Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744Fewkes, Jesse Walter
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Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744
THE RED ROCKS; TEMPLE CANYON]
The interior of the ruin is divided into a number of inclosures by
partitions at right angles to the front wall, fastening it to the face
of the cliff. This I have lettered, beginning at the extreme right
inclosure with _A_. The inclosure has bounding walls, built on a
bowlder somewhat more than six feet high. It has no external
passageway, and probably the entrance was from the roof. This
inclosure communicates by a doorway directly with the adjoining
chamber, _B_. The corner of this room, or the angle made by the
lateral with the front walls, is rounded, a constant feature in
well-built cliff houses. No windows exist, and the upper edge of both
front and lateral walls is but slightly broken.
The front wall of inclosure _B_ bulges into bow-shape form, and was
evidently at least two stories high. This wall is a finely laid
section of masonry, composed of large, rough stones in the lower
courses, upon which smaller, roughly hewn stones are built. It is
probable, from the large amount of débris in the neighborhood, that
formerly there were rows of single-story rooms in front of what are
now the standing walls, but the character of their architecture is
difficult to determine with certainty. Their foundations, although
partially covered, are not wholly concealed.
The front wall of inclosure _B_ is pierced by three openings, the
largest of which is a square passageway into the adjoining room, and
is situated in the middle of the curved wall. A wooden lintel, which
had been well hewn with stone implements, still remains in place above
this passageway, and under it the visitor passes through a low opening
which has the appearance of having been once a doorway. Above this
entrance, on each side, in the wall, is a square hole, which
originally may have been the points of support of floor beams.
Formerly, likewise, there was a large square opening above the middle
passageway, but this has been closed with masonry, leaving in place
the wooden beam which once supported the wall above. The upper edge of
the front wall of inclosure _B_ is level, and is but little broken
except in two places, where there are notches, one above each of the
square holes already mentioned. It is probable that these depressions
were intended for the ends of the beams which once supported a
combined roof and floor.
On the perpendicular wall which forms the rear of inclosure _B_, many
feet above the top of the standing front walls, there are several
pictographs of Apache origin. The height of these above the level of
the former roof would appear to indicate the existence of a third
story, for the hands which drew them must have been at least 15 feet
above the present top of the standing wall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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