Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1930-1931, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933. — John Shaqi
Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1930-1931, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933.
History
Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1930-1931, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933.
Indexes
Evidence showed that the largest of the houses had not been erected as
a complete unit and that it was not occupied in its entirety at any
time. The central block, together with a superceremonial chamber placed
at its southern side, constituted the original block of the structure.
Subsequent additions consisted of an east-and-west wing and a series of
chambers south of the original portion and east of the great ceremonial
chamber. Masonry in the walls of the latter portions was inferior to
that in the original section. The outlines of the rooms in these same
portions of the building were so irregular that they appeared to have
been built by a different group of people. The walls in the original
section were constructed in a style characteristic of the ruins in the
Chaco Canyon, 85 miles northeast from the Zuñi region. The stonework in
the latter portions of the building was suggestive of the type found in
the ruins of the Upper Gila area to the south.
The small house did not give evidence of growth stages as distinct as
those observed in the large building; it did show, however, that a
fairly small structure had been added to on various occasions. The
walls in this building were of the same nature as those in the later
portions of the larger dwelling, except that the stones were more
carefully dressed. This suggested that the small house may have been
built by the same group which erected the later portions of the large
one.
In addition to the two houses and seven small ceremonial chambers two
great kivas were found. Only one of these was excavated. In the case
of the other it was possible merely to trace the outer walls in order
to obtain the size and position of the structure. The finding of these
two great kivas was significant because investigations in the Southwest
have shown that such structures are always associated with some form
of the Chaco culture. The great kiva connected with the larger of the
two dwellings revealed one of the essential characteristics of such
structures when the débris which filled it was removed. It had an
average diameter of 55 feet. The second of these large circular houses
was completely detached from the other buildings in the village and had
been placed in a court formed by the other structures. It averaged 78
feet in diameter, which makes it the largest yet discovered.
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