Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1891-92, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 179-262Mindeleff, Cosmos
History
Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1891-92, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 179-262
Mindeleff, Cosmos
Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities; Verde River Valley (Ariz.) -- Antiquities
Plate XII exhibits the ground plan of the village. It will be observed
that this plan is remarkably similar in general characters to the ground
plan of Zuñi.[2] A close inspection will reveal the presence of many
discrepancies in the plan, which suggest that the village received at
various times additions to its population in considerable numbers, and
was not the result of the gradual growth of one settlement nor the home
of a large group coming en masse to this locality. It has been shown[3]
that in the old provinces of Tusayan and Cibola (Moki and Zuñi) the
present villages are the result of the aggregation of many related
gentes and subgentes, who reached their present location at different
times and from different directions, and this seems to be the almost
universal rule for the larger pueblos and ruins. It should be noted in
this connection, however, that, the preceding statements being granted,
a general plan of this character indicates an essentially modern origin
or foundation.
[Footnote 2: Eighth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1886-’87, Wash.,
1891, pl. lxxvi.]
[Footnote 3: Ibid., pp. 1-228.]
The ground plan shows a number of courts or open spaces, which divided
the village into four well-defined clusters. The largest court was
nearly in the center of the village, and within it (as shown, on the
plan) there are traces of a small single-room structure that may have
been a kiva of sacred chamber. Attached to this main court and extending
eastward is another court of considerable size, and connected with this
second court at its eastern end there is another one almost square in
plan and of fair size. West of the main court may be seen a small court
opening into it, and north of this another square space separated from
the main court by a single stone wall and inclosed on the other three
sides by rooms. In addition to these there are two completely inclosed
small courts in the center of the southwestern cluster, and another one
of moderate size between the southwestern and southern clusters.
The arrangement of these courts is highly suggestive. The central space
was evidently the main court of the village at the time of its greatest
development, and it is equally evident that it was inclosed at a later
period than the small inclosed courts immediately adjacent to it, for
had the latter not preceded it they would not occupy the positions they
now do. Plate XIII represents a part of the main court, and beyond the
débris can be seen a small portion of the bottom upon which the village
is built. To the left, in the foreground of the illustration, are traces
of a small detached room, perhaps the main kiva[4] of the village; this
is also shown on the ground plan, plate XII.
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