Ruins comprised in the second class are located on the bottom lands,
generally at the base of a cliff, and without reference to the
defensibility of the site. They are, as a rule, much broken down, and
might perhaps be classed with the ruins already described, but there are
some distinctive features which justify us in separating them. Ruins of
this class are always located either at the base of a cliff or in a cove
under it, on the level or raised but slightly above the bottom land, and
sometimes at a considerable distance from the stream. The ground plans
can generally be distinguished, and in many instances walls are still
standing--sometimes to a height of three stories. The ground plans
reflect more or less the character of the site they occupy, and we would
be as much surprised to find plans of their character in the open
country as we are to see plans of class I within the canyon. Unlike the
ground plans of class I, those of this group were laid out with direct
reference to the cliff behind them, and which formed, as it were, a part
of them.
[Illustration: Plate XLIV
Section of Old Walls, Canyon De Chelly]
In point of size, long period of occupancy, and position these villages
were the most important in the canyon. The ruins often cover
considerable areas and almost invariably show the remains of one or more
circular kivas. Sometimes they are located directly upon the bottom
land, more often they occupy low swells next the cliff, rising perhaps
10 feet above the general level and affording a fine view over it.
Sometimes they are found in alcoves at the base of the cliff, but they
always rest on the bottom land which extends into them; these merge
insensibly into the next class--village ruins on defensible sites--and
the distinction between them is partly an arbitrary one, as is also that
between the last mentioned and the cliff ruins proper.
[Illustration: Fig. 1--Ground plan of an old ruin in Canyon del
Muerto.]
Figure 1 is a ground plan of a small ruin located in Del Muerto, on the
bottom lands near its mouth. No standing walls now remain, but there is
no doubt that the village at one time covered much more ground than that
shown on the plan. There are now remains of sixteen rooms on the ground,
in addition to two kivas. There is a shallow alcove in the cliff at the
ground level, and the overhanging cliff gave the village some protection
overhead. Plate XLV shows another example in Del Muerto, the largest in
that canyon. The walls are still standing to a height of three stories
in one place, and the masonry is of high class. The back cliff has not
entered into the plan here to the same extent that it generally does.
Figure 2, a ground plan, exhibits only that portion of the area of the
ruin on which walls are still standing. It shows about 20 rooms on the
ground, exclusive of three or perhaps four kivas. The rooms are small as
a rule, rectangular, and arranged with a more than ordinary degree of
regularity. One room still carries its roof intact, as shown on the
plan. In the center of the ruin are the remains of a very large kiva,
over 36 feet in diameter. It is now so much broken down that but little
can be inferred as to its former condition, except that there was
probably no interior bench, as no remains of such a structure can now be
distinguished. The size of this kiva is exceptional, and it is very
probable that it was never roofed. The structures within the kiva, shown
on the ground plan, are Navaho burial cists. West of the large kiva
there were two others, less than 20 feet in diameter. One of these was
circular; the other was irregular in shape, perhaps more nearly
approaching an oval form. At no fewer than five places within the ruin
there are comparatively recent Navaho burials.
[Illustration: Fig. 2--Ground plan of a ruin on bottom land in
Canyon del Muerto.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3--Ground plan of a small ruin in Canyon de
Chelly.]
Figure 3 is a ground plan of a small and very compact village, situated
on the south side of the canyon at the point marked 28 on the detailed
map. It is located on a slightly raised part of the bottom, commanding
an outlook over a large area now under cultivation by the Navaho. The
wall lines are remarkably, although not perfectly, regular, and show at
least 25 rooms; there were probably others to the northward and
eastward. The rooms are now almost filled with debris, but two of them
are still intact, being kept in order by the Navaho and used for the
storage of corn. The roofs of both these rooms are now on the ground
level. The covered room nearest the cliff, shown on the plan, has been
divided into two small compartments by a wall through the middle; access
to each of these is obtained by a framed trapdoor in the roof about a
foot square. This dividing wall is probably of Navaho origin, as the
separate rooms formed by it are too small for habitation and the masonry
is very rough. A short distance to the north along the cliff there is a
Navaho house, roughly rectangular in plan, which was constructed of
stone obtained from this site. The masonry of the ruin presents a very
good face, not due to chinking, however, which was but slightly
practiced, but to the careful selection of material. Some of the stones
show surface pecking.
[Illustration: Plate XLV
General View of Ruin on Bottom Land, Canyon Del Muerto]
About 300 feet above or southeast of this ruin there are the remains of
two small rooms which were placed against the cliff. They are of the
same general character as those described, and doubtless formed part of
the same settlement. Between the two occurs a curious feature. A large
slab of rock, 280 feet long and not more than 12 feet thick at any
point, has split off from the cliff and dropped down to the ground,
where it remains on edge. This slab is triangular in elevation and about
50 feet high at the apex. Between it and the cliff, in the upper part,
there is a space from 2 to 21/2 feet wide. This is easily accessible from
the north, on the edge of the slab, and can be reached from the southern
end, but with much difficulty. Figure 4 shows this feature and its
relation to the ruin. There is no doubt that this was a granary or huge
storage bin, and probably the two rooms on the south were placed there
to guard that end; the northern end, of more easy access, being
protected by the village itself. It was well adapted to this purpose--a
fact that the Navaho have not been slow to appreciate. They have
constructed small bins near the northern end, shown on the plan, and
beyond this timbers have been wedged in so as to furnish a means of
closing the cleft. In the cleft itself cross walls have been
constructed, dividing it into several compartments. The interior forms a
convenient dry, airy space, and at the time it was visited the floor was
covered with a litter of cornhusks.
[Illustration: Fig. 4--Granary in the rocks, connected with a ruin.]
Almost directly opposite this ruin, on the other side of the canyon, are
the remains of a village that might properly be called a cave village.
At this point a large rock stands out from the cliff and in it there is
a cavity shaped almost like a quarter sphere. Its greatest diameter is
45 feet and its height about 20 feet. The bottom land here is 10 or 12
feet above the stream bed and slopes up gradually toward the cliff,
forming the bottom of the cave, which is perhaps 18 or 20 feet above the
stream and some distance from it. The cave commands an extensive outlook
over the cultivable lands below it and those extending up a branch
canyon a little above.
The whole bottom of the cave is covered by remains of rooms, shown in
plan in figure 5. The population could not have been greater than 10 or
12 persons, yet the remains of two kivas are clearly shown. Both were in
the front of the cave, adjoining but not connected with each other, and
were about 12 feet in diameter. Both had interior benches, extending in
one perhaps completely around, in the other only partly around. The
rooms are very irregular in shape and in size, ranging from 8 by 10 feet
to 3 by 4 feet, but the latter could be used only for storage. The
masonry is not of fine grade, although good; but not much detail can be
made out, as the place has been used as a sheepfold by the Navaho and
the ground surface has been filled up and smoothed over.
[Illustration: Fig. 5--Ground plan of a ruin in a cave.]
The largest ruin in the canyons is that shown in plan in figure 6. It is
situated in Del Muerto, on the canyon bottom at the base of a cliff, and
is known to the Navaho as Pakashi-izini (the blue cow). The name was
derived probably from a pictograph of a cow done in blue paint on the
canyon wall back of the ruin. Traces of walls extend over a narrow belt
against the cliffs about 400 feet long and not over 40 feet wide, and
over this area many walls are still standing. Scattered over the site
are a number of large bowlders. No attempt to remove these was made, but
walls were carried over and under them, and in some cases the direction
of a wall was modified to correspond with a face of a bowlder.
The settlement may have consisted of two separate portions, divided by a
row or cluster of large bowlders. The group shown on the right of the
plan was very compactly built, in one place being four rooms deep, but
no traces of a kiva can be seen in it, nor does there appear to be any
place where a kiva could be built within the house area or immediately
adjacent to it. At present 14 or 15 rooms may be traced on the ground
and the whole structure may have comprised 30 rooms. The wall lines are
not regular. In the western end of the structure there is a narrow
passageway into a large room in the center. Such passageways, while
often seen in the valley pueblos, are rare in these canyons. The three
rooms to the south of the passageway appear to have been added after the
rest of the structure was completed, and diminished in size regularly by
a series of steps or insets in the northern or passage wall.
[Illustration: Fig. 6--Ground plan of Pakashi-izini ruins, Canyon
del Muerto.]
The other portion of the ruin shows the remains of about 40 rooms on the
ground, in addition to three kivas; there may have been 60 rooms in this
part of the settlement, or 85 or 90 rooms altogether. The population
could not have been over 55 or 60 persons, or about 12 families. In
other words, it appears that, owing to the peculiarities of conditions
under which they lived, and of the ground plan which resulted, the
largest settlement of this class in the canyons, extending over 400 feet
in one direction, provided homes for a very limited number of people. As
it is probable that each family had one or more outlooks, occupied in
connection with their horticultural operations, it will readily be seen
that only a small number of inhabitants might leave a large number of
house remains, and that it is not necessary to assume either a large
population or a long period of occupancy.
The kivas are clustered in the lower end of the settlement, and all
appear to have been inclosed within walls or other buildings. Two of
them are fairly well preserved; of the third only a fragment remains.
The inclosure of the kivas is a suggestive feature, which will be
discussed later, as will also the square shaft shown on the plan as
attached to the principal kiva.
It will be noticed that in several places where bowlders occur within
the limits of the settlement they have been incorporated into the walls
and form part of them. In two places they have altered the direction of
walls and produced irregularities in the plan. Elsewhere the face of a
rock has been prolonged by a wall carried out to continue it, as in the
front wall of the principal kiva apartment. This apartment appears to
have been entered from the west through a passageway. This is an
anomalous feature and suggests modernness.
[Illustration: Fig. 7--Ground plan of a ruin in Canyon del Muerto.]
Figure 7 is a ground plan of another ruin in Del Muerto. There is a
slight cove or bay in the cliff at the point where the ruin occurs, and
the ground, which is on the level of the bottom lands, is strewn with
large bowlders, as in the example last described. But few remains of
walls are now observable, and there are traces of only one kiva. This
was situated near the outer edge of the settlement. The wall lines are
irregular and the disposition and size of the bowlders are such that it
is improbable that this site was ever occupied by a large cluster of
rooms. On the left of the plan will be seen a small room or storage cist
still intact. At the point marked > in the center of the site a burial
cist was found and excavated in 1884 by Mr Thomas V. Keam. It contained
the remains of a child, almost perfectly desiccated. It is said that
when the remains were first removed the color of the iris could be
distinguished. The specimen was subsequently deposited in the National
Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 8--Ground plan of a ruin in Tseonitsosi canyon.]
A ruin which occurs in Tse-on-i-tso-si canyon, near the mouth of De
Chelly, is shown in plan in figure 8. There were two kivas, one of which
was benched. The number of rooms connected with them is remarkably
small--there could not have been more than six, if there were that
many--and the character of the site is such as to preclude the
possibility of other rooms in the immediate vicinity. Some of the walls
are still standing, and exhibit a fair degree of skill in masonry.
[Illustration: Fig. 9--Ground plan of a much obliterated ruin.]
A type of which there are many examples is shown in plan in figure 9.
These ruins occur on the flat, next the cliff, which is seldom bayed and
overhangs but slightly. They are usually so much obliterated that only
careful scrutiny reveals the presence of wall lines, and walls standing
to a height of 6 inches above the ground are rare. In the example
illustrated no traces of a kiva can be found, but the almost complete
destruction of the walls might account for this. There is every reason
to suppose that these ruins are of the same class as those described
above, the remains of home villages located without reference to
defense, and no reason to suppose otherwise. They are probably instances
where, owing to exposed situation, early abandonment, and possibly also
proximity to later establishments, destruction has proceeded at a
greater rate than in other examples.
[Illustration: Fig. 10--Ground plan of a ruin in Canyon de Chelly.]
Ruins of the class under discussion were not confined to any part of the
canyons, but were located wherever the conditions were favorable. An
example which occurs in the lower part of the canyon, at the point
marked 3 on the map, is shown in plan in figure 10. It occurs at the
back of a deep cove in a little branch canyon, and was at one time quite
an extensive village. It was located on a slight slope or raised place
next the cliffs and overhung by them. A stone dropped from the top of
the cliffs would fall 45 or 50 feet out from their base. There are
remains of three kivas. The central one, which was 12 feet in diameter,
still shows nearly all its periphery, and the wall is in one place
3 feet high. The western kiva is now almost obliterated, but it can
still be made out, and shows a diameter of 15 feet. It is 50 feet west
of the central kiva and on a level about 8 feet below it, being only
about 3 feet above the bottom land. East of the central kiva, and
between it and a large bowlder, there was another, of which only a part
now remains.
North of the central kiva, and extending nearly to the cliff behind,
there are remains of rooms. One corner is still standing to a height of
3 to 4 feet. The western wall was smoothly plastered outside and was
pierced by a narrow notched doorway. The northern wall has an opening
still intact, shown in plate LVIII; it is 2 feet high and 14 inches
wide, with a lintel composed of six small sticks about an inch in
diameter, laid side by side. The sticks are surmounted by a flat stone,
very roughly shaped and separated from them by an inch of mud plaster or
mortar. The masonry is exceptionally well executed, that of the northern
wall being composed of large stones carefully chinked and rubbed down.
The chinking appears to have been carried through in bands, producing a
decorative effect, resembling some of the masonry of the Chaco ruins.
The western wall is composed of larger stones laid up more roughly with
less chinking, and appears to have been a later addition. On the back
wall of the cave are marks of walls showing a number of additional
rooms, and there is no doubt that at one time there was quite an
extensive settlement here.
Around the corner from the last example, as it were (at the point marked
4 on the map), and at the mouth of a little canyon that opens out from
the head of the cove, the ruin shown in plate XLVI occurs. The village
was located on the canyon bottom, in a shallow cove hardly 25 feet deep,
but the view over the bottom is almost closed by a large sand dune, bare
on top and but scantily covered on the sides with grass and weeds. Were
it not for this dune, the site of the ruin would command one of the best
areas of cultivable land in the canyon, but apparently an extensive
outlook was not a desideratum. The slight elevation of the site above
the level of the bottom lands is shown in the illustration.
[Illustration: Plate XLVI
Village Ruin in Canyon De Chelly]
The village was not a large one, having been occupied probably by only
two families, yet there are traces of two kivas. That on the west is so
far obliterated that its outline can be made out only with difficulty.
That on the east still shows a part of its wall to a height of about a
foot. The plan, figure 11, shows the general arrangement. Some of the
walls are still standing to a height of 2 or 3 feet, and at the eastern
end of the ruin there is a room with walls 6 feet high. More than the
usual amount of mud mortar was used in the construction of the walls of
this room, and the interstices were filled with this, chinking with
small stones being but slightly practiced. The masonry of the other
walls is rougher, with even less chinking, and some of them show later
additions which did not follow the main lines. The eastern room had two
openings and the tops of the walls are apparently finished, for there
are no marks of roof timbers. The room may have been roofless, but the
same effect might have been produced by recent Navaho repairs and
alterations. In the exterior wall, at the southeastern corner, there is
a series of hand-holes, as though access to the interior were sometimes
had in this way, but the hand-holes are later than the wall. On the back
wall of the cove there are a number of pictographs.
[Illustration: Fig. 11--Ground plan of a village ruin.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12--Ground plan of kivas in Canyon de Chelly.]
Just above the mouth of Del Muerto and on the opposite side of the main
canyon, at the point marked 17 on the map, there was a village on the
canyon bottom. It overlooked a fine stretch of cultivable land on both
sides of the canyon. There is a large isolated mass of rock here, nearly
as high as the cliffs on either side, and connected with those back of
it by a slope of talus and debris, partly bare rock, partly covered with
sand dunes. At the point where the ruin occurs the rock is bare and
about 40 feet high, partly overhanging the site. The remains, shown in
plan in figure 12, occupy the summit of a hill about 10 feet high,
composed principally of debris of walls. Only a few faint traces now
remain, but two kivas are still clearly distinguishable. The one on the
south had an interior bench, which apparently extended around it. The
other shows walls 2 feet high, and has been plastered with a number of
successive coats. The small wall on the extreme right of the plan is
composed of almost pure mud.
There are a number of ruins in the canyons of the type shown in figure
13. They are generally located directly on the bottom, and seldom as
much as 5 feet above it, within coves or under overhanging cliffs; they
are always of small area, and generally so far obliterated that no walls
or wall remains are now visible. The obliteration is due not so much to
antiquity, which may or may not have been a cause, but to the character
of the site they occupied. They are always in sheltered situations, and
being on the canyon bottom are much used by the Navaho as sheepfolds and
have been so used for years. Sometimes, although rarely, faint traces of
kivas can be made out.
[Illustration: Fig. 13--Ground plan of a small ruin on bottom land.]
The example illustrated occurs at the point marked 43 on the map. It is
situated in a cove in a point of rock jutting out from the main cliff.
The rock is about 60 feet high and the cove about 30 feet deep, and the
remains are but a few feet above the level of the bottom land outside.
The walls are composed of rather small stones; the interstices were
chinked with spawls, and the masonry was laid up with an abundance of
mud mortar. The back wall of the cove is considerably blackened by
smoke.
One of the most striking and most important ruins in the canyon is shown
in plan in figures 14 and 15. This is the ruin seen by Lieutenant
Simpson in 1849 and subsequently called Casa Blanca. It is also known
under the equivalent Navaho term, Kini-na e-kai or White House. The
general character of the ruin is shown in plate XLVII, which is from a
photograph. At first sight this ruin appears not to belong to this
class, or rather to belong both to this class and the succeeding one
composed of villages located with reference to defense; but, as will
appear later, it has nothing in common with the latter.
[Illustration: Plate XLVII
Casa Blanca Ruin, Canyon De Chelly]
In its present condition the ruin consists of two distinct parts--a
lower part, comprising a large cluster of rooms on the bottom land
against the vertical cliff, and an upper part which was much smaller and
occupied a cave directly over the lower portion and was separated from
it only by some 35 feet of vertical cliff. There is evidence, however,
that some of the houses in the lower settlement were four stories high
against the cliff, and in fact that the structures were practically
continuous; but for convenience of description we may regard the ruin as
composed of two.
The lower ruin covers an area of about 150 by 50 feet, raised but a few
feet above the bottom land, probably by its own debris. Within this area
there are remains of 45 rooms on the ground, in addition to a circular
kiva. On the east side there are walls still standing to a height of 12
and 14 feet. It is probable that the lower ruin comprised about 60
rooms, which, with a liberal allowance for the rooms in the cave, would
make a total of 80. This would furnish accommodations for a maximum of
10 or 12 families or a total population of 50 or 60 persons. It is
probable, however, that this estimate is excessive and that the total
population at any one time did not exceed 30 or 40 persons.
[Illustration: Fig. 14--Ground plan of the lower part of Casa Blanca
ruin.]
The ground plans shown are the result of a very careful survey, plotted
on the ground on a large scale (10 feet to 1 inch--1:120), and the
irregularities shown were carefully noted and put down at the time.
These irregularities, which are commonly ignored in the preparation of
plans of ruins, are of the highest importance. From them the sequence of
construction can often be determined.
[Illustration: Fig. 15--Ground plan of the upper part of Casa Blanca
ruin.]
The walls of the lower ruin are somewhat obscured by loose debris, of
which a large amount is lying about. Roof debris is especially abundant;
it consists of small twigs and lumps of clay, with ends of beams
projecting here and there. The principal walls occur in the eastern
part, where some of them are 2 feet thick and still standing to a height
of 10 and 12 and in one place of 14 feet. An inspection of the plan will
show that, as is invariably the case where a wall rises to a height of
more than one story, the lower part is massive and the upper wall sets
back 5 or 6 inches, reducing its thickness by that amount. All the heavy
walls occur either about the kiva or east of it. Apparently these walls
were built first especially heavy and massive, and afterward, when upper
stories were added, it was not found necessary to carry them up the full
thickness. It will be noticed that the wall extending eastward from the
corner of the kiva, and which is from a foot to 6 feet high at the
present time, extends through the heavy wall which crosses it 33 feet to
the east, and is continuous to its termination about 50 feet east,
against another heavy wall. The last-mentioned wall is also continuous
from the cliff out to the front of the ruin, a distance of about 46
feet.
The heavy walls of the lower ruin are immediately under the upper cave.
Back of them the cliff presents an almost smooth face of rock, 35 feet
high and slightly overhanging. On this rock face there are marks which
show that formerly there were upper stories, the rooms of which are
outlined upon it. The rock surface was coated in places with a thin wash
of clay, doubtless to correspond with the other walls of the rooms, but
this coating was necessarily omitted where the partition walls and roofs
and floors abutted on the rock. This is shown in plate XLVII. Although
the marks are now so faint as to be easily overlooked, at a certain hour
in the day, when the light falls obliquely on the rock, they can be
clearly made out. At a point about 50 feet east of the kiva the
structure was three stories higher than it is now. The roof of the upper
story was within 4 feet of the floor of the cave, and under the gap or
gateway in front of the main room above. West of this point there are
the marks of but two stories additional. Farther west the structure rose
again, but not to the height attained on the east.
The kiva was placed directly against the cliff. This is an unusual
arrangement; but it will be noticed that the walls in front of it are of
a different character from those on the east, and it is probable that
when the kiva was built it opened to the air. The kiva is also anomalous
in its construction. It presents the usual features of the inner
circular chamber and an inclosing rectangular wall, but in this case the
intermediate space was filled in solidly, and perhaps was so
constructed. The kiva is still 6 feet deep inside, which must be nearly
its maximum depth, and the roof was probably placed at a level not more
than a foot or two above the present top. Whether the village was placed
on a slight raise, or on the flat, level with the bottom land about it,
and subsequently filled up with the debris of masonry, etc, can not be
determined without excavation; but the top of the kiva is now 16 feet
above the general level of the bottom land, and its bottom 10 feet above
that level. It is possible that the kiva was much deeper than now
appears, as no sign of the usual interior bench can be seen above the
present ground surface, nor can any connection with the chimney-like
structure to the south of it be determined, yet such connection must
have existed. Probably not only this kiva but the whole ruin would well
repay excavation.
The interior of the kiva was not exactly circular, being a little
elongated northeast and southwest. The inclosing wall on the east is
still standing in one place to a height of 5 feet above the top of the
kiva structure, and about a foot above that level is marked by a
setback, which reduces its thickness. Apparently the upper part was
added at a date some time subsequent to the completion of the kiva
structure, as the wall on the south, now some 3 feet above the level
mentioned, does not conform to the lower exterior wall on which it was
placed. On the western side there is another fragment of the upper
inclosing wall. Both this wall and the one on the south are less than 15
inches in thickness.
West of the kiva there are remains of other stone walls which differ in
character from those on the east. They are now usually less than 3 feet
high; they were 12 to 15 inches thick, and the lines are very irregular.
South of the kiva, in the center of the ruin, there are other stone
walls even thinner and more irregularly placed than those on the west,
but most of the walls here are of adobe. As the use of adobe blocks is
not an aboriginal feature, the occurrence of these walls is a matter of
much interest, especially as they are so intimately associated with the
stonework that it is not always an easy matter to separate them.
The occurrence and distribution of adobe walls is shown on the ground
plan. They are not found as subordinate walls, dividing larger rooms,
except perhaps in one instance; but apparently this method of
construction was employed when it was desired to add new rooms to those
already constructed. No room with walls constructed wholly of adobe can
be made out, but walls of this character closing one side of a room are
common, and rooms with two or even three sides of adobe are not
uncommon. There are some instances in which part of a wall is stone and
part adobe, and also instances in which the lower wall, complete in
itself, is of stone, while the upper part, evidently a later addition,
is of adobe; such, for example, is the cross wall in the eastern tier,
about 30 feet from the cliff.
The mere occurrence of adobe here is evidence of the occupancy of this
site at a period subsequent to the sixteenth century--we might almost
say subsequent to the middle of the seventeenth; but its occurrence in
this way and in such intimate association with the stone walls indicates
that the occupancy was continuous from a time prior to the introduction
of adobe construction to a period some time subsequent to it. This
hypothesis is supported by other evidence, which will appear later.
Attention may here be directed to the fact that there are four
chimney-like structures in the lower ruin, all of adobe, and all, except
the one which pertains to the kiva, attached to adobe walls.
On the western margin of the ruin, and nowhere else within it, there are
traces of another kind of construction which was not found elsewhere
within the canyon. This method is known to the Mexicans as "jacal," and
much used by them. It consists of a row of sticks or thin poles set
vertically in the ground and heavily plastered with mud. At present not
one of these walls remains to a height of 6 inches above the ground, but
the lines of poles broken off at the ground level are still visible. The
ground at this point is but 3 or 4 feet above the general level of the
bottom. The ground plan shows the occurrence of these wall remains on
the western edge of the site. They are all outside of but attached to
what was formerly the exterior wall on that side.
There are remains of four Navaho burial cists in the lower ruin, at the
points shown on the ground plan. These are constructed of stones and mud
roughly put together in the ordinary manner, forming thin, rounded
walls; but these can not be confounded with the other methods of
construction described. Three of the cists have long been in ruins and
broken down; the one on the east is but a few years old.
Access to the upper ruin can now be had only with much difficulty. In
the western end of the cave there is a single room placed on the cliff
edge, and between this and the end of a wall to the right a small stick
has been embedded in the masonry at a height of about 2 feet from the
rock. The cliff here is vertical and affords no footing, but by throwing
a rope over the stick a man can ascend hand over hand. During the period
when the houses were occupied, access was had in another and much easier
way, through a doorway or passageway nearly in the center of the ruin
and directly over the point where the lower village was four stories
high. The roof of the lower structure was less than 4 feet below the
floor of the cave; yet there is no doubt that a doorway or passageway
existed also at the western end of the cave, as the western end of the
wall on the right of the stick is neatly finished and apparently
complete.
The principal room in the upper ruin is situated nearly in the center of
the cave, and is the one that has given the whole ruin its name. The
walls are 2 feet thick, constructed of stone, 12 feet high in front and
7 feet high on the sides and inside. The exterior was finished with a
coat of whitewash, with a decorative band in yellow; hence the name of
Casa Blanca or White House. West of the principal room there is a
smaller one, which appears to be a later addition. The walls of this
room are only 7 inches thick, of adobe on the sides and back and of
small stones in front. The top of the wall is about 2 feet below the top
of the wall on the east. The coat of whitewash and the yellow decorative
band are continuous over both rooms, but the white coat was also applied
to the exterior western wall of the main room. In the main room there is
a series of small sticks, about half an inch in diameter, projecting 8
inches from the wall and on a line 3 or 4 inches under where the roof
was.
The small room in the eastern end of the cave was located on a kind of
bench or upper level, and was constructed partly of stone and partly of
adobe. The stone part is the upper portion of the eastern half. On the
west there is a small opening or window, with an appliance for closing
it. It is probable that this room was used only for storage. In the
western end of the cave there is another single room, which is clearly
shown in plate XLVII. The front wall is 11 feet high outside and 5 feet
high inside. The lower portion is stone, the upper part and sides are
adobe, and the side walls rest on nearly 2 feet of straw, ashes, etc.
The buttress shown in the illustration is of stone and the front wall
that it supports is slightly battened. A close inspection of the
illustration will show that this wall rests partly on horizontal timber
work, a feature which is repeated in several walls in the main cluster
of the ruins.
The use of timber laid horizontally under a wall is not uncommon, and as
it will be discussed at greater length in another place, it may be
dismissed here with the statement that as a rule it failed to accomplish
the purpose intended. But the use of the buttress is an anomalous
feature which it is difficult to believe was of aboriginal conception.
Its occurrence in this ruin together with so many other unaboriginal
features is suggestive.
The walls of the principal room and of the rooms immediately in front of
it are constructed of stone; all the other walls in the upper ruin are
of adobe or have adobe in them. The two rooms on the east and two walls
of the room adjoining on the west are wholly of adobe, about 7 inches
thick and now 3 and 4 feet high. In the southeast corner of the second
room from the east there is an opening through the front wall which may
have been a drain. It is on the floor level, round, 5 inches in
diameter, and smoothly plastered. In the fourth room from the east there
is a similar hole. Both of these discharge on the edge of the cliff, and
it is difficult to imagine their purpose unless they were expedients for
draining the rooms; but this would imply that the rooms were not roofed.
Although the cliff above is probably 500 feet high, and overhangs to the
degree that a rock pushed over its edge falls 15 feet or more outside of
the outermost wall remains, and over 70 feet from the foot of the cliff,
still a driving storm of rain or snow would leave considerable
quantities of water in the front rooms if they were not roofed, and some
means would have to be provided to carry it off.
In the same room, the fourth from the east, there are the remains of a
chimney-like structure, the only one in the upper ruin. It is in the
northeast corner, at a point where the wall has fallen and been replaced
by a Navaho burial cist also fallen in ruin, and was constructed of
stone. There is no doubt that it was added some time after the walls
were built, as it has cracked off from the wall on the east, which shows
at that point its original finish. In the eastern wall of this room
there is a well-finished opening, and at the corresponding point in the
wall of the room on the right, the third wall from the east, there is
another. The latter wall is of adobe, or rather there are two adobe
walls built side by side; one, the eastern, considerably thinner than
the other. The opening extends through both walls; it was neatly
finished and was closed by a thin slab of stone plastered in with mud.
It has the appliance for closing mentioned above and described later
(page 165). Most of the openings in the walls appear to have been closed
up at the time the houses were abandoned.
The front wall of the main room is 12 feet high in front and was stepped
back 6 inches at half its height from the ground. The stepback is
continued through the front wall of the small room on the west. Near the
center of the main room there is a well-finished doorway, directly over
the point where a cross wall in front of it comes in. This opening was
originally a double-notched or T-shape doorway, but at a later period
was filled up so as to leave only a rectangular orifice. The principal
entrance to the upper ruin was in front of this opening and a little to
the left of it. It will be noticed from an inspection of the plan that
the room into which this entrance opened was divided at a point about
4 feet back from the cliff edge by a stone wall not more than half the
thickness of the walls on either side of it. This cross wall is still
6 feet high on the side nearest the cliff, but there is no evidence of a
doorway or opening through it. The back rooms must have been reached by
a ladder in front, thence over the roof of the room. The cliff entrance
was a narrow doorway left in the front wall. The ends of the walls on
either side were smoothly finished, as in the western doorway.
There are many lumps of clay scattered about on the ground, some showing
impressions of small sticks. Apparently they are the debris of roofs.
There are also some fragments of pottery, principally corrugated ware.
The adobe walls in the upper ruin rest generally on rock, sometimes on
ashes and loose debris; in the lower ruin they rest usually on stone
foundations. The occurrence in this ruin of many features that are not
aboriginal suggests that it was one of the last to be abandoned in the
canyon, but there are certain features which make it seem probable that
the upper portion continued to be inhabited for some time after the
lower portion. The contrivance for closing openings is identical with
examples found in the Mesa Verde region, and it is probable that an
intimate connection between the two existed.