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
The main room is roughly circular in form, measuring 16 feet in its
north and south diameter and 15 feet from east to west. The roof is
about 7 feet above the floor. Figure 292 shows a section from northwest
to southwest (_a_, _b_, figure 291) through the small connected room
adjoining on the south, and also an east arid west section (_c_, _d_,
figure 291). The floor is plastered with clay wherever it was necessary
in order to bring it to a level, and the coating is consequently not of
uniform thickness. It is divided into sections by low ridges of clay as
shown in the plan and sections; the northern section is a few inches
higher than the other. Extending through the clay finish of the floor
and into the rock beneath there are four pits, indicated on the plan by
round spots. The largest of these, situated opposite the northern door,
was a fire hole or pit about 18 inches in diameter at the floor level,
of an inverted conical shape, about 10 inches in depth, and plastered
inside with clay inlaid with fragments of pottery placed as closely
together as their shape would permit. The other pits are smaller; one
located near the southeastern corner of the room is about 6 inches in
diameter and the same in depth, while the others are mere depressions in
the floor, in shape like the small paint mortars used by the Pueblos.
[Illustration: Figure 293.
Section of water pocket.]
The room, when opened, contained a deposit of bat dung and sand about
3 feet thick in the center and averaging about 2 feet thick throughout
the room. This deposit exhibited a series of well-defined strata,
varying from three-fourths to an inch and a half thick, caused by the
respective predominance of dung or sand. No evidence of disturbance of
these strata was found although careful examination was made. This
deposit was cleared out and a number of small articles were found, all
resting, however, directly on the floor. The articles consisted of
fragments of basketry, bundles of fibers and pieces of fabrics, pieces
of arrowshafts, fragments of grinding stones, three sandals of woven
yucca fiber, two of them new and nearly perfect, and a number of pieces
of cotton cloth, the latter scattered over the room and in several
instances gummed to the floor. Only a few fragments of pottery were
found in the main room, but outside in the northern passageway were the
fragments of two large pieces, one an olla, the other a bowl, both
buried in 3 or 4 inches of debris under a large slab fallen from the
roof.
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