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 chinked with spalls. This chinking is more pronounced 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 illustrated in plate
XIII. It will be noticed that some of the walls shown in this
illustration are chinked, 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 chinking is more pronounced; the walls are from 2 to
2½ 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 cluster 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 cluster, is
better executed. The stones composing the walls are smaller than those
in the main cluster and more uniform in size, and the interstices are
carefully chinked. The chinking 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.
[Illustration: 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 cluster, 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
chinking 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 illustrates 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 illustrated,
for retaining walls to trails or terraces, or analogous 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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 passageways (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.