In the upper part of the canyon, and extending into what we may call the
middle region, there are a number of ruins that seem to be out of place
in this locality. They are exactly similar to hundreds of ruins found in
the open country; such, for example, as the older villages of Tusayan,
located on low foothills at the foot of the mesa, and the peculiar
topographic characteristics of the location have not made the slightest
impression on them. These ruins are located on gentle slopes, the
foothills of the talus, as it were, away from the cliffs, and are now
marked only by scattered fragments of building stone and broken pottery.
The ground plans are in all cases indistinguishable; in only a few
instances can even a short wall line be traced. They seem to have been
located without special reference to large areas of cultivable land,
although they always command small areas of such land. There is a
remarkable uniformity in ruins of this type in character of site
occupied, outlook, and general appearance. They are always close to the
stream bed, seldom more than 10 or 12 feet above it, and the sites were
chosen apparently without any reference to their defensibility. A
typical example occurs at the point marked 60 on the detailed map (plate
XLIII), another occurs at 58, and another at 52. One of the largest
examples is in the lower part of the canyon. At the junction of Del
Muerto there is a large mass of rock standing out alone and extending
nearly to the full height of the canyon walls. On the south it is
connected with the main wall back of it by a low tongue of rock,
sparsely covered in places by soil and sand, and on the top of this
tongue or saddle there is a large ruin of the type described, but no
ground plan can now be made out. Possibly the obliterated appearance of
this ruin and of others of the same class is due to the use of the
material, ready to hand and of the proper size, in later structures. It
is known that a similar appearance was produced in Tusayan by such a
cause. The old village of Walpi, on a foothill below the mesa point and
the site of the village at the time of the Spanish conquest, presents an
appearance of great antiquity, although it was partly occupied so late
as fifty years ago. When the movement to the summit of the mesa became
general, the material of the old houses was utilized in the construction
of the new ones, and at the present day it can almost be said that not
one stone remains above another. So complete is the obliteration that no
ground plan can be made out.
If similar conditions prevailed in De Chelly, there might be many more
ruins of this class than those so far discovered. Even those found are
not easily distinguished and might easily be passed over. Possibly there
were small ruins of this type scattered over the whole canyon bottom. An
example which occurs at the point marked 12 on the map, and shown in
plate XLIV, presents no trace on the surface except some potsherds,
which in this locality mean nothing. The site is a low hill or end of a
slope, the top of which is perhaps 25 feet above the stream bed, but
separated from it by a belt of recent alluvium carpeted with grass. The
hill itself was formed of talus, covered with alluvium, all but a small
portion of which was subsequently cut away, leaving an almost vertical
face 15 or 18 feet high. In this face the ends or vertical sections of
several walls can be seen; one of them is nearly 3 feet thick and
extends 4 feet below the present ground surface.
The filling of these ruins to a depth of 4 or 5 feet and the almost
complete absence of surface remains or indications does not necessarily
imply a remote antiquity, although it suggests it. During the fall and
early winter months tremendous sand storms rage in the canyon; the wind
sweeps through the gorge with an almost irresistible power, carrying
with it such immense quantities of sand that objects a few hundred feet
distant can not be distinguished. These sand storms were and are potent
factors in producing the picturesque features of the red cliffs forming
the canyon walls; but they are constructive as well as destructive, and
cavities and hollow places in exposed situations such as the canyon
bottom are soon filled up. The stream itself is also a powerful agent of
destruction and construction; during flood periods banks of sand and
alluvium are often cut away and sometimes others are formed. Yet there
are reasons for believing that the old village ruins on open sites, now
almost obliterated, mark the first period in the occupancy of the
canyon, perhaps even a period distinctly separated from the others.
Excavation on these sites would probably yield valuable results.