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
We turned and came to the north, meeting the Apache and “Beaver
Indians,” with whom we had many battles, and being few we were
defeated, after which we came up to Mashongnavi [the ruin at the
“Giant’s Chair”] and gave that rock its name [name not known], and
built our houses there. The Apache came upon us again, with the
Comanche, and then we came to [Old Mashóngnavi]. We lived there in
peace many years, having great success with crops, and our people
increased in numbers, and the Apache came in great numbers and set
fire to the houses and burned our corn, which you will find to-day
there burnt and charred. After they had destroyed our dwellings we
came upon the mesa, and have lived here since.
The ruins referred to as having been the first occupied by the
Mashongnavi at a large isolated rock known as the “Giant’s Chair,” have
not been examined. The later village from which they were driven by the
attacks of the Apache to their present site has been surveyed. The plan
of the fallen walls and lines of débris by which the form of much of the
old pueblo can still be traced is given in Pl. II. The plan of the best
preserved portion of the pueblo towards the north end of the sheet
clearly indicates a general adherence to the inclosed court arrangement
with about the same degree of irregularity that characterizes the modern
village. Besides the clearly traceable portions of the ruin that bear
such resemblance to the present village in arrangement, several small
groups and clusters appear to have been scattered along the slope of the
foothills, but in their present state of destruction it is not clear
whether these clusters were directly connected with the principal group,
or formed part of another village. Occasional traces of foundation walls
strongly suggest such connection, although from the character of the
site this intervening space could hardly have been closely built over.
With the exception of the main cluster above described the houses occupy
very broken and irregular sites. As indicated on the plan, the slope is
broken by huge irregular masses of sandstone protruding from the soil,
while much of the surface is covered by scattered fragments that have
fallen from neighboring pinnacles and ledges. The contours indicate the
general character of the slopes over which these irregular features are
disposed. The fragment of ledge shown on the north end of the plate,
against which a part of the main cluster has been built, is a portion of
a broad massive ledge of sandstone that supports the low buttes upon
which the present villages of Mashongnavi and Shupaúlovi are built, and
continues as a broad, level shelf of solid rock for several miles along
the mesa promontory. Its continuation on the side opposite that shown in
the plate may be seen in the general view of Shupaulovi (Pl. XXXI).
SHITAIMUVI.
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