and east walls also closely follow the boundary of the original pueblo. In fact, at two points along the north wall fragments of carefully executed masonry, probably forming part of the external wall of the ancient pueblo, are still preserved (Pl. LXXII). This outer wall was probably once continuous to the full height of the pueblo, but the partial restorations of the buildings by the Zui farmers resemble more closely the modern arrangement. Small rooms have been added to the outside of the cl.u.s.ter and in some cases the terraces are reached by external stone steps, in contrast with the defensive arrangement prevailing generally in pueblos of this form.

A number of dome-shaped ovens have been built outside the walls.

The principle of pueblo plan embodied in Kin-tiel, before referred to, is traceable in this village with particular clearness, distinguishing it from most of the Cibolan pueblos. No traces of kivas were met with in this village.

OJO CALIENTE.

The farming village of Ojo Caliente is located near the dry wash of the Zui River, and is about 15 miles distant from Zui, in a southerly direction. It is about midway between Hawikuh and Ketchipauan, two of the seven cities of Cibola above described. Though situated in fertile and well watered country and close to the remains of the ancient villages, it bears indications of having been built in comparatively recent times. There are no such evidences of connection with an older village as were found at Nutria and Pescado. The irregular and small cl.u.s.ters that form this village are widely scattered over a rather rough and broken site, as shown on the plan (Pl. LXXIII). Here again a large portion of the village is untenanted. The large cl.u.s.ter toward the eastern extremity of the group, and the adjoining houses situated on the low, level ground, compose the present inhabited village. The houses occupying the elevated rocky sites to the west (Pl. LXXIV) are in an advanced stage of decay, and have been for a long time abandoned.

This southern portion of the Cibola district seems to have been much exposed to the inroads of the Apache. One of the effects of this has already been noticed in the defensive arrangement in the Ketchipauan church. On account of such danger, the Zui were likely to have built the first house-cl.u.s.ters here on the highest points of the rocky promontory, notwithstanding the comparative inconvenience of such sites.

Later, as the farmers gained confidence or as times became safer, they built houses down on the flat now occupied; but this apparently was not done all at once. The distribution of the houses over sites of varying degrees of inaccessibility, suggests a succession of approaches to the occupation of the open and unprotected valley.

Some of the masonry of this village is carelessly constructed, and, as in the other farming pueblos, there is much less adobe plastering and smoothing of outer walls than in the home pueblo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XLIV. Moen-kopi.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate (unnumbered key).]

At the time of the survey the occupation of this village throughout the year was proposed by several families, who wished to resort to the parent village only at stated ceremonials and important festivals.

The comparative security of recent times is thus tending to the disintegration of the huge central pueblo. This result must be inevitable, as the dying out of the defensive motive brings about a realization of the great inconvenience of the present centralized system.

ZUI.

The pueblo of Zui is built upon a small knoll on the north bank of the Zui River, about three miles west of the conspicuous mesa of Taaiyalana. It is the successor of all the original Seven Cities of Cibola of the Spaniards, and is the largest of the modern pueblos.

As before stated, the remains of Halona, one of the seven cities, as identified by Mr. Cushing, have served as a nucleus for the construction of the modern pueblo, and have been incorporated into the most densely cl.u.s.tered portions, represented on the plan (Pl. LXXVI) by numbers 1 and 4.

Some of the Cibolan villages were valley pueblos, built at a distance from the rocky mesas and canyons that must have served as quarries for the stone used in building. The Halona site was of this type, the nearest supply of stone being 3 miles distant. At this point (Halona) the Zui River is perennial, and furnishes a plentiful supply of water at all seasons of the year. It disappears, however, a few miles west in a broad, sandy wash, to appear again 20 miles below the village, probably through the accession of small streams from springs farther down. The so-called river furnishes the sole water supply at Zui, with the exception of a single well or reservoir on the north side of the village.

Zui has been built at a point having no special advantages for defense; convenience to large areas of tillable soil has apparently led to the selection of the site. This has subjected it in part to the same influences that had at an earlier date produced the carefully walled fortress pueblos of the valleys, where the defensive efficiency was due to well planned and constructed buildings. The result is that Zui, while not comparable in symmetry to many of the ancient examples, displays a remarkably compact arrangement of dwellings in the portions of the pueblos first occupied, designated on the plan (Pl. LXXVI) as houses 1 and 4. Owing to this restriction of lateral expansion this portion of the pueblo has been carried to a great height.

Pl. LXXVIII gives a general view of these higher terraces of the village from the southeast. A height of five distinct terraces from the ground is attained on the south side of this cl.u.s.ter. The same point, however, owing to the irregularity of the site, is only three terraces above the ground on the north side. The summit of the knoll upon which the older portion of Zui has been built is so uneven, and the houses themselves vary so much in dimensions, that the greatest disparity prevails in the height of terraces. A three-terrace portion of a cl.u.s.ter may have but two terraces immediately alongside, and throughout the more closely built portions of the village the exposed height of terraces varies from 1 foot to 8 or 10 feet. Pl. LXXIX ill.u.s.trates this feature.