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
Cibola has also been more generously treated by nature in the matter of
water supply, as the province contains a perennial stream which has its
sources near the village of Nutria, and, flowing past the pueblo of
Zuñi, disappears a few miles below. During the rainy season the river
empties into the Colorado Chiquito. The Cibolan pueblos are built on the
foothills of mesas or in open valley sites, surrounded by broad fields,
while the Tusayan villages are perched upon mesa promontories that
overlook the valley lands used for cultivation.
PLANS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF RUINS.
HAWIKUH.
The village of Hawikuh, situated about 15 miles to the south of Zuñi,
consisted of irregular groups of densely clustered cells, occupying the
point of a spur projecting from a low rounded hill. The houses are in
such a ruined condition that few separate rooms can be traced, and these
are much obscured by débris. This débris covers the entire area
extending down the east slope of the hill to the site of the church. The
large amount of débris and the comparative thinness of such walls as are
found suggest that the dwellings had been densely clustered, and carried
to the height of several stories. Much of the space between the village
on the hill and the site of the Spanish church on the plain at its foot
is covered with masonry débris, part of which has slid down from above
(Pl. XLVI).
[Illustration: Plate XXXV. View of Shumopavi.]
The arrangement suggests a large principal court of irregular form. The
surrounding clusters are very irregularly disposed, the directions of
the prevailing lines of walls greatly varying in different groups. There
is a suggestion also of several smaller courts, as well as of alleyways
leading to the principal one.
The church, built on the plain below at a distance of about 200 feet
from the main village, seems to have been surrounded by several groups
of rooms and inclosures of various sizes, differing somewhat in
character from those within the village. These groups are scattered and
open, and the small amount of debris leads to the conclusion that this
portion of the village was not more than a single story in height. (Pl.
XLVII.)
The destruction of the village has been so complete that no vestige of
constructional details remains, with the exception of a row of posts in
a building near the church. The governor of Zuñi stated that these posts
were part of a projecting porch similar to those seen in connection with
modern houses. (See Pls. LXXI, LXXV.) Suggestions of this feature are
met with at other points on the plain, but they all occur within the
newer portion of the village around the church. Some of the larger
inclosures in this portion of the village were very lightly constructed,
and cover large areas. They were probably used as corrals. Inclosures
for this purpose occur at other pueblos traditionally ascribed to the
same age.
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