Mr. Victor Mindeleff, who had been engaged for several years in
investigating the architecture of the pueblos and the ruins of the
southwest, was at the beginning of the fiscal year at work among the
Moki towns in Arizona, in charge of a party. Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff left
Washington on July 6 for the same locality. He was placed in charge of
the surveying necessary in the Stone Village region, and the result of
his work is included in the general report of that division.
Visits were paid to the Moki villages in succession, obtaining drawings
of some constructional details, and also traditions bearing on the ruins
in that vicinity. The main camp was established near Mashongnavi, one of
the Moki villages. A large ruined pueblo, formerly occupied by the
Mashongnavi, was here surveyed. No standing walls are found at the
present time, and many portions of the plan are entirely obliterated.
Typical fragments of pottery were collected.
Following this work, four other ruined pueblos were surveyed, and such
portions of them as clearly indicated dividing walls were drawn on the
ground plans.
Many of the ruins in this vicinity, according to the traditions of the
Mokis, have been occupied in comparatively recent times---a number of
them having been abandoned since the Spanish conquest of the country. In
several cases the villages now occupied are not upon the same sites as
those first visited by the Spaniards, although retaining the same names.
While the work of surveying was in progress, in charge of Mr. Cosmos
Mindeleff, Mr. Victor Mindeleff made a visit of several days at Keam
Canyon, there to meet a number of the Navajo Indians to explain the
purpose of the work and allay the suspicions of these Indians,
a necessary precaution, as some of the proposed work was laid out in
Canyon de Chelly, in the heart of their reservation. Recent restrictions
to which they had been subjected, as a consequence of new surveys of the
reservation line, had made them especially distrustful of parties
equipped with instruments for surveying. Incidental to explanations of
the purpose of the work, an opportunity was afforded of obtaining a
number of mythologic notes, and also interesting data regarding the
construction of their “hogans,” with the rules prescribing the
arrangement of each part of the frame and other particulars. A number of
ceremonial songs are sung at the building of these houses, but of these
only one could be secured, which was obtained in the original and
translated. Whenever opportunity occurred, during the progress of the
work, photographs and diagrams of construction of “hogans” were
procured.
On August 17 the ceremony of the snake-dance took place at Mashongnavi,
similar in every detail to that performed at Walpi, and differing only
in the number of participants. Several instantaneous negatives of the
various phases of the dance were secured. On the following day the same
ceremony was performed on a larger scale at Walpi, the easternmost of
the Moki villages.
Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff assisted in collecting from the present inhabitants
of the region legendary information bearing upon ruins and in observing
the snake-dances, a description of which was prepared for publication.
While the surveys of the ruins were in progress many detailed studies
were made of special features in the modern villages, particularly among
the “kivas” or religious chambers. In several instances the large
roofing timbers of the “kiva” were found to be the old beams from the
Spanish churches, hewn square, and decorated with the characteristic
rude carving of the old Spanish work. A number of legends connected with
the ruined pueblos were recorded.
On closing this work in the vicinity of the Moki villages, late in
August, the party moved into Keam Canyon, en route for Canyon de Chelly.
A day was devoted to the survey of a small pueblo of irregular
elliptical outline, situated about eighteen miles northeast from Keam
Canyon. This ruin is in excellent state of preservation and exhibits in
the masonry some stones of remarkably large size. The early part of
September was employed in making a close survey of the Mummy Cave group
of ruins in Canyon de la Muerte, this work including a five-foot contour
map of the ground and the rocky ledge over which the houses were
distributed. Detailed drawings of a number of special features were made
here, particularly in connection with the circular ceremonial chambers.
The latter were so buried under the accumulated debris of fallen walls
that much excavation was required to lay bare the details of internal
arrangement. A high class of workmanship is here exhibited, both in the
execution of the constructional features and in the interior decoration
of these chambers. Later the White House group, in the Canyon de Chelly,
comprising a village and cliff houses, was examined and platted in the
same manner.
The drawings and plans were supplemented with a series of photographs.
Some negatives of Navajo houses were also made.
On closing this work the party went into Fort Defiance, en route for
Zuñi, and thence to Ojo Caliente, a modern farming pueblo of the Zuñi,
about twelve miles south of the principal village. Here two ruins of
villages, thought to belong to the ancient Cibola group, were platted.
One of these villages had been provided with a circular reservoir of
large size, partially walled in with masonry. Here, also, the well
preserved walls of a stone church can be seen. The other contains the
remains of a large church, built of adobe. A series of widely scattered
house-clusters, occurring two miles west of Ojo Caliente, was also
examined, but the earth had drifted over the fallen walls and so covered
them that the arrangement of rooms could scarcely be traced at all.
The modern village of Ojo Caliente was also surveyed and diagrams and
photographs made.
Towards the end of September camp was moved to the vicinity of Zuñi.
Here four other villages of the Cibola group and the old villages on the
mesa of Ta-ai-ya-lo-ne were examined. Camp was then moved to Nutria,
a farming pueblo of Zuñi. From this camp Nutria was surveyed and
photographed, and also the village of Pescado, which is occupied only
during the farming season. Both of these modern farming pueblos appear
to be built on the ruins of more ancient villages, the remains of which
were especially noticeable in the case of Pescado, where the very
carefully executed masonry, characteristic of the ancient methods of
construction, could be seen outcropping at many points.