The older or western portion of Awatobi is thus believed to be made up
of a number of high mounds which rise steeply, and for a considerable
height from the southern edge of the cliff, from which it slopes more
gradually to the north and west. On account of this steep declivity we
were able to examine, in vertical section, the arrangement of the
rooms, one above the other (figure 256). By beginning excavations on
the rocky foundation and working into the mound, parallel walls were
encountered at intervals as far as we penetrated. From the edge of the
cliff there seemed to extend a series of these parallel walls,
which were united by cross partitions, forming a series of rooms,
one back of another. The deeper we penetrated the mound the higher the
walls were found to be, and this was true of the excavations along the
whole southern side of the elevation (plate CIX). If, as I suspect,
these parallel walls extend to the heart of the mounds, the greatest
elevation of the former buildings must have been four stories. It
would likewise seem probable that the town was more or less pyramidal,
with the highest point somewhat back from the one- or two-story walls
at the edge of the cliff, a style of architecture still preserved in
Walpi. The loftiest wall, which was followed down to the floor, was 15
feet high, but as that was measured over 20 feet below the apex of the
mound, it would seem that, from a distance, there would be a wall 30
feet high in the center of the mound. Even counting 7 feet as the
height of each story we would have four stories above the foundation,
and this, I believe, was the height of the old pueblo. But probably
the wall did not rise to this height at the edge of the mesa, where it
could not have been more than one or two stories high. There is no
evidence of the former existence of an inclosed court of any
considerable size between the buildings and the cliff, although a
passage probably skirted the brink of the precipice, and house ladders
may have been placed on that side for ready access to upper rooms. By
a series of platforms or terraces, which were in fact the roofs of the
houses, one mounted to the upper stories which formed the apex of the
pueblo.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY