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
The plan (Pl. LXIII) shows a marked contrast to the irregularity seen in
the ruins previously described. The pueblo was clearly defined by a
continuous and unbroken outer wall, which probably extended to the full
height of the highest stories (Pl. LXIV). This symmetrical form is all
the more remarkable in a pueblo of such large dimensions, as, with the
exception of Pueblo Bonito of the Chaco group, it is the largest ancient
pueblo examined by this Bureau. This village seems to belong to the same
type as the Chaco examples, representing the highest development
attained in building a large defensive pueblo practically as a single
house. All the terraces faced upon one or more inclosed courts, through
which access was gained to the rooms. The openings in this outer wall,
especially near the ground, were few in number and very small in size,
as shown in Pl. CIV. The pueblo was built in two wings of nearly equal
size on the opposite slopes of a large sandy wash, traversing its center
from east to west. This wash doubtless at one time furnished peculiar
facilities for storage of water within or near the village, and this
must have been one of the inducements for the selection of the site.
At the time of our survey, however, not a drop of water was to be found
about the ruin, nor could vestiges of any construction for gathering or
storing water be traced. Such vestiges would not be likely to remain, as
they must have been washed away by the violent summer torrents or buried
under the accumulating sands. Two seasons subsequent to our work at this
point it was learned that an American, digging in some rooms on the
arroyo margin, discovered the remains of a well or reservoir, which he
cleared of sand and debris and found to be in good condition, furnishing
so steady a water supply that the discoverer settled on the spot. This
was not seen by the writer. There is a small spring, perhaps a mile from
the pueblo in a northeasterly direction, but this source would have been
wholly insufficient for the needs of so large a village. It may have
furnished a much more abundant supply, however, when it was in constant
use, for at the time of our visit it seemed to be choked up. About a
mile and a half west quite a lagoon forms from the collected drainage of
several broad valleys, and contains water for a long time after the
cessation of the rains. About 6 miles to the north, in a depression of a
broad valley, an extensive lake is situated, and its supply seems to be
constant throughout the year, except, perhaps, during an unusually dry
season. These various bodies of water were undoubtedly utilized in the
horticulture of the occupants of Kin-tiel; in fact, near the borders of
the larger lake referred to is a small house of two rooms; much similar
in workmanship to the main pueblo, evidently designed as an outlook over
fields. This building is illustrated in Pl. LXVI.
[Illustration: Plate XLII. The site of Moen-kopi.]
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