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
It will be noticed that these doorways all conform to one general plan
and that this plan required an opening considerably larger in its upper
third than in the lower two-thirds of its height. This requirement seems
to be the counterpart or analogue of the notched doorway, which is the
standard type in the cliff ruins of Canyon de Chelly and other regions,
and still very common in Tusayan (Moki). Figure 304 shows a notched
doorway in Canyon de Chelly and figure 305 gives an example of the same
type of opening in Tusayan. The object of this peculiar shape in the
regions mentioned has been well established,[9] and there is no reason
to suppose that similar conditions and a similar object would not
produce a similar result here. This type of opening had its origin in
the time when the pueblo builders had no means, other than blankets,
of temporarily closing door openings and when all the supplies of the
village were brought in on the backs of the inhabitants. In order to
secure protection against cold and storm the opening was made of the
smallest possible size consistent with its use, and the upper part of
the opening was made larger in order to permit the introduction of back
loads of faggots and other necessaries. This purpose would be almost as
well served by the openings of the cavate lodges as by the notched
doorway, and at the same time the smallest possible opening was exposed
to the weather. The two types of openings seem simply to be two
different methods of accomplishing the same purpose--one in solid rock,
the other in masonry. That it was considered desirable to reduce the
openings as much as possible is evident from the employment of framing
slabs in the lower portions, reducing the width of that part generally
to less than a foot, while the upper portions are usually 3 feet and
more in width, and the absence of framing slabs in the upper part of the
openings was probably due to their use as suggested; no slabs could be
attached with sufficient firmness to resist the drag of a back load of
wood, for example, forced between them. The strict confinement of door
openings to one type suggests a short, rather than a long, occupancy of
the site under discussion, a suggestion which is borne out by other
details; and this unity of design renders it difficult to form a
conclusion as to the relative age of the two types of openings under
discussion. So far as the evidence goes, however, it supports the
conclusion that the doorways of the cavate lodges were derived from a
type previously developed, and that the idea has been modified and to
some extent adapted to a different environment; for if the idea had been
developed in the cavate lodges there would be a much greater number of
variations than we find in fact. There can be no doubt, however, that
the cavate lodge doorways represent an earlier type in development,
if not in time, than the notched doorways of Tusayan.
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