A Study of Pueblo Architecture: Tusayan and Cibola: Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 3-228Mindeleff, Cosmos
History
A Study of Pueblo Architecture: Tusayan and Cibola: Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 3-228
Mindeleff, Cosmos
Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities; Pueblo architecture
In many houses, both in Tusayan and in Cibola, shelves are constructed
for the more convenient storage of food, etc. These are often
constructed in a very primitive manner, particularly in the former
province. An unusually frail example may be seen in Fig. 67, in
connection with a fireplace. Fig. 101, showing a series of mealing
stones in a Tusayan house, also illustrates a rude shelf in the corner
of the room, supported at one end by an upright stone slab and at the
other by a projecting wooden peg. Shelves made of sawed boards are
occasionally seen, but as a rule such boards are considered too valuable
to be used in this manner. A more common arrangement, particularly in
Tusayan, is a combination of three or four slender poles placed side by
side, 2 or 3 inches apart, forming a rude shelf, upon which trays of
food are kept.
Another device for the storage of food, occasionally seen in the pueblo
house, is a pocket or bin built into the corner of a room. Fig. 101,
illustrating the plan of a Tusayan house, indicates the position of one
of these cupboard-like inclosures. A sketch of this specimen is shown in
Fig. 102. This bin, used for the storage of beans, grain, and the like,
is formed by cutting off a corner of the room by setting two stone slabs
into the floor, and it is covered with the mud plastering which extends
over the neighboring walls.
A curious modification of this device was seen in one of the inner rooms
in Zuñi, in the house of José Pié. A large earthen jar, apparently an
ordinary water vessel, was built into a projecting masonry bench near
the corner of the room in such a manner that its rim projected less than
half an inch above its surface. This jar was used for the same purpose
as the Tusayan corner bin.
[Illustration: Fig. 102. A Tusayan grain bin.]
[Illustration: Fig. 103. A Zuñi plume box.]
Some of the Indians of the present time have chests or boxes in which
their ceremonial blankets and paraphernalia are kept. These of course
have been introduced since the days of American boards and boxes. In
Zuñi, however, the Indians still use a small wooden receptacle for the
precious ceremonial articles, such as feathers and beads. This is an
oblong box, provided with a countersunk lid, and usually carved from a
single piece of wood. Typical specimens are illustrated in Figs. 103 and
104. The workmanship displayed in these objects is not beyond the
aboriginal skill of the native workman, and their use is undoubtedly
ancient.
[Illustration: Fig. 104. A Zuñi plume box.]
[Illustration: Plate CIII. Ancient gateway, Kin-tiel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 105. A Tusayan mealing trough.]
[Illustration: Fig. 106. An ancient pueblo form of metate.]
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