The two conical mounds on the mesa above Sikyatki are often referred
to that ancient pueblo, but from their style of architecture and from
other considerations I am led to connect them with other phratries of
Tusayan. From limited excavations made in these mounds in 1891, I was
led to believe that they were round pueblos, similar to those east of
Tusayan, and that they were temporary habitations, possibly vantage
points, occupied for defense. Plate CVI illustrates their general
appearance, while the rooms of which they are composed are shown in
figure 253. At the place where the mesa narrows between these mounds
and the pueblos to the west, a wall was built from one edge of the
mesa to the other to defend the trail on this side. This wall appears
to have had watch towers or houses at intervals, which are now in
ruins, as shown in figure 254.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY