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
On the southern side of the village the ground plan shows a bit of
curved wall. It is doubtful whether this was an actual wall or merely a
terrace. If it was a wall it is the only example of curved wall found in
the region in ruins of this class. Between this wall or terrace and the
adjoining wall on the north, with which it was connected, the ground is
now filled in. Whether this filling occurred prior or subsequent to the
abandonment of the village does not appear. The northeastern corner of
the ruin is marked by a somewhat similar feature. Here there is a line
of wall now almost obliterated and but feebly marked by debris, and the
space between it and the village proper is partly filled in, forming a
low terrace. Analogous features are found in several other ruins in this
region, notably in the large ruin near Limestone creek. It should be
noted in this connection that Mr. E. W. Nelson has found that places
somewhat similar to these in the ruins about Springerville, New Mexico,
always well repaid the labor of excavation, and he adopted as a working
hypothesis the assumption that these were the burial places of the
village. Whether a similar condition would be found in this region can
only be determined by careful and systematic excavation.
The village did not occupy the whole of the mesa point on which it is
located; on the east the ground rises gently to the foothills of the
Mazatzal range, and on the south and west it slopes sharply down to the
little creek before mentioned; while on the north there is a terrace or
flat open space some 60 feet wide and almost parallel with the longer
axis of the village. This open space and the sharp fall which limits it
on the north is shown on the ground plan. The general view of the same
feature (plate XV) also shows the character of the valley of the East
Verde above the ruin; the stream is here confined within a low walled
canyon. This open space formed a part of the village and doubtless
occupied the same relation to it that interior courts do to other
villages. Its northern or outer edge is a trifle higher than the space
between it and the village proper and is marked by several large
bowlders and a small amount of debris. It is possible that at one time
there was a defensive wall here, although the ground falls so suddenly
that it is almost impossible to climb up to the edge from below without
artificial aid. Defensive walls such as this may have been are very rare
in pueblo architecture, only one instance having been encountered by the
writer in an experience of many years. The map seems to show more local
relief to this terrace than the general view indicates, but it should be
borne in mind that the contour interval is but 2½ feet.
[Illustration: Plate XIX.
SOUTHERN PART OF RUINS OPPOSITE VERDE.]
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