Ruins comprised in the class of cliff outlooks, or farming shelters, are
by far the most numerous in the canyon. They were located on various
kinds of sites, but always with reference to some area of cultivable
land which they overlooked, and seldom, if ever, was the site selected
under the influence of the defensive motive. It is not to be understood
that such motive was wholly absent; it may have been present in some
cases, but the dominating motive was always convenience to some adjacent
area of cultivable land.
The separation of this class of ruins from the preceding village ruins,
while clear and definite enough in the main, is far from absolute. The
sole criterion we have is the presence or absence of the kiva, as the
sites occupied are essentially the same; but this test is in a general
way sufficient. It is possible that in certain cases the kiva is so far
obliterated as to be no longer distinguishable, but the number of cases
in which this might have occurred is comparatively small. The kivas, as
a rule, were more solidly constructed than the other rooms, and, as the
preceding ground plans show, sometimes survived when the rectangular
rooms connected with them have entirely disappeared.
[Illustration: Fig. 46--Ground plan of cliff outlook No. 35.]
Figure 46 is the plan of an outlook in the same cove as the last example
of village ruin illustrated, and only 200 or 300 yards south of it. It
may have been connected with that ruin, but could not in itself have
been a village, as there are no traces of a kiva on the site, and hardly
room enough for one on the bench proper. At the extreme northern end
there are traces of walls on the rocks at a lower level.
[Illustration: Fig. 47--Plan of a cliff outlook.]
The walls which were at right angles to the cliff were not carried back
to it after the usual manner, but stopped about 3 feet from it, and the
rooms were closed by a back wall running parallel to the cliff, and
about 3 feet from it. This wall rises to a height of about 4 feet before
it meets the overhanging cliff, and consequently there is a long narrow
passageway, about 3 feet high and 3 feet wide on the bottom, between it
and the cliff. A small man might wriggle through, but with difficulty.
The ruin commands a fine outlook over the cove. The masonry is good,
being composed of selected stone well chinked with small spalls, and
sometimes with bits of clay pressed in with the fingers.
Figure 47 shows a ruin located at the point marked 37 on the map. There
is a high slope of talus here, the top of which is flat and of
considerable area.
The ruin is invisible from below in its present condition, but the site
commands a fine outlook over several considerable areas of bottom land.
The walls are now much obliterated and worked over by the Navaho, but
the remains are scattered over quite an extensive area and may have been
at one time an extensive settlement; however, no traces of a kiva can
now be seen. Marks on the cliff show that some of the houses had been
three stories high. Some places on the cliff, which were apparently
back-walls of rooms, were plastered and coated with white, and there are
many pictographs on the rock. The masonry is of fair quality, but the
stones were laid with more mortar than usual.
[Illustration: Fig. 48--Plan of cliff ruin No. 46.]
Figure 48 is a ground plan of a ruin which occurs at the point marked 46
on the map. It is situated in a cove in the rock at the top of the
talus, 300 or 400 feet above the bottom, and immediately above the
rectangular single room described and illustrated on page 151. It
commands an extensive outlook over the bottom lands on both sides of the
canyon and above. The cove is about 40 feet deep, and, though so high
up, has been used as a sheep close, and doubtless some of the walls have
been covered up. Four rooms are still standing in two little clusters of
two rooms each. The walls of the rooms on the west are composed of large
stones laid in plenty of mud mortar and plastered inside and out; those
of the eastern portion were built of small stones, chinked but not
plastered. One of the rooms is blackened by smoke in the corner only, as
though there had been some chimney structure here, which subsequently
had fallen away. The cliff walls back of the eastern part are heavily
smoke-blackened; back of the western portion there are no stains. There
is now no trace of a circular kiva, but there is a heavy deposit of
sheep dung on the ground which might cover up such traces if they
existed. This site commands one of the best outlooks in the canyon, but
access, while not very difficult, is inconvenient on account of the
great height above the bottom.
[Illustration: Fig. 49--Plan of cliff room with partitions.]
Figure 49 shows a common type of ruin in this class. The original
structure appears to have contained one or two good rooms, which by
subsequent additions have been divided into several. These later
additions may have been made by the Navaho, who used the building
material on the ground; at any rate the structure is now merely a
cluster of storage cists.
[Illustration: Fig. 50--Plan of a large cliff outlook in Canyon del
Muerto.]
One of the most extensive ruins of the cliff-outlook type situated in
Canyon del Muerto is shown in figure 50. The plan shows at least eight
rooms stretched along the cliff at the top of the talus. Figure 51 shows
five rooms arranged in a cluster. One of these is still complete, the
walls extending to the overhanging rock above which formed the roof. It
will be noticed that the front room was set back far enough to allow
access to the central room through a doorway in the corner. This was a
convenience, rather than a necessity, for many of the rooms in ruins of
this class were entered only through other rooms or through the roof,
and a direct opening to the outer air was not considered a necessity;
probably because these rooms in the cliff, which have been termed
outlooks, were not in any sense watch towers, but rather places of abode
during the harvest season, where the workers in the field lived when not
actually employed in labor, and where the fields tinder cultivation
could always be kept in view--an arrangement quite as necessary and
quite as extensively practiced now as it was formerly.
Figure 52 shows a cluster of rooms in the little canyon called
Tseonitsosi. This is another Casa Blanca, or White House, and, oddly
enough, it resembles its namesake in De Chelly, not only in the coat of
whitewash applied to the front of the main room, but in having a
subordinate room to the left, over which the wash extends, and in the
character of the site it occupies. The principal part of the structure
was built in a cave, 18 or 20 feet from the ground, across the front of
which walls extended as in the other Casa Blanca, and, like that ruin,
there are also some ruins at the foot of the cliff, on the flat. Figure
53 is a ground plan. The resemblance to the other Casa Blanca, however,
goes no further. The ruin here illustrated represents a very small
settlement, hardly more than half a dozen rooms in all, and there is no
trace of a circular kiva, or other evidence of permanent habitation. It
is possible that the space between the edge of the floor of the cave
above and the whitened house back of it was occupied by some sort of
structure, but no evidence now remains which would warrant such a
hypothesis, except that the door of the white house is now about 4 feet
above the ground. The cave is only 40 feet long and a little over 10
feet deep, and there is not room on the floor for more than three or
four rooms, in addition to those shown on the plan. The room on the
right still preserves its roof intact, showing the typical pueblo roof
construction. It has a well-preserved doorway, and three other openings
may be seen in the main room.
[Illustration: Fig. 51--Plan of a cluster of rooms In Canyon del
Muerto.]
[Illustration: Fig. 52--White House ruin in Tseonitsosi canyon.]
Apparently some effort at ornamentation was made here. The whitewash was
not applied to the fronts of the two back rooms so as to cover all of
them, but in a broad belt, leaving the natural yellowish-gray color of
the plastering in a narrow band above and a broad band below it.
Moreover, the principal opening of the larger room was specially
treated; in the application of the whitewash a narrow border or frame of
the natural color was left surrounding it. The attempt to apply
decoration not utilitarian in character is rare among the ruins here. It
implies either a late period in the occupancy of this region, or an
occupancy of the site by a people who had practiced this method of
house-building longer or under more favorable conditions than the
others.
[Illustration: Fig. 53--Ground plan of a ruin in Tseonitsosi canyon.]
[Illustration: Fig. 54--Plan of rooms against a convex cliff.]
[Illustration: Fig. 55--Small ruin with curved wall.]
Figure 54 shows an arrangement of rooms along a narrow ledge at the top
of the talus, where the cliff wall is not coved or concave, but convex.
Some of these little rooms may have been used only for storage, but
others were undoubtedly habitations. Figure 55 shows an example in which
the back wall is curved, as though it was either built over an old kiva
or an attempt was made to convert a rectangular room into a kiva. There
were originally three rooms in the cluster, only one of which remains,
but that one is of unusual size, measuring about 15 by 10 feet. If the
room was used solely as a habitation, there was no necessity for the
back wall, as the side walls continue back to the cliff. Including the
little cove on the left, there are seven Navaho burial places on this
site.
[Illustration: Fig. 56--Ground plan of a cliff outlook.]
Plate LIII shows an outlook in the lower part of De Chelly, at the point
marked 6 on the map. The lower part of the cliff here flares out
slightly, forming a sharp slope; where it meets the vertical rock there
is a small bench, on which the ruin is situated. It is apparently
inaccessible, but close examination shows a long series of hand and foot
holes extending up a cleft in the rock, and forming an easy ascent. The
site commands a good outlook over the bottom lands.
The ruin consists of three rectangular rooms arranged side by side
against the cliff, and a kind of curved addition on the east. Figure 56
is a ground plan. The walls are still standing from a foot to 4 feet
high, and produce the impression of being unfinished; although carefully
chinked, they were neither plastered nor rubbed down. The two western
rooms were built first, and the eastern wall extends through the front.
East of these rooms there is a small rectangular chamber, and east of
this again a low curved wall forming a little chamber or cist of
irregular form (not shown in the plan). The front wall was extended
beyond this and brought in again to the cliff on a curve, forming
another small cist of irregular shape. This and the little chamber west
of it were doubtless used for storage. They resemble in plan Navaho
cists, but the masonry, which is exactly like the other walls here, will
not permit the hypothesis of Navaho construction. Except for some slight
traces in the northwest corner of the west room, there are no smoke
stains about, nor are there any pictographs on the cliff walls. The
western room was pierced by a window opening which was subsequently
filled up, possibly by the Navaho, who have five burial cists here.
[Illustration: Fig. 57--Plan of cliff outlook No. 14, in Canyon de
Chelly.]
Figure 57 is the plan of a small outlook which occurs at the point
marked 14 on the map. Opposite the mouth of Del Muerto there is an
elevated rocky area of considerable extent, perhaps 50 feet above the
bottom, but shelving off around the edges. Near the cliff this is
covered by sand dunes and piles of broken rock; farther out there is a
more level area covered thinly with sand and soil, and here there is a
large ruin of the old obliterated type already described (page 93).
[Illustration: Plate LIII
Cliff Outlook in Lower Canyon De Chelly]
Near the edges the rock becomes bare again, and is 20 to 30 feet high,
descending sheer or with an overhang to the bottoms or to the stream
bed. On the western side, facing north, the ruin illustrated occurs. It
is a mere cubby hole, and was evidently located for the area of
cultivable land which lies before it, and which it almost completely
commands. The cavity is about 12 feet above the ground and appears to
have been divided by cross walls into three rooms, two of which were
quite small. The back room was small, dark, and not large enough to
contain a human body unless it was carefully packed in, and at various
points along the back wall there are seeps of water. The interior of the
little room was very wet and moldy at the time when it was examined, in
winter, but in the summer time is probably dry enough.
[Illustration: Fig. 58--Ground plan of outlooks in a cleft.]
The masonry is fair and the surface is finished with plaster. The open
space in front of the small back room and the outer wall of the room
itself are much blackened by smoke, as though the inhabitant lived here
and used the small room only to store his utensils and implements. A
small room on the east must have been used for a similar purpose. Both
of these rooms were entered through narrow doorways opening on the
principal space. The site is an ideal one for a lookout, but not well
suited for a habitation. Plate LIV shows its character.
[Illustration: Fig. 59--Plan of a single-room outlook.]
Cliff outlooks are often found on sites whose restricted areas preclude
all possibility that they formed parts of larger settlements since
obliterated. The ruin just described is an example. Another instance
which occurs in Del Muerto is shown in figure 58. Here a deep cleft in
the rock was partly occupied by two or three rooms. There was room for
more, but apparently no more were built. There was not room, however,
for even a small village. There are several other examples in the canyon
almost identical with these, but this type is not nearly so abundant as
the succeeding. Figure 59 is a plan of a ruin near the mouth of Del
Muerto. It was a single room, situated on a ledge perhaps 30 or 40 feet
above the bottom land which it overlooked and of easy access. This is
the most common type of outlook or cliff ruin, and it might almost be
said that they number hundreds, sometimes consisting of one room alone,
sometimes of two or even three The general appearance of these outlooks
is shown in figure 60, which shows an example containing three rooms.
[Illustration: Fig. 60--Three-room outlook in Canyon del Muerto.]
[Illustration: Fig. 61--Plan of a two-room outlook.]
Figure 61 is a ground plan of an example containing two rooms, which
occurs below the large ruin described before (No. 31, page 119), and
figure 62 shows an example with one room, obscured and built over with
Navaho cists. This site is located in the upper part of the canyon, on
top of the talus, about 100 feet above the stream, and commands an
outlook over several areas of bottom land on both sides. The walls are
built about 10 feet high, and are composed of medium-size stones laid in
courses and carefully chinked with small spalls. The southwestern corner
of the room is broken down, but the eastern wall is still standing, and
shows a well-finished opening on that side. There are several Navaho
burial cists on this site.
[Illustration: Fig. 62--Plan of outlook and burial cists, No. 64.]
[Illustration: Plate LIV
Cliff Ruin No. 14]
[Illustration: Fig. 63--Plan of rectangular room No. 45.]
Figure 63 is the plan of a type of ruin which is rather anomalous in the
canyon. It occurs at the point marked 45 on the map, and occupies a
small flat area almost on top of the talus 300 feet or more above the
stream bed. It is just below the ruin described and illustrated on page
144 (figure 48), and hardly 20 feet distant from it, and yet it does not
appear to have been connected with it. It consists of a single large
room, 20 feet long by 111/2 feet wide outside, and the site commands an
extensive prospect over bottom lands on both sides of the canyon, and
above, but the only opening in the wall on that side is a little
peephole 6 inches square and 2 feet from the ground. This is sufficient,
however, to command nearly the whole outlook. There is a doorway on the
eastern side, one side of which, fairly well finished, remains. There
was apparently no other opening, unless one existed on the western side,
where, in the center, the wall is broken down to within 2 feet of the
ground. Along the western side of the room, at the present ground
surface, there are remains of a bench about a foot wide; the eastern
side is covered above this level.
[Illustration: Fig. 64--Rectangular single room.]
The masonry is very rough and chinked only with large stones. The
interior is roughly plastered in places, and small pieces of stone are
stuck on flat. The corners are rounded. Externally the masonry has the
appearance of stones laid without mortar, like a Navaho stone corral,
and were it not for the occurrence of other similar remains, it might be
regarded as of Navaho or white man's construction, as the size, site,
plan, and masonry are all anomalous. Figure 64 shows an example,
however, closely resembling the one described in these features, and
figure 65 shows another. Altogether there are four or five examples,
distributed over a considerable area.
Somewhat similar wall remains are seen in places on the canyon bottom,
where they are always of modern Navaho origin, and it is quite possible
that the ruins above mentioned should be placed in the same category. It
will be noticed that in the plan the doorway or entrance opening is on
the eastern side--an invariable requirement of Navaho house
constructions; but it is only within recent times that the Navaho have
constructed permanent, rectangular abodes, and even now such houses are
rarely built. It is difficult to understand, moreover, why recourse
should be had to such inconvenient sites, if the structures are of
Navaho origin, as these Indians always locate their hogans on the bottom
lands, or on some slight rise overlooking them.
[Illustration: Fig. 65--Single-room remains.]
Distributed throughout the canyons, wherever a favorable situation could
be found, there are a great number of sites resembling those of the
cliff outlooks, but showing now no standing wall. There is always some
evidence of human occupancy, often many pictographs on the back wall, as
in an example in the lower part of the canyon shown in plate LV. This
occurs at point 2 on the map, in a cove perhaps 100 feet across, with
caves on the northern and southern sides.
[Illustration: Plate LV
Site Marked by Pictographs]
In the southern cave there are no traces of masonry, but the back of the
cave is covered with hand prints and pictographs of deer, as shown in
the plate. In the northern cave there are traces of walls. Many of the
sites do not show the faintest trace of house structures; some of them
have remains of storage cists, and many have remains of Navaho burial
cists, associated with pictographs not of Navaho origin. Some idea of
the number and distribution of these sites may be obtained from the
following list, wherein the numbers represent the location shown on the
detailed map: 2, 8, 9, 11, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 30, 38, 39, 40,
42, 43, 53, 54, 57, and 66--in all 21 sites which occur between the
mouth of De Chelly and the junction of Monument canyon, 13 miles above.
Beyond this point they are rare, as the areas of cultivable land become
scarce. A similar distribution prevails in Del Muerto.