The distinction between home villages located on bottom lands absolutely
without reference to the defensive value of the site, and other villages
located on defensive sites, is to some extent an arbitrary one. The
former, which are always located at the base of or under an overhanging
cliff, sometimes occupy slightly raised ground which overlooks the
adjacent land, and the latter are sometimes so slightly raised above the
bottoms they overlook as hardly to come within the classification.
Moreover, ruins in their present condition sometimes belong to both
classes, as in the example last described. Yet a general distinction may
be drawn between the classes, in that the former are generally located
directly upon the bottom land and invariably without thought or regard
to the defensive value of the site, while in the latter the effect of
this requirement is always apparent.
The class of ruins which has been designated as the remains of villages
located for defense comprises all the most striking remains in the
canyon, many of which may properly be termed cliff ruins. The
characteristics of the class are: A site more or less difficult of
access--generally an elaborate ground plan, although sometimes they
consist of only a few rooms--and the invariable presence of the kiva or
estufa, here always circular in form. The largest ruin of this class
occurs in Del Muerto, and is known as Mummy Cave ruin. It is called by
the Navajo Tse-i-ya-kin. It is situated in the upper part of the canyon,
near the junction of a small branch, and has an extensive outlook.
At a height of about 80 feet above the top of a gentle slope of earth
and loose rock, and perhaps 300 feet above the stream bed, there are two
coves in the rock, connected by a narrow bench. The western cove is
about 100 feet across and its back is perhaps 75 feet from the front
wall of the cliff. The eastern cove is over 200 feet across and perhaps
100 feet deep, while the connecting ledge is about 110 feet long. Ruins
occur on the central ledge and on similar ledges in the back parts of
both coves.
The western or smaller cove is accessible only from the ledge, which in
turn can be approached only from the eastern cove. The smaller cove had
a row of little rooms across the back and there are traces of walls on
the slope in front of these. Fourteen rooms can now be made out on the
ground; altogether there may have been 20 rooms in this portion.
Practically all the available space on the ledge was occupied by rooms,
and 10, all of considerable size, can now be traced. The total number in
this portion was 14 or 15. The eastern cove contained the largest part
of the settlement. The back part is occupied by a ledge about 50 feet
wide entirely covered by remains of walls. Some 44 rooms can now be made
out on the ground, in addition to 3 or perhaps 4 circular kivas, and the
whole number of rooms may have been 55. Assuming, then, that the various
portions of the ruin were inhabited at the same time, we would have a
total of 90 rooms; but, as many of them could be used only for storage,
the population could not have been more than 60 persons.
The rooms in the western cove are fairly uniform in size and were
probably habitations, for they are all too large to be classed as
storage rooms. There was no kiva in this portion, however, nor any
unoccupied place where a kiva might have been placed. It seems clear,
therefore, that this portion was either an appendage of the other or was
occupied at a later period; in either case it was constructed at a date
subsequent to the remains in the eastern cove.
[Illustration: Plate XLVIII
Mummy Cave, Central and Eastern Part]
The intermediate ledge, which is about 110 feet long and about 30 feet
wide, was practically all occupied by a row of seven rooms, some of them
of more than one story. These rooms are exceptionally large--larger than
any group of rooms in the canyon or in this part of the country. The
outside or front wall is more than 20 feet from the cliff back of it,
and the rooms are from 10 to 15 feet wide. Figure 16, which is a ground
plan of the ruin, shows the exceptional size of these rooms. All of them
were at least two stories high; some were three. The walls in this
portion are generally 2 feet or more thick and exceptionally well
constructed. Its eastern end is still standing to a height of three
stories, and carries a roof intact, giving a tower-like effect to that
portion. Originally this portion rose but one story above the other
rooms. Throughout nearly all its length the front wall shows part of the
upper story, which is also marked on the cliff wall by a thin wash of
clay, in the same manner as in the Casa Blanca ruin. The two rooms west
of the tower were surmounted by a single large room. The cliff wall is
coated with a thin wash of yellowish clay, and no mark of a cross wall
or partition can be seen upon it. There are no openings between the
three eastern rooms on the ground floor. The first room to the west of
the tower has a square chimney-like shaft, and a niche or alcove
connected with it. The second room also has a niche and a rounded shaft.
The third room has neither niche nor shaft.
[Illustration: Fig. 16--Ground plan of Mummy Cave ruin.]
The front wall was exceptionally heavy, but the upper portion has fallen
inward, forming a heavy mass of debris against it. The east and south
sides of the tower, for about 5 feet of its height, are decorated by
inlaying small stones 1 to 2 inches long and half an inch thick. The
same decoration occurs at intervals down the front wall, but
irregularly. This feature is not chinking, such as has been described,
and has no constructive value, but is purely decorative. Back of the
rooms west of the tower there are some old pictographs on the cliff wall
at the place where the roof abutted on it. Here the wash of clay before
mentioned was necessarily omitted. In the first room there is a
pictograph of a man, in the second a semicircle, both done in
light-green paint.
The lower part of the outer corner of the tower has fallen out. At this
point there was a small doorway or opening, which was the only entrance
on the south or east. The corner which has fallen was apparently
supported by three or four sticks laid horizontally on the rock at an
angle of 45 degrees with either wall. The giving way of the timber
support apparently caused the fall of the corner, but why a structure
otherwise so substantial should be placed on such frail support, when a
filling of masonry was both easy and practicable, is not clear.
The doorway mentioned is the only opening into the ground-floor room in
the tower. Connection with the rooms on the west was through a large
doorway in the western wall of the second story, and in the story above
there was a similar opening. These are shown in plate XLVIII, which is a
general view of the central portion of the eastern cove.
The lintels of the openings in the central part are formed of round
sticks, about 3 inches in diameter, matched, and bound together with
withes. These withes may be seen in places where the mud plaster has
fallen away. The stick lintels occur only in the central portion; the
windows and doorways of the other portions of the ruin, some fine
examples of which remain, are always finished with stone lintels and
sometimes with stone jambs.
A little east of the center of the front wall there is a large rock, or
rather a pile of large rocks, near the outer edge of the ledge. This is
shown in the illustration. Instead of removing this obstruction the wall
was built under and over it. Near the western end of the front wall
there is a large doorway or opening. Access to the western cove was
along the narrow edge of the ledge under the front wall, thence through
this doorway. The doorway gave entrance to a very narrow space, less
than 4 feet square, surrounded by a heavy wall with a doorway through
the left or western wall into the last apartment of the series. Through
the western wall of this apartment a doorway opened on the end of the
ledge and the western cove. This principal entrance is shown in plate
XLVIII. Its size is exceptional, it being about 6 feet high. A little
below the top there is a single stick across it, and a similar
contrivance was found in place in the openings in the tower, but it does
not occur in the opening in the cross wall. The same feature is found in
the modern pueblos, where the stick forms the support of a blanket
draped to close the opening.
[Illustration: Plate XLIX
Eastern Cove of Mummy Cave]
A little east of the doorway in the front wall there is a small opening
near the ground, through which can be seen what appears to be a roof. It
is but 2 feet above the ground, however, and very roughly constructed.
It consists of a layer of cedar logs; above this a layer of small
sticks, and above this again slabs of stone and mud. It occurs under a
narrow room or passage, shown on the plan, and seems to have been the
floor of that room rather than a roof of a space below.
Roofing or flooring beams project from the tower on three sides. They
are all rounded and carefully selected or matched. Those of the lower
story or first roof are 41/2 inches in diameter, those of the story above
about 3 inches, while those of the roof, which occur in pairs, are about
21/2 inches. They all, except those of the lower story, project about
2 feet from the wall. All the beams are from 18 inches to 2 feet apart,
and the roof is formed of canes or willow sticks less than half an inch
in diameter laid very neatly in patterns. The work here is by far the
best in any part of the canyon. The beams of the first floor are
represented only by the ends which pass through the walls, the middle
portion being gone.
The cliff wall forming one side of the rooms in the tower was coated
with a wash of yellowish clay to correspond with the other sides. It
shows bare rock at the points where the floors abutted against it. The
roof of the second story or middle room was 10 inches thick, and the
marks are on the same level as those of the rooms over the west of the
tower. There are also beam holes in the third story about 4 feet above
its floor, but extending only from the cliff out to its opening.
A singular feature occurs in the tower, which is difficult to explain.
The upper part of the third-story room was coated in the interior with
whitewash, which appears to have been carelessly applied. Small
quantities struck the setback at the floor level and spattered over the
wall below--that of the second-story room. In one case a considerable
quantity of the whitewash struck the top of a beam in what would be the
roof of the second story and scattered over the wall surface below it.
It is therefore clear that at the time when the whitewash was applied,
which was either at the time or subsequent to the habitation of the
rooms, there was no floor to the third-story room nor roof to the second
story. The stains of whitewash never go below the floor level of the
second story.
The house remains in the eastern cove are partly shown in plate XLIX,
which is from a photograph. The point of view is from the ledge in front
of the tower. The ruins rest on a ledge in the back of the cove formed
of debris well compacted and apparently consisting partly of sheep dung.
The rooms are small, sometimes three deep against the back of the cove,
and many of them could only have been used for storage. The principal
structure is the western kiva, with its chimney-like attachments. This
is described at length on pages 177, 179, 186, and 187. Adjoining it on
the east is another kiva, part of whose wall is still two stories high,
and clearly shown in the illustration. Some 50 or 60 feet to the east or
southeast there is another circular structure, which apparently had no
interior bench. The small semicircular structure shown on the plan and
in the illustration, which rests against and is roofed by the rock, is a
Navaho burial cist, and another of these cists, of large size, occurs
west of the principal kiva; but the ruin as a whole contains much less
evidence of Navaho work than those farther down the canyon.
Many of the walls are built entirely of small pieces of stone, not more
than 3 or 4 inches long by 2 inches wide and half an inch to an inch and
a half thick. This construction is especially noticeable in inner walls.
The joints are carefully plastered, evidently with the hand, but the mud
is seldom allowed to cover the stone. It appears to have been applied
externally, in pellets about the size of a walnut. The general thickness
of walls is about 15 inches, although on the intermediate ledge they are
over 2 feet, but some of the less important walls consist of a single
layer, 6 to 8 inches thick. Walls are sometimes seen here supported by
vertical timbers incorporated in them after the manner later described
at some length. Ends of logs project here and there from the debris on
the slope, but probably many of them are the debris of roofs.
The peculiar and anomalous features presented by the remains on the
intermediate ledge seem to require some explanation. This portion of the
ruin is not only different from the other portions, but different also
from anything else in the canyon, and the difference is not one of
degree only. Doubtless systematic excavation in the various parts of the
ruin would afford an explanation. In the absence of such work we can
only speculate on the problem.
The occurrence of two chimney-like shafts in connection with the
rectangular rooms west of the tower is significant. Nowhere else in the
canyons, except in the Casa Blanca ruin, do these structures occur, so
far as known, except in connection with circular kivas. As regards the
ruin named, it is almost certain that it was occupied in the historic
period, probably in the seventeenth century.
The division of the ruin into three separate parts, the absence of kivas
in the western cove, and the method of access to that portion all
attract attention. If there were monks or other Spaniards in the
settlement, the explanation would be plain; they and those of the
natives allied with them would occupy the central ledge, and the
anomalous features would be natural under the circumstances. Such a
hypothesis would explain also the source of the many unaboriginal
features which are found in other parts of the canyon, but there is no
direct evidence to support it. It should be mentioned, however, that the
walls here rest on about half an inch of substance which resembles
compacted sheep dung. If the substance is really such, the walls must
have been built within the historic period.
[Illustration: Fig. 17--Ruin in a rock cove.]
At the point marked 48 on the map there is a ruin which resembles
somewhat in its location an example previously described (page 98). It
is situated in a cove in a jutting point of rock, forming part of the
talus slope, and is about 20 feet above the bottom, which it overlooks.
Figure 17 shows the character of the site, and figure 18 is a ground
plan. At the back of the cove a row of small rooms, five or six in
number, was built against the rock. In front of these there were two
kivas and perhaps other rooms. Only fragments of these now remain, but
it can still be seen that both kivas had interior benches, and that the
western one has been plastered with several successive coats--at least
four. There are no pictographs on the back wall, and but little
staining by smoke. The masonry is rather rough, consisting of large
stones, pretty well chinked with small spawls.
[Illustration: Fig. 18--Ground plan of a ruin in a rock cove.]
Some of the walls were plastered. The western end of the ruin has been
partially restored by the Navaho and used for burial cists, and other
cists have been built on the site independent of the old walls, as shown
on the plan. Figure 19 is a ground plan of a ruin on a ledge near the
mouth of Del Muerto, at the point marked 15 on the map. It is situated
at the back of a considerable bay, directly opposite a large rock at the
mouth of Del Muerto, and overlooked the whole of the bottom land in the
bay. The houses were built on a bench or ledge, about 30 feet wide,
overhung by the cliff above and dropping down almost vertically to the
bottom land, about 40 feet below, but on the east access to the bench
was easy by a slope of talus extending up to it. The site was covered
with bowlders, and walls have been built over and under them. The
masonry is good, and was composed of larger stones than usual, carefully
chinked with spalls, the work being well done.
There were but 10 rooms on the ground, in addition to one circular kiva;
some of these rooms are too small for habitation, and one of them
appears to have been a rectangular kiva. On the same bench, about 100
feet westward, however, there are traces of other rooms, the walls of
which were very thin. The cliffs back of the ruin and for 200 feet west
of it are covered with pictographs in white and colors.
[Illustration: Fig. 19--Ground plan of a ruin on a ledge.]
Near the center of that portion of the ruin shown on the ground plan
there is a large room which may have been a rectangular kiva. The walls
are over 2 feet thick in the first story, diminishing at the roof level
by a step or setback to the ordinary thickness of about a foot. These
walls, as usual in such structures, were about 2 feet thick; they are
slightly curved, the front wall markedly so, and the interior corners
are well rounded. No reason for this curvature is apparent, and it is
certainly not dictated by the occurrence of the rock over which the wall
is built, as only the point of this rock comes through the wall in the
western side of the front wall. There may have been an opening into the
room through the eastern wall connecting it with the room on that side,
as the masonry is there broken down; but this is doubtful, as the
eastern room itself has no exterior opening. It is more probable that
the large room was entered through the roof, for the thin wall of the
second story shows in front one side of a well-finished doorway.
Just outside of the heavy front wall there is a round hole in the
ground, the remains of a vertical shaft connected with the interior of
the room. The hole is about a foot in diameter, and is neatly plastered
inside, and appears to have been a chimney or a chimney-like structure
such as occur in connection with the kivas in other ruins. It will later
be discussed in detail.
The circular kiva occupies the western end of that part of the room
shown in the plan. It was 15 feet in diameter, and is exceptionally well
built. The wall is standing for about half of its circumference, and was
so neatly finished that the interior coating of plaster was apparently
omitted. There are no traces of inclosing rectangular walls; the
thickness of the kiva walls and the exceptionally large stones used in
parts of it suggest that the kiva stood alone. So far as the walls
remain standing, an interior bench can be traced, about 2 feet wide and
6 feet below the top of the outside wall. On the southeastern side, in
the interior, there is a buttress or projection, which terminates the
bench at this point.
[Illustration: Fig. 20--Ground plan of ruin No. 31, Canyon de
Chelly.]
The walls between the rectangular room described and the circular kiva
are thin and very irregularly laid out. In front of the rectangular room
and on the edge of the bench, which is here but a few feet above the
talus, a rather heavy wall has been built over the top of a rock, and
inside or to the north of it another wall has been placed, hardly 2 feet
distant. These walls are connected at the eastern end by a thin cross
wall, now but slightly above the ground surface and notched like a
doorway. Below the notch a slab of stone has been placed and was
apparently used as a step. The purpose of these walls is not clear, but
they may have constituted an entrance or passageway to the village. If
so, we have here a very efficient defensive expedient and a decided
anomaly in cliff-village architecture.
At the point marked 31 on the map there is a small ruin on a ledge about
150 feet above the bottom and difficult of access. The site overlooks
considerable areas of bottom land on both sides of the canyon, and was
probably connected with and formed part of a larger ruin on the same
ledge and east of it, which will next be described. On this site there
are remains of half a dozen rooms or more and of one circular kiva,
which was 20 feet in diameter. (See ground plan, figure 20.) The site
has been much filled up, and the kiva appears as a cylindrical
depression, flush with the ground outside, but 3 to 5 feet deep inside.
The walls are rather thin and smoothly plastered inside. On the south
side there is an opening extending down to the floor level and opening
directly on the sharply sloping rock. This feature will later be
discussed at some length. The walls to the west of the kiva are still 14
or 15 feet high, showing two stories, and were well constructed and
smoothly plastered. The interior of the kiva shows a number of
successive coats of plastering--at least eight.
[Illustration: Fig. 21--Ground plan of ruin No. 32, Canyon de
Chelly.]
Immediately above the last-mentioned ruin, and on the same ledge, occur
the remains of a large settlement, shown in plan in figure 21. It will
be noticed that here, as in some of the previous examples described, the
general arrangement consists of a row of rooms against the cliff, with
the kivas in front. There were at least 17 rooms in line, and there
may have been as many as 30 to 50 rectangular rooms in the village,
scattered over an area nearly 200 feet long by 65 feet wide, but not all
of this area was covered. Three kivas are still clearly shown.
This ruin is especially interesting on account of the site it occupies.
The walls were placed on sharply sloping rock and in some cases on
loose debris, and numerous expedients were resorted to to prevent them
from slipping down the slope. The fact that these expedients were not
successful makes them more interesting. Upright logs were inclosed in
the walls and anchored in holes drilled in the rock below; horizontal
logs were built into the masonry as ties and placed below it, and heavy
retaining walls were erected. These constructive expedients will later
be discussed at greater length.
The whole slope is more or less covered with debris, and there is no
doubt that this was at one time a considerable settlement. The cliff
walls near the east end show traces of two stories, and in one place of
three stories, which formerly rested against them. Moreover, the number
of successive coats of plaster in the kiva shows an extended occupancy,
an inference which is further supported by the variety of expedients
which were adopted to hold the walls in place.
The marked irregularity of the five eastern rooms as compared with the
regular series west of them will be noticed on the plan. These eastern
rooms must have been added at a period subsequent to the completion of
the others. The marks of a second and third story occur on the cliff
back of this cluster, and there is no doubt that it was an important
part of the settlement. West of the area shown on the plan traces of
walls occur on the slope and among the debris for a distance of over 100
feet.
Parts of three kivas can now be seen on the ground, and this was
probably the total number in the settlement. The fronts of all of them
have fallen out, notwithstanding various expedients that were employed
to hold them in place. The western wall of the western kiva is part of
the rectangular system and was apparently in place before the kiva was
built. A triangular block which formed the junction in front of this
kiva and the central one has slipped down and new walls were afterward
built to restore the kivas to their original shape. The central kiva has
an interior bench, which was, however, added after the structure was
completed, and in fact after the front had been replaced. The second
falling off of the front has left a fine section of the wall, and the
changes which have taken place are plainly shown in it.
That the interior bench was added long after the original kiva had been
completed and occupied is shown by the occurrence between it and the
wall of nearly an inch of plaster composed of separate coatings, each
smoke-blackened, varying from the thickness of a piece of heavy paper
up to an eighth of an inch or more. If one of these coatings were added
each year, twelve or fifteen years at least must have elapsed between
the building of the kiva and the construction of the interior bench. The
original floor of the kiva was composed of a layer of mud mortar about
an inch thick, and extends through under the bench, the top of which is
about 3 feet above it; Under this floor there is a straight wall at
right angles to the cliff and extending some 4 feet toward the center of
the kiva; what is left of it is just under the floor level.
There is a suggestion in this that the site of the kiva was originally
occupied by rectangular rooms, and there is a further suggestion, in the
end sections referred to, that the kiva had at some period fallen into
decay and was subsequently rebuilt. All this occurred before the first
falling out of the front.
The section shows that the original walls were not so thick as the
present ones, and that there was formerly a slight setback in the wall
of 21/2 or 3 inches at the level of the present bench, reducing the
thickness of the wall by that amount. The original outside wall on the
east extends only 6 inches above this setback. The upper portion of the
exterior wall was added at the same time that the bench was constructed
and is the same thickness as the lower part of the original wall. Figure
22 will make clear the changes which have taken place.
There was a recess of some kind in the original wall on the east and a
similar one on the west side, but they have been filled up by the later
additions. The upright logs which were built into the masonry are
incorporated in the older walls. Under the floor, and apparently under
the walls themselves, there is a layer nearly a foot thick of loose
debris consisting of cornstalks, corn leaves, ashes, and loose dirt.
The floor of the east circular room, which still covers about half the
interior, rests similarly on a layer of ashes. The expedients employed
to hold the front walls of these kivas in place are later discussed at
some length.
[Illustration: Fig. 22--Section of a kiva wall.]
Figure 23 shows the character of site occupied by a village ruin of some
size situated in the first cove in the cliff wall below the mouth of
Canyon del Muerto. The cliff here is about 300 feet high and the ruin
is located on a ledge in a cove about 70 feet above the stream bed.
Although seemingly very difficult to reach, the ruin is of comparatively
easy access without artificial aid. The cavity was caused apparently by
the occurrence of a pocket of material softer than that about it, and
this softer material has weathered out, showing very strongly the lines
of cross bedding, which, in the massive rock on either side, have been
almost entirely obliterated. The strata are inclined at an angle and the
edges project from a few inches to about a foot, forming a series of
little benches tilted up at an angle of about 45 degrees. By the
exercise of some agility, one can ascend along these benches. About
halfway between the site of the ruin and the stream bed there is a
narrow horizontal bench, and again halfway between this bench and the
ruin there is another, about 55 feet above the stream. Access to the
ruins is greatly facilitated by these intermediate ledges.
The bench on which the ruin occurs is about 250 feet long and generally
about 20 feet wide, the surface being almost flat. There are structures
on the extreme northern and on the extreme southern ends, but a
considerable part of the intermediate area was not occupied. Reference
to the ground plan (figure 24) will show that most of the buildings
occur on the northern half of the ledge, which was fairly well filled by
them. Many of the walls in this portion are apparently underlaid by a
foot or more of ashes, sheep dung, domestic refuse, cornhusks, etc.
[Illustration: Fig. 23--Ruin No. 10 on a ledge in a cove.]
The room which is shown in the center of the plan, at the southern end
of the main group, stood alone and was the largest rectangular room in
the village. It covered an area 15 feet by 9 feet inside the walls,
which are now 5 or 6 feet high. The masonry is very good, although
chinking with spalls was but slightly employed to finish the exterior;
inside it is more apparent. The western wall was built over the edge of
the sloping rock forming the back of the cove, as shown on the plan, and
this rock projects below the wall into the room. There were apparently
no openings in the walls, except some very small ones on the eastern
side, near the floor level. In the southern wall a piece of rough timber
was inlaid in the masonry, about 5 feet above the floor, flush with the
wall inside and extending nearly through it. This piece of timber was
crooked and its bend determined the wall line, which is bowed outward,
as shown on the ground plan. This feature will be discussed later.
There were two circular kivas in the village, one of which was unusually
small, being only about 10 feet in diameter north and south; the
east-and-west diameter is a trifle smaller. There was apparently no
bench in the interior, but on the western or northwestern side there
is a bench-like recess of about a foot which occupies 7 feet of the
circumference. The whole interior was covered with a number of washes
of clay, applied one over another, forming a coating now nearly
three-quarters of an inch thick. This is cracked and peeled off
in places, and in the section eighteen coats, generally about one
thirty-second of an inch thick, may be counted. Each coat or plastering
is defined by a film of smoke-blackened surface.
[Illustration: Fig. 24--Ground plan of ruin No. 10.]
On a level about 2 feet above the bench and about 5 feet above the
present ground surface, there seems to have been some kind of roof. The
stones here project into the interior slightly beyond the wall surface,
and the plaster seems to curve inward. This point or level is from 6 to
18 inches below the top of the wall, and here there are remains of
occasional small sticks, about an inch in diameter, which projected into
the kiva. They are irregularly disposed and probably had no connection
with the roof, but there are no traces of heavier timbers above them. In
the interior a white band with points completely encircled the kiva. The
top of this band is about a foot above the present ground surface and
about 18 inches below the bench on the western side. It is illustrated
in figure 72.
The exterior wall of the kiva was very roughly laid up, and some of the
lower stones were set on edge, which is rather an anomalous feature.
There is no evidence that the structure was ever inclosed in rectangular
walls, as was the usual custom; in fact, the occurrence of other walls
near it would apparently preclude such an arrangement. The wall which
runs north or northwest from the kiva, joining it to the cliff wall
behind, is pierced by a doorway some feet above the ground, and in front
of or below this doorway there is a buttress or step of solid masonry,
shown on the plan. There was apparently an open space between this
doorway and the next wall to the north. The room entered through the
doorway was very small, and its roof, formed by the overhanging cliff,
is much blackened by smoke.
The main or north kiva was 15 feet in diameter on the floor, with a
bench a foot wide extending around it. The external diameter is over 20
feet. The interior was decorated by bands and dots in white, which are
described at length in another place (page 178). The roof was 51/2 feet
above the bench, and there is a suggestion that it rested on a series of
beams extending north and south, but this is not certain.
On the southeastern side, at the point where the kiva comes nearest the
edge of the cliff, there was a narrow opening or doorway not more than
15 inches wide. This was the only entrance to the interior, except
through the roof, and it opens directly on the edge of the cliff, so
that it is very difficult, although not impossible, to pass it. In front
of the opening a little platform was built on the sloping edge of the
cliff, as though entrance was had from the lower bench by artificial
means, but it is more probable that this feature is all that remains of
a chimney-like structure.
Above this kiva there was apparently a living room, the walls of which,
where they still remain on the north and west sides, were approximately
straight, but the corners were rounded. The roof was formed by the
overhanging cliff and the interior walls were whitewashed. The kiva
walls were about 18 inches thick, but on the west side, in the small
room between the kiva and the cliff, the masonry is much heavier, the
lower part extending into the room a foot farther than the upper. This
is caused by the wall of the second-story room above setting in toward
the east or center of the kiva. This upper wall was supported by a beam,
part of which is still in place. The small room behind is much blackened
by smoke.
The exterior wall of the main kiva on the northwest side is very rough.
On the northeast and southeast, however, it is covered by straight walls
which are well finished. The western end of the north wall is joined to
the exterior circular wall of the kiva, at the point shown on the plan,
by a short flying wall whose purpose is not clear. It extends to what
may have been the roof of the kiva, but underneath it is open. The
triangular cavity formed by it is too small to permit the passage of a
person, and was available only from the second story.
The site of these ruins commands an extensive prospect, including
several small areas of good bottom land, one of which lies directly in
front of it; but the number of other ruins in the cove suggests that
there was once a much larger area of bottom land here, and this
suggestion is supported by the presence of several large cottonwood
trees, now standing out in the midst of the sand, in the bed of the
stream, where these trees never grow. Some of these trees are not yet
entirely dead, indicating that the change in the bed of the stream was a
recent one. Against the foot of the talus, just above the ruin, there is
a narrow strip of bottom land, about 3 feet above the stream bed, and on
it a single tree, still alive, but inclined at an angle. In the stream
bed, above and below the ruin, there are large trees, of which only
one or a few branches are still alive. The position of the cove with
reference to the stream bed made the bottom lands here especially
subject to erosion when the stream assumed its present channel and they
were gradually worn away.
The western end of the ledge was occupied by a structure whose use at
first sight is not apparent. The wall, as shown on the plan, is curved,
very thick and heavy, and built partly over the sloping rock forming the
back of the cave. The front wall is 3 feet thick, and its top, now
level, is about 5 feet above a narrow bench in front of it. There is no
doorway or other opening into it, and access into its interior was had
over the steep sloping rock to the north by means of hand-holes in the
rock. These are shown in plate L. The interior appears to have been
plastered.
This structure measures 15 by 5 feet inside, there being no wall on the
north, as the east wall merges into the sloping rock. The foot-holes in
the rock, before referred to, are at this end, nearest the village, and
appear to be in several series. The structure is so situated that the
sun shines on it only a few hours each day, and it seems more than
probable that it was a reservoir. The bed of the stream, the channel
followed in low water, sweeps against the base of the cliff below this
point, and by carrying water 20 feet it would be directly beneath and
about 50 feet below it. Finally, the cliff wall above this point is
decorated with pictographs of tadpoles and other water symbols in common
use among the pueblos, and these do not occur elsewhere on this site. In
the southwestern corner of the structure, near the bottom, there was an
opening about 18 inches high, which was carefully filled up from the
inside and plastered. This may have been an outlet by which the water
was discharged when the reservoir was cleaned out. The wall has caved in
slightly above it. The mud mortar used in building this structure and
the other walls was necessarily brought from below.
[Illustration: Plate L
Reservoir in Ruin No. 10 ]
About 25 feet east of the reservoir there are remains of a small single
room, rectangular, with a circular addition, shown on the ground plan.
The walls are well chinked and well constructed, the mud mortar being
used when about the consistency of modeling clay. In front of this room,
about 5 feet distant and on the edge of the sloping rock, a hole has
been pecked into the solid rock of the ledge. This hole is 12 inches
wide on top, slightly tapering, 10 inches deep on the upper side, and
4 inches on the lower. Twelve feet to the northeast there is a similar
hole, and below it, distant 10 inches, another, and beyond this others,
distributed generally along the foot of the sloping rock forming the
back of the ledge, but sometimes farther out on the flat floor. Probably
these holes mark the sites of upright posts supporting a drying scaffold
or frame, the horizontal poles of which extended backward to the wall of
the cliff.
[Illustration: Fig. 25--Oven-like structure in ruin No. 10.]
Near the center of the ledge, at the point shown on the plan, there are
some remains which strongly suggest the Mexican oven. The bed rock,
which is here nearly flat, was removed to a depth of about 4 inches over
a rectangular area measuring 4 feet north, and south by 31/2 feet. There
were natural fissures in the rock on the north and west sides which left
clean edges. The southern edge appears to have been smashed off with a
rock. The eastern side required no dressing, as it was at a slightly
lower level, and it was to reach this level that the rock was removed.
In the rectangular space described there was a circular, dome-shape
structure, about 3 feet in diameter, composed of mud and sticks, with a
scant admixture of small stones. This is shown in figure 25, and in plan
in figure 26. The walls were about 3 inches thick, and from their slope
the structure could not have been over 3 feet high. The mud which
composed the walls was held together by thin sticks or branches,
incorporated in it and curved with the wall--apparently some kind of
a vine twisted together and incorporated bodily. On the edge of the
rectangular space there is a drilled hole, 3 inches in diameter, shown
in the illustration. Three feet to the south there is another, 6 inches
in diameter.
If this structure was a dome-shape oven, and it is difficult to imagine
it anything else, its occurrence here is important. It is well known
that the dome-shape oven, which is very common in all the pueblos, in
some villages being numbered by hundreds, is not an aboriginal feature,
but was borrowed outright from the Mexicans. If the structure above
described was an oven, it is clear evidence of the occupancy of these
ruins within the historic period--it might almost be said within the
last century. No other structure of the kind was found in the canyon,
however, and it should be stated that the ovens of the pueblos are as
a rule rather larger in size than this and usually constructed of small
stones and mud--sometimes of regular masonry plastered. There is a
suggestion here, which is further borne out by the chimney-like
structures to be discussed later, that only the idea of these structures
was brought here, without detailed knowledge of how to carry it out--as
if, for example, they were built by novices from description only.
Figure 27 is the ground plan of a small village ruin situated at the
mouth of Del Muerto at the point marked 16 on the map. The site, which
is an excellent one, but rather difficult of access, overlooks the
bottom land at the junction of the canyons and a long strip on the
opposite side, together with a considerable area above. The approach is
over smooth sandstone inclined at such an angle as to make it difficult
to maintain a footing, but the ruin can be reached without artificial
aid.
[Illustration: Fig. 26--Plan of oven-like structure.]
The village was not of large extent and contained but one kiva, but the
walls were well constructed and the masonry throughout is exceptionally
good. The exterior wall of the western rooms was constructed of small
stones neatly laid. The eastern room of the two was built after the
other, and entrance was had by an almost square opening 2 feet from
the ground. To facilitate ingress, a notch was dug in the wall about
8 inches from the ground. There was no communication between the rooms,
the western room being entered by a small doorway on the western side,
about 8 inches from the ground, 3 feet high and 14 inches wide. There
was no plastering in the interior of these rooms.
[Illustration: Plate LI
Small Village, Ruin No. 16, Canyon De Chelly]
The kiva is 15 feet in diameter on the floor, and about 23 feet in its
exterior diameter. The walls are 3 feet thick above the bench level and
4 feet thick below it. The interior was plastered with a number of
successive coats, probably four or five in all; but although the wall is
still standing to a height of 4 feet or more above the bench, there are
gaps on the eastern and western sides which render it impossible to say
whether doorways were there or not. The eastern break exposes the
western side of the inclosing wall, which is smoothly finished as though
there were originally a recess here. There are rectangular inclosing
walls on the east and south; the northern side was formed by the cliff
against which the kiva rests, while on the west there are no traces of
an inclosing wall. The triangular spaces formed by the inclosing walls
on the northeast and southeast sides of the kiva were not filled up in
the customary manner, but appear to have been preserved as storerooms.
The southeastern space was connected with the kiva by a narrow doorway,
shown in the plan, and another doorway, completely sealed, led from this
space into the room adjoining on the east. The latter doorway had not
been used for a long time prior to the abandonment of the ruin, and its
opening into the rectangular room was carefully concealed from that side
by several successive coats of plaster.
[Illustration: Fig. 27--Ground plan of a small village, ruin No. 16.]
On the south side of the kiva and outside the rectangular wall is a
square buttress or chimney-like construction, 4 by 3 feet, inclosing a
shaft 10 by 5 inches. This feature will be discussed in another place.
It was added after the wall was completed, and embedded in it, about a
foot from the ground, is a heavy beam about 5 inches in diameter. Plate
LI, which shows the whole front of the village, will make this feature
clear. The beam projects from the kiva wall at or under the floor
level, and seems to have no reference to the shaft, which is, however,
shouldered to accommodate it. Similar beams project from the walls to
the east, about 8 inches above the bed rock.
In the room east of the kiva no doorway was found. The walls are still
intact to a minimum height of 6 feet from the floor, except in the
southeast corner, where they are 3 feet. The opening described, which
occurs in the southwest corner of the room, was 4 feet from the floor;
and in the southeast corner, where the wall is broken down, there now
are remains of one side of a similar opening on the same level. No
stains of smoke are found on the exterior coat of plaster in this room,
but the coats underneath were much blackened. The room north of the one
described, and adjoining the kiva, was also without a doorway, unless it
existed in the northeast corner, next the cliff, where no trace of walls
now remains. The walls of this room, now 6 feet high, were plastered and
show old smoke stains. The wall on the western side of the kiva is very
rough, as though at one time another wall existed outside of it. This is
shown in plate LII, which shows also the debris, consisting of ashes,
sheep dung, and refuse, well compacted, upon which the wall rests.
[Illustration: Fig. 28--Ruins on a large rock.]
West of the kiva and on the extreme edge of the cliff are the remains of
two small apartments, a trifle below the surface of the ledge and with a
3-foot wall on the south. These are too small for habitations, and were
used probably for the storage of corn. About 100 feet west of the group
described, on the same bench, there are remains of a large room, divided
into two, and of quite rough construction. It contains several Navaho
dead and may be of Navaho origin.
[Illustration: Plate LII
Walls Resting on Refuse in Ruin No. 16]
A type of site which is abundant in the San Juan country and is found in
other regions, but is very rare in this, is shown in figure 28. This
example, which occurs in the upper part of Del Muerto, is the only one
of its kind in the canyons. A large mass of rock, smoothed and rounded
by atmospheric erosion, but still connected with the cliff at one point,
juts out into the bottom, a large area of which is commanded by it. At
three different levels there are remains of rooms, the group on the
summit being the largest. It is doubtful whether any of these remains
represent permanent villages, but it is possible that the uppermost one
did. It is therefore included in this place.
[Illustration: Fig. 29--Ground plan of ruins No. 49]
At the point marked 49 on the map there is a ruin or group of ruins
which presents some anomalous features. Figure 29 shows in detail the
distribution of the remains. The rooms were located on narrow benches in
the cliff, the principal part on a high, narrow bench, 40 or 50 feet
above the top of the talus and over 300 feet above the canyon bottom.
Access to the upper ledge from the top of the talus is exceedingly
difficult, requiring a climb over almost vertical rock for 40 feet.
Above the ledge there is massive sandstone, but below it for 100 feet or
more there is an area of cross bedding, and the rock has an almost
vertical cleavage, apparently standing upright in thin slabs 2 to 6
inches thick. Access was had by aid of the rough projections of the
slabs, aided where necessary by hand and foot holes pecked in the rock.
At several places little platforms of masonry have been built.
At the northern end of the upper ledge there are five small cells
occupying its whole width, and whose front wall follows the winding
ledge. The walls are about 5 feet high, and their tops bear the marks of
the poles which carried the roof. There are no exterior openings, nor is
there any evidence of a means of communication between the rooms; but in
the second room from the south two stones project from the wall inside,
near the southeastern corner, forming rude steps, doubtless to a
trapdoor in the roof. These cells could hardly have been used as
habitations. The floors are covered with many lumps of clay, which
apparently formed part of the roof.
To the south of this cluster of cells there was a large room of
irregular shape on a level about 8 feet higher. The remainder of the
ledge, which is about on the same level as this large room, is almost
covered with large bowlders, but at several points on it other remains
of walls occur. The largest room of all was near its center. It was
built against the cliff, which formed one of its sides, and measured
about 16 by 6 feet. There are no evidences of any partitions or roof,
the latter probably being formed by the overhanging rock. As the room
was built partly on the sloping rock, the floor is very uneven. It could
hardly have been used as a habitation, but may have been employed for
the storage of water.
The southern end of the lower ledge merges into the head of the talus,
the northern part drops down by a sharply sloping and in places an
almost vertical wall of about 30 feet; thence it descends to the bottom
by a long slope of bare rock, generally passable on foot. The lower
ledge is about 50 feet above the upper. Upon it are scattered the
remains of a few rooms of the same general character as those above, but
smaller. Many of these have been utilized for modern Navaho burials, and
perhaps some of them were constructed for that purpose. If these rooms
were used as habitations, it must have been under very peculiar
circumstances; moreover, the site is hardly suited for such a purpose,
having the sunshine less than half of the day. In this respect it is
anomalous.
At the southern end of the ledge there is a large angular bowlder, one
edge of which rests against the cliff wall and is free from the ground.
Under this the walls of a small room can be seen. The cliff formed one
side of the room and the bowlder acted as a roof. On the extreme
northern end of the ledge, 200 feet distant from the nearest room, there
are remains of a structure standing alone. The masonry is much rougher
than that of the other rooms, and, although the walls are now about
6 feet high, there is no evidence of any doorway or opening into the
room.
On the surface of the sloping rock, at this point nearly flat, there are
traces of a circular kiva 18 or 20 feet in diameter. These traces occur
at a point about midway between the southern and northern ends of the
lower ledge and some 30 feet below it. The cliff walls, both of the
lower and upper ledges, are covered with pictographs in white, red, and
yellow.
[Illustration: Fig. 30--Ruin on an almost inaccessible site.]
The location and character of this site and the character of the remains
suggest that most if not all of the rooms which can now be traced were
used for storage only. For this purpose the site is well adapted. But
the remains of the circular kiva at the foot of the lower ledge show
plainly that there were at one time some habitations here. Doubtless
these were located on the smooth rock at the foot of the cliff, and the
disappearance of all traces of walls may be due to the subsequent use of
the material by the Navaho for the construction of burial cists, in
which the site abounds. There still remains on the ground a fair amount
of broken stone, suitable for building, but no lines of wall are now
traceable.
Figure 30 shows one of the most inaccessible sites in the canyon. It
occurs at the point marked 62 on the map, where there is a narrow ledge
nearly 400 feet above the stream. The approach is over bare rock,
sharply sloping, but passable at two points by an active man accustomed
to climbing. Both of these points are near the western or left-hand end
of the ruin; toward the right the rock becomes vertical. Immediately
below this ruin there are the remains of a large settlement on a low
spur near the stream, now much obliterated, and above and below it on
suitable sites there were a number of small settlements which may have
been connected with it.
[Illustration: Fig. 31--Ground plan of a large ruin in Canyon del
Muerto.]
There were a number of rooms scattered along the ledge which appear to
have been used as habitations. The overhanging cliff is so close that in
a number of cases it formed the roof of the room, and the whole site was
an inconvenient and dangerous one. The rooms on the east rest on a large
block which has split off from the wall since the walls were built, and
now hangs apparently ready to drop at any moment.
At the time this site was inhabited access was had over the smooth
rounded rock on the west. Here hand and foot holes have been pecked in
the steep places, but as the rock is much exposed to atmospheric erosion
these holes are now almost obliterated. After ascending the rock the
village was entered through a doorway in a wall of exceptional
thickness, shown on the left of the drawing. The room which was entered
through this doorway appears to have been placed at this point to
command the entrance to the village. The wall is exceptionally heavy and
was pierced with oblique loopholes commanding a narrow bench immediately
in front of it. This appears to have been a purely defensive expedient,
and as such is unique.
The site commands an extensive outlook over the canyon bottom, including
several areas of cultivable land, and while it may have been occupied as
a regular village, such occupancy could not have been long continued.
Altogether the site and the character of the house remains are anomalous
and doubtless resulted from anomalous conditions.
[Illustration: Fig. 32--Ground plan of a small ruin in Canyon del
Muerto.]
Figure 31 is a ground plan of a large ruin in Del Muerto. It occupied
almost the whole available area of the ledge on which it is situated,
and over 40 rooms can now be made out on the ground, in addition to 3
circular kivas. The settlement may have comprised between 80 and 100
rooms, which would accommodate 15 to 20 families. The size is very
unusual, and the presence of but 3 kivas would indicate that the
families were closely related. There are other examples of this
character in the canyons, but not so large as the one illustrated.
[Illustration: Fig. 33--Ground plan of a small ruin.]
Figure 32 illustrates a type which is more common. Here we have the
usual arrangement of rooms along the cliff, with a kiva in front of
them. There were altogether not over 10 or 12 rooms, and they were
probably occupied by one family. Figure 33 shows a kind rather more
abundant than the last, and consisting like it of one circular kiva with
rooms back of and between it and the cliff. Ruins of this type are
generally well protected by an overhanging cliff. Figure 34 is another
example, in which only three rectangular rooms can be made out. The site
here is almost covered with large bowlders. All these examples occur in
Del Muerto.
[Illustration: Fig. 34--Plan of a ruin of three rooms.]
[Illustration: Fig. 35--Ground plan of a small ruin, with two kivas.]
Figure 35 is a ground plan of a small ruin which occurs at the point
marked 36 on the map. It is situated in a shallow cove at the head of
the talus, 200 or 300 feet above the bottom, and is of comparatively
easy access. There is but a small amount of cultivable bottom land
immediately below it, but it commands extensive areas on the opposite
site of the canyon and in the lower part of a branch on that side. There
are but few remains of rooms other than parts of two kivas, but there is
no question that there was at one time a considerable number here. Both
kivas had interior benches, and were of small size, plastered in the
interior. The masonry is fair to good. On the highest point of the
bowlder shown on the right of the plan there is a fragment of compacted
sheep dung and soil, which is now 6 feet above the ground. It is all
that remains of a layer of some thickness which must have been deposited
when the surface was filled up to or nearly to the top of the rock.
Possibly there was a wall outside and only the intermediate space was
filled.
[Illustration: Fig. 36--Ground plan of a small ruin, No. 44.]
[Illustration: Fig. 37--Ground plan of a ruin on a rocky site.]
Figure 36 is the ground plan of a somewhat similar ruin which occurs at
the point marked 44 on the map. It is situated on the top of the talus,
against the cliff, and commands a fine outlook over the cultivable lands
in the cove below it and on the canyon bottom proper. There are but few
wall remains, but two kivas can still be made out. There is no ledge
here, and the walls were built on loose debris of rocks and talus. The
builders had some trouble in holding the walls in place, and only partly
succeeded in doing so. About one-half of the principal kiva is standing,
showing masonry composed of exceptionally large stones, roughly chinked.
The other, or western kiva, was similarly constructed, and both had
interior benches. The front of the western kiva fell out, the builders
being unable to tie it or to hold it in place on its loose foundation,
and other walls were constructed inside of it, as shown on the plan.
There were other walls outside the main kiva, apparently rectangular
inclosing walls. This example is interesting because the masonry was
constructed on a foundation of loose debris, not on bed rock, and the
knowledge possessed by the builders was not sufficient to enable them to
overcome the natural difficulties of the site. Although ultimately the
village had to be abandoned as a failure, it was certainly occupied for
some years, and this occupancy suggests that there was some strong
objection to the lower part of the canyon. It illustrates, moreover, the
importance which was attached to a command or outlook over extensive
cultivable areas, as to obtain such an outlook the builders were content
to occupy even such an unsuitable site as the one described.
Figure 37 shows a small ruin similar to those described, but located on
a site almost covered with large bowlders. The principal structure now
remaining is a circular kiva, which, contrary to the usual plan, was
placed close up against the cliff; possibly the cliff formed part of the
back wall. Large bowlders so closely hemmed in the structure that there
was neither space nor necessity for an inclosing wall. The kiva was
benched for about half of its circumference.
Under the large bowlder to the right of the kiva a complete room had
been built, with a doorway of the usual type through the front wall.
Scattered remnants of other walls may be seen here and there, but none
show well-defined rooms. Petroglyphs are quite numerous, and one small
bowlder to the left of and next to the kiva is covered with cups, dots,
and carvings. It is shown in figure 38.
[Illustration: Fig. 38--Rock with cups and petroglyphs]
Figure 39 shows a ruin where the site was not so restricted. One
well-defined room and two kivas still remain, and there are traces of
other chambers. The main kiva formed part of a compact little group of
rooms, of which it occupied the front, and appears to have been inclosed
by a curved wall of rough construction. A curved inclosing wall is an
anomalous feature, and it is not at all certain that it occurs here, as
the wall is so much broken down that its lines can not now be clearly
made out. Excavation would doubtless determine this, as the whole site
has been much filled up with sand and loose earth.
The second kiva, which was about the same size as the first, was
situated some little distance from the other, and on the outer edge of
the little platform or bench on which the settlement was located. It
still shows about half of its wall. The rectangular room near the main
kiva still stands to a height of 3 and 4 feet. The wall nearest the kiva
is pierced by a number of small openings, and by a neatly finished
double-notched doorway, which is illustrated in another place (figure
67).
The whole front of the site has been filled up to a probable depth of
several feet, and a number of Navaho burials have been made on it. These
are shown on the plan by shaded spots. Owing to the soft ground
underneath, it was easier to excavate a hole and wall it up than to
construct the regular surface cist, and the former plan was followed.
Although many of the sites are covered with bowlders and blocks of stone
fallen from above, which often occur among and even over walls, close
inspection generally shows that the walls were constructed after the
rocks fell. There are two instances, however, which are doubtful, and in
one (shown in figure 40) it appears that large blocks of rock have
fallen since the walls were constructed. Such falls of rock are not
uncommon now in the fall and winter months, when frost and seepage from
the melting snow sometimes split off huge fragments.
[Illustration: Fig. 39--Ground plan of a ruin in Canyon de Chelly.]
The site mentioned occurs at the point marked 47 on the map. It is in a
cove under a mass of rock which juts out from the cliff, and is about 30
feet above the bottom, on the edge of a slope of loose rock which
extends some distance above it. At the top of the talus, over 200 feet
above, there is another ruin, which was probably only an outlook, as no
trace of a kiva can be found, and it is possible that the lower site was
connected with and formed part of the upper one. The lower site
contained a circular kiva, only a small portion of which now remains,
and the ground is covered with blocks of rock which must have fallen
since the walls were built. They appear to have fallen quite recently.
It can still be seen that the kiva had an interior bench, and that there
was a room, or perhaps rooms, between it and the back of the cove; but
beyond this nothing can now be made out.
[Illustration: Fig. 40--Site showing recent fall of rock.]
There are many favorable sites in the branch canyons, but not many of
them are occupied, possibly because in the upper parts of these canyons
the bottom land is of small area and is sometimes rough, being composed
of numerous small hillocks. The flat bottom lands of the canyon proper
are much easier to cultivate, but the sites in the side canyons offered
much better facilities for defense. Figure 41 shows the plan of a ruin
which occurs at the point marked 69 on the map, on the western side of a
branch canyon through which passes the trail to Fort Defiance. It is
situated in a shallow cove at the top of the talus and overlooks an
extensive area of fine bottom land below it. At the eastern end there is
a single room about 10 feet long; its front wall extends up to the
overhanging rock, which forms the roof of the room. A small cist has
been built against it on the west.
[Illustration: Fig. 41--Ruin No. 69, in a branch canyon.]
About 60 feet west, on the same ledge, there are remains of other rooms
which rested probably on the talus. Several rooms can be made out, but
only one shows standing walls. This is on the western end, and the walls
are now about 5 feet high. Four feet from the top of the wall there is a
clear line of demarcation extending horizontally across it. Below this
line the masonry consists of large flat slabs of rock laid in mud
mortar, which was used nearly dry and stuffed into the cracks to some
extent. Above the line the stones were carefully selected and the work
was well done, the whole being finished by a thin coat of plaster. There
is no opening in the lower part, but in the upper part there is a neatly
finished doorway 3 feet high and slightly tapering. The bottom of this
opening extends 2 inches below the line, and the lintel is composed of a
large slab of stone a trifle wider than the thickness of the wall, but
fitted flush on the outside.
[Illustration: Fig. 42--Ground plan of a small ruin in Canyon del
Muerto.]
On a bench about 100 feet higher than the ruin described there are two
small rooms, extending up to the overhanging rock above them. These
rooms, which may be of Navaho origin, were reached by means of a narrow
ledge extending from the top of a slope of loose rock and debris about
300 yards to the southward, or up the canyon.
Figure 42 is a ground plan of a small ruin in Del Muerto in which the
usual preponderance of rectangular rooms is illustrated. The site was
restricted, but there is an apparent attempt to carry out the usual
arrangement of a row of rooms against the cliff, with a kiva in front.
Probably only three of the rooms shown were used as habitations. The
plan of the kiva, which occurs in the center, was somewhat marred by a
large bowlder, which must have projected into it, but apparently no
attempt was made to dress off the projecting point.
[Illustration: Fig. 43--Ground plan of a small ruin.]
Figure 43 is the plan of a ruin located on a more open site. Only a few
walls now remain, but there is no doubt that at one time more of the
site was covered than now appears. There are remains of two, and perhaps
of three, circular kivas.
[Illustration: Fig. 44--Plan of a ruin with curved inclosing wall.]
Figure 44 shows a ruin in which the plan is somewhat more elaborated.
There are remains of several well-defined rooms, and two kivas are still
fairly well preserved. The ledge is narrow and the rooms are stretched
along it, with kivas at either end. That on the east was benched nearly
all around its interior, and the outside inclosing wall, on the east,
apparently follows the curve. An example in which this feature occurs
has been mentioned above (page 138). It is very rare, but in this case
the evidence is clearer than in the one previously described. The
western kiva, somewhat smaller than the other, was also benched, and had
an exterior shaft, like those mentioned above and later described at
length.
[Illustration: Fig. 45--Ground plan of ruin No. 34.]
Figure 45 is a plan of a small ruin of the same type, which occurs in
the middle region of De Chelly. It occupies the site marked 34 on the
map, and is situated in a niche in a deep cove, where the outlook is
almost completely obscured by a large sand dune in front of it. It
comprised one circular kiva and four rectangular rooms, but, contrary to
the usual result, the latter are fairly well preserved, while the former
is almost completely obliterated. This may be due to the use of the
rectangular rooms as sites for Navaho burial cists, of which there are
no fewer than six here, and possibly the kiva walls furnished the
necessary building material for the construction of the cists. The old
masonry is of good quality, the outside wall being formed of selected
stones of medium size, well laid and carefully chinked. Most of the
walls were plastered inside. In a cleft in the rock to the right of this
ruin there is a kind of cave, with foot-holes leading up the rock to it,
and quite difficult of access. It formerly may have been used for
storage, but at present contains only some remains of Navaho burials.