During the limited time devoted to the excavation of Sikyatki it was
impossible, in a ruin so large, to remove the soil covering any
considerable number of rooms. The excavations at different points over
such a considerable area as that covered by the mounds would have been
more or less desultory and unsatisfactory, but a limited section
carefully opened would be much more instructive and typical. While,
therefore, the majority of the Indian workmen were kept employed at
the cemeteries, Kopeli, the Snake chief, a man in whom I have great
confidence, was assigned to the excavation of a series of rooms at the
highest point of the ruin, previously referred to as the acropolis
(figure 262). Although his work in these chambers did not yield such
rich results as the others, so far as the number of objects was
concerned, he succeeded in uncovering a number of rooms to their
floors, and unearthed many interesting objects of clay and stone. A
brief description of these excavations will show the nature of the
work at that point.
The acropolis, or highest point of Sikyatki, is a prominent rocky
elevation at the western angle, and overlooks the entire ruin. On the
side toward the western cemetery it rises quite abruptly, but the
ascent is more gradual from the other sides. The surface of this
elevation, on which the houses stood, is of rock, and originally was
as destitute of soil as the plaza of Walpi. This surface supported a
double series of rooms, and the highest point is a bare, rocky
projection.
From the rooms of the acropolis there was a series of chambers,
probably terraced, sloping to the modern gardens now occupying the old
plaza, and the broken walls of these rooms still protrude from the
surface in many places (plate CXVIII). When the excavations on the
acropolis were begun, no traces of the biserial rows of rooms were
detected, although the remains of the walls were traceable. The
surface was strewn with fragments of pottery and other evidences of
former occupancy.
On leveling the ground and throwing off the surface stones, it was
found that the narrow ridge which formed the top of the acropolis was
occupied by a double line of well-built chambers which show every
evidence of having been living rooms. The walls were constructed of
squared stones set in adobe, with the inner surface neatly plastered.
Many of the rooms communicated by means of passageways with adjacent
chambers, some of them being provided with niches and shelves. The
average height of the standing walls revealed by excavation, as
indicated by the distance of the floor below the surface of the soil,
was about 5 feet.
[Illustration: FIG. 262--The acropolis of Sikyatki]
The accompanying illustration (plate CXVIII) shows a ground plan of
nine of these rooms, which, for purposes of reference, are lettered
_a_ to _l_. A description of each, it is hoped, will give an idea of a
typical room of Sikyatki. Room _a_ is rectangular in shape, 5 feet 3
inches by 6 feet 8 inches, and is 5 feet 8 inches deep. It has two
depressions in the floor at the southeastern corner, and there is a
small niche in the side wall above them. Some good specimens of mural
plastering, much blackened by soot, are found on the eastern wall.
Room _a_ has no passageway into room _b_, but it opens into the
adjoining room _c_ by an opening in the wall 3 feet 4 inches wide,
with a threshold 9 inches high.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY