The character of the site occupied by a ruin is a very important feature
where the response to the physical environment is as ready and complete
as it is in the ancient pueblo region. This feature has not received the
attention it deserves, for it is more than probable that in the ultimate
classification of ruins that will some day be formulated the site
occupied will be one of the principal elements considered, if not the
most important. The site is not so important per se, but must be
considered with reference to the specific character of the ruin upon it,
its ground plan, the character of other ruins in the vicinity which may
have been connected with it, and its topographic environment. The
character and ground plan of a cliff ruin would be so much out of place
on an open valley site that it would immediately attract attention. The
reverse is equally remarkable.
Considering all that has been written about the cliff ruins as defensive
structures, it is strange how little direct evidence there is to support
the hypothesis; how few examples can be cited which show anything that
can be construed as the result of the defensive motive except the
general impression produced on the observer. Nor, on the other hand, do
these ruins as a whole give any support to the theory that they
represent an intermediate stage in the development of the pueblo people.
Some few may, perhaps those examined by Mr F. H. Cushing south and east
of Zuni do; but more than 99 per cent of them give more support to a
theory that they are the ultimate development of pueblo architecture
than to the other hypothesis, for they contain in themselves evidence of
a knowledge of construction equal and even superior to that shown in
many of the modern pueblo villages. The only thing anomalous or
distinctive about the cliff ruins, considered as an element of pueblo
architecture, is the character of site occupied. If this were dictated
by the defensive motive, it would seem reasonable to suppose that the
same motive would have some direct influence on the structures, yet
examples where it has affected the arrangement of rooms or ground plan
or the character of the masonry are exceedingly rare and generally
doubtful.
It is well to specify that in the preceding remarks the term cliff ruin
has been applied to small settlements, comprising generally less than
four rooms, sometimes only one or two, and usually located on high and
almost inaccessible sites. These are comprised in class IV of the
classification here followed. Regular villages located in the cliffs or
on top of the talus (class III) are a different matter. These have
nothing in common with the small ruins, except that sometimes there is a
similarity of site. Doubtless in some of these ruins the defensive
motive operated to a certain extent. In classes I and II, however, the
influence of the defensive motive, in so far as it affected the
character of site chosen, is conspicuous by its absence. As there is no
evidence that the cliff ruins of class IV were separate and distinct
from the other ruins, but the contrary, the defensive motive may be
assigned a very subordinate place among the causes which produced that
phase of pueblo architecture found in Canyon de Chelly.
An hypothesis as to the order in which sites of the various classes were
occupied can not be based on the present condition of the ruins. It is
more than likely that the older ruins served as quarries of building
material for succeeding structures erected near them, and probably some
of the cliff ruins themselves served in this way for the erection of
others, for there are many sites from which the building stone has been
almost entirely removed; yet there is no doubt that these sites were
formerly occupied. The Navaho also have contributed to the destruction.
Notwithstanding their horror of contact with the remains of the dead,
quite a number of buildings have been erected by these Indians with
material derived from adjacent ruins. It is evident that the gathering
of this material would be a much lighter task than to quarry and prepare
it, no matter how roughly the latter might be done.
In a study of some ruins in the valley of the Rio Verde, made a few
years ago, a suggestion was made of the order in which ruins of various
kinds succeeded one another--a sort of chronologic sequence, of which
the beginning in time could not be determined. Studies of the ruins and
inhabited villages of the old province of Tusayan (Moki) and Cibola
(Zuni), and a cursory examination of ruins on Gila river, show that they
all fall easily into the same general order, which is somewhat as
follows:
1. The earliest form of pueblo house is doubtful. As a rule, in most
localities the earliest forms are already well advanced. As it is now
known that the ancient pueblo region was not inhabited by a vast number
of people, but by a comparatively small number of little bands, each in
constant though slow movement, this condition is what we would expect to
find. It is probable that the earliest settlements consisted of single
houses or small clusters located in valleys convenient to areas of
cultivable land and on streams or near water.
2. The next step gives us villages, generally of small size, located on
the foothills of mesas and overlooking large areas of good land which
were doubtless under cultivation. This class comprises more examples
perhaps than any other, and many of them come well within the historic
period, such as six of the seven villages of Tusayan at the time of the
Spanish conquest in 1540, all of the Cibolan villages of the same date,
and some of the Rio Grande pueblos of that time.
3. In some localities, though not in all, the small villages were at a
later period moved to higher and more inaccessible sites. This change
has taken place in Tusayan within the historic period, and in fact was
not wholly completed even fifty years ago. The pueblo of Acoma was in
this stage at the time of the conquest, and has remained so to the
present day. As a rule each of the small villages preserved its
independence, but in some cases they combined together to occupy
together a high defensive site. Such combination is, however, unusual.
4. The final stage in the development of pueblo architecture is the
large, many-storied, or beehive village, located generally in the midst
of broad valleys, depending on its size and population for defense, and
usually adjacent to some stream. In this class of structure the
defensive motive, in so far as it affected the choosing of the site,
entirely disappears. The largest existing pueblo, Zuni, made this step
early in the eighteenth century; the next largest, Taos, was probably in
this stage in 1540, and has remained so since. In some cases ruins on
foothill sites (2) have merged directly into many-storied pueblos on
open sites (4), without passing through an intermediate stage.
There is another step in the process of development which is now being
taken by many pueblos, which, although an advance from the industrial
point of view, is to the student of architecture degeneration. This
consists of a return to single houses located in the valleys and on the
bottom lands wherever convenience to the fields under cultivation
required. This movement is hardly twenty years old, but is proceeding at
a steadily accelerating pace, and its ultimate result is the complete
destruction of pueblo architecture. Whatever we wish to know of this
phase of Indian culture must be learned now, for two generations hence
probably nothing will remain of it.
This hasty sketch will illustrate some of the difficulties that lie in
the way of a complete classification of the ruins of the pueblo country.
It is impossible to arrange them in chronologic sequence, because they
are the product of different tribes who at different times came under
the influence of analogous causes, and results were produced which are
similar in themselves but different in time. It is believed, however,
that the classification suggested exhibits a cultural sequence and
probably within each tribe a chronologic order.
In this classification no mention has been made of the cliff and cave
ruins. These structures belong partly to class III, villages on
defensive sites, and partly to a subclass which pertained to a certain
extent to all the others. In the early stages of pueblo architecture the
people lived directly on the laud they tilled. Later the villages were
located on low foothills overlooking the land, but in this stage some of
the villages had already attained considerable size and the lands
overlooked by them were not sufficient for their needs. As a consequence
some of the inhabitants had to work fields at a distance from the home
village, and as a matter of convenience small temporary shelters were
erected near by. In a still later stage, when the villages were removed
to higher and more easily defended sites, the number of farming shelters
must have largely increased, as suitable sites which also commanded
large areas of good land could not often be found. At a still later
stage, when the inhabitants of a number of small villages combined to
form one large one, this difficulty was increased still more, and it is
probable that in this stage the construction of outlying farming
settlements attained its maximum development. Often whole villages of
considerable size, sometimes many miles from the home pueblo, were
nothing more than farming shelters. These villages, like the single-room
shelters, were occupied only during the farming season; in the winter
the inhabitants abandoned them completely and retired to the home
village.
Some farming villages, such as those described above, are still in use
among the pueblos. The little village of Moen-Kapi, attached to Oraibi,
but 75 miles distant from it, is an example. There are also no fewer
than three villages in the Zuni country of the same class. Nutria,
Pescado, and Ojo Caliente are summer villages of the Zuni, although
distant from that pueblo from 15 to 25 miles. It is significant that
none of these subordinate villages possess a kiva. It is believed that
the cliff ruins and cavate lodges, which are merely variants of each
other due to geological conditions, were simply farming shelters of
another type, produced by a certain topographic environment.
The importance which it is believed should attach to the site on which a
ruin is found will be apparent from the above. It was certainly a
prominent element in the De Chelly group. A study of the detailed map
here published will illustrate how completely the necessity for
proximity to an area of cultivable land has dominated the location of
the settlements, large and small; and a visit to the place itself would
show how little influence the defensive motive has exercised. Near the
mouth of the canyon, where cultivable areas of land are not many, there
are few ruins, but those which do occur overlook such lands. In the
middle portion, where good lands are most abundant, ruins also are most
abundant; while above this, as the rocky talus develops more and more,
the ruins become fewer and fewer; and in the upper parts of the canyon,
beyond the area shown on the map, they are located at wide distances
apart, corresponding to little areas of good land so located. Not all of
the available land was utilized, and only a small percentage of the
available sites were built upon. Between the mouth of De Chelly and the
junction of Monument canyon, 13 miles above, there are seventy-one
ruins. A fair idea of their distribution may be obtained from a study of
the detailed map (plate XLIII), in conjunction with the following
figures:
I. Old villages on open sites occur at the points marked 12, 41, 52,
17_a_, 55, 60, 61, and 67; in all, nine sites; principally in the
upper part of the canyon.
II. Home villages on bottom lands, located without reference to
defense, occupy sites 3, 4, 17, 20, 28, 48, and 51; in all, seven
sites. Probably there are many more ruins of this class and the
preceding, now so far obliterated as to be overlooked or
indistinguishable.
III. Home villages on defensive sites occur at the points marked
5, 10, 13, 15, 16, 27, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 40, 44, 47, 59, 62,
and 66; in all, seventeen. This includes many sites where the
settlements were very small, often only a few rooms, but there
is always at least one kiva.
IV. Cliff outlooks and farming shelters occupy sites 2, 6, 7, 8, 9,
11, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 33, 35, 38, 39,
42, 43, 45, 46, 49, 50, 53, 54, 56, 57, 64, 63, 65, 68, 69, and
70; in all, thirty-seven, or more than half. Some of these sites
are now marked only by Navaho remains, and possibly a small
percentage of them are of Navaho making, but the sites which are
clearly and unmistakably Navaho are not mentioned here. Of all the
sites only one (No. 7) is actually inaccessible without artificial
aid.
The absence of any attempt to improve the natural advantages of the
sites is remarkable. No expedients were employed to make access either
easier or more difficult, except that here and there series of hand and
foot holes have been pecked in the rock. Steps, either constructed of
masonry or cut in the rock, such as those found in the Mancos canyon and
the Mesa Verde region, are never seen here. The cavities in which the
ruins occur are always natural; they are never enlarged or curtailed or
altered in the slightest degree, and very rarely is the cavity itself
treated as a room, although there are some excellent sites for such
treatment. The back wall of a cove is often the back wall of a village,
but aside from this the natural advantages of the sites were seldom
realized.
The settlements were always located with reference to the canyon bottom,
and access was never had from above, notwithstanding that in some cases
access from above was easier than from below. Yet the inhabitants must
necessarily have obtained their supply of firewood from above, as the
quantity in the canyons, especially in that part where most of the ruins
occur, is very limited. The Navaho throw the wood over the cliffs,
afterward gathering up the fragments below and carrying them on their
backs to their hogans at various points on the canyon bottom. The crash
of falling logs, dropped or pushed over the edge of a cliff, sometimes
400 or 500 feet high, is not an infrequent sound in the canyon, and is
at first very puzzling to the visitor.
The canyon walls are so nearly vertical, or rather so large a proportion
is vertical, that egress or ingress, except at the mouth of the canyon,
is a matter of great difficulty. Near the junction of Monument canyon,
13 miles above the mouth of De Chelly, there is a practicable horse
trail ascending a narrow gorge to the southeast. The Navaho call it the
Bat trail, on account of its difficulties. Another horse trail crosses
Del Muerto some 8 or 10 miles above its mouth. With these exceptions
there is no point where a horse can get into the canyons or out of them,
but there are dozens of places where an active man, accustomed to it,
can scale the walls by the aid of foot-holes which have been pecked in
the rock at the most difficult places. These foot trails are in constant
use by the Navaho, who ascend and descend by them with apparent ease,
but it is doubtful whether a white man could be induced to climb them,
except perhaps under the stress of necessity. There are even some trails
over which sheep and goats are driven in and out of the canyon, but
anyone who had not seen the flocks actually passing over the rocks would
declare such a feat impossible. Some of these trails at least are of
Navaho origin. Whether any of them were used by the former dwellers in
the canyon can not now be determined; it seems probable that some of
them were.
[Illustration: Fig. 66--Site apparently very difficult of access.]
[Illustration: Plate LVI
Site Difficult of Approach]
Plate LVI shows a characteristic site in the lower part of the canyon.
It occurs at the point marked 8 on the map, and is now quite difficult
of approach, owing to the wearing away or weathering of a long line of
foot-holes in the sloping rock, but formerly access was easy enough. It
is now marked by a cluster of Navaho burial cists. Figure 66 shows an
example that occurs in De Chelly, about 8 miles above the junction, of
Monument canyon. At first glance, and at a distance, this site appears
to be really inaccessible, but a close inspection of the figure will
show that it could be reached with comparative little difficulty over
the rounded mass of rock shown to the left. By cutting off that side of
the figure it could be made to serve as an illustration of a wholly
inaccessible ruin.