Prehistoric villages, castles, and towers of southwestern ColoradoFewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Prehistoric villages, castles, and towers of southwestern Colorado
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Colorado -- Antiquities; Mesa Verde National Park (Colo.) -- Antiquities; Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities
The “Upper House” is only one of several pueblos composing the western
cluster of the Aztec Spring village. Its proximity to the source of
water may in part account for its predominant size, but there are
evidences of several other mounds (_E-H_) in its neighborhood, also
remains of pueblos. Those on the north (_C_) and west sides (_E-H_) are
small and separated from it by intervals sometimes called courts. The
most extensive accumulation of rooms next the “Upper House” is situated
across the draw in which the spring lies, south of the “Upper House”
cluster already considered. The aggregation of houses near the “Upper
House” is mainly composed of low rectangular buildings among which are
recognized scattered circular depressions indicating kivas. The largest
of these buildings is indicated by the mound on the south rim of the
draw, where we can make out remains of a number of circular depressions
or kivas (_K_), as if several unit forms fused together; on the north
and west sides of the spring there are small, low mounds, unconnected,
also suggesting several similar unit forms. The most densely populated
part of the village at Aztec Spring, as indicated by the size of the
mounds clustered on the rim around the head of the draw, is above the
spring, on the northwest and south sides.
There remains to be mentioned the eastern annex (_B_) of the Aztec
Spring village, the most striking remains of which is a rectangular
inclosure called “Lower House,” situated east of the spring and lower
down the draw, or at a lower level than the section already considered.
The type of this structure, which undoubtedly belonged to the same
village, is different from that already described. It resembles a
reservoir rather than a kiva, inclosed by a low rectangular wall,
with rows of rooms on the north side. The court of the “Lower House”
measures 218 feet. The wall on the east, south, and west sides is only
a few feet high and is narrow; that on the north is broader and higher,
evidently the remains of rooms, overlooking the inclosed area.
Perhaps the most enigmatical structures in the vicinity of Aztec Spring
village are situated on a low mesa south of the mounds, a few hundred
feet away. These are circular depressions without accompanying mounds,
one of which was excavated a few years ago to the depth of 12 feet; on
the south there was discovered a well-made wall of a circular opening,
now visible, by which there was a communication through a horizontal
tunnel with the open air. The author was informed that this tunnel
is artificial and that one of the workmen crawled through it to its
opening in the side of a bank many yards distant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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