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
History
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
In order to become familiar with the general character of Tusayan
ruins, I made a brief reconnoissance of those mentioned in the
following list, from which I selected Awatobi and Sikyatki as places
for a more exhaustive exploration. This list is followed by a brief
mention of those which I believe would offer fair opportunities for a
continuation of the work inaugurated. The ruins near Oraibi were not
examined and are therefore omitted, not that they are regarded as less
important, but because I was unable to undertake a study of them in
the limited time at my disposal. There are also many ruins in Tusayan,
north of the inhabited pueblos, which have never been described, and
would well repay extended investigation. Some of these, as the ruins
at the sacred spring called Kishuba, are of the utmost traditional
importance.
I. _Middle Mesa ruins_--(1) Old Shuñopovi; (2) Old
Mishoñinovi; (3) Shitaumû; (4) Chukubi; (5) Payüpki.
II. _East Mesa ruins_--(1) Kisakobi; (2) Küchaptüvela; (3)
Küküchomo; (4) Tukinobi; (5) Kachinba; (6) Sikyatki.
III. _Ruins in Keam's canyon_.
IV. _Jeditoh valley ruins_--(1) Bat-house; (2) Jeditoh,
Kawaika; (3) Horn-house; (4) Awatobi; Smaller Awatobi.
This method of classification is purely geographical, and is adopted
simply for convenience; but there are one or two facts worthy of
mention in regard to the distribution of ruins in these four sections.
The inhabited pueblos, like the ruins, are, as a rule, situated on the
eastern side of their respective mesas, or on the cliffs or hills
which border the adjacent plains on the west. This uniformity is
thought to have resulted from a desire to occupy a sunny site for
warmth and for other reasons.
The pueblos at or nearest the southern ends of the mesas were found to
be best suited for habitation, consequently the present towns occupy
those sites, or, as in the case of the Jeditoh series, the pueblo at
that point was the last abandoned. The reason for this is thought to
be an attempt to concentrate on the most inaccessible sites available,
which implies inroads of hostile peoples. For the same reason,
likewise, the tendency was to move from the foothills to the mesa tops
when these invasions began.
Early settlers near East Mesa appeared to have chosen exposed sites
for their pueblos. This would imply that they feared no invasion, and
legendary history indicates that the first pueblos were erected before
the hostile Ute, Apache, and Navaho appeared. The early settlements on
Middle Mesa were also apparently not made with an absorbing idea of
inaccessibility. All the Jeditoh villages, however, were on the mesa
tops, these sites having been selected evidently with a view to
protection, since they were not convenient to the farms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account