Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, Arizona — John Shaqi
Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, ArizonaFewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, Arizona
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Arizona -- Antiquities; Cliff-dwellings -- Arizona; Navajo National Monument (Ariz.)
The modifications in architecture brought about by the difference in
direction of these cleavage planes are apparent. The ancient builders
in the Navaho Monument region utilized the vertical faces as supports
for walls of rooms on one or more sides. In some cases the face of the
cliff forms the rear walls; in others a side wall and the rear wall
of a room are formed by vertical cleavage planes at right angles, as
shown in plate 9. It can be seen that adjacent houses built upon fallen
rocks of different heights, the vertical faces being utilized as rear
walls, would seem to stand one above another, or, in other words, they
would present the well-known terrace form which exists in some modern
pueblos.
The writer approached this ruin by following the fallen débris at
the end, where the rooms, being without covering and exposed to the
elements, are most dilapidated. Over this fallen mass one makes his way
with difficulty and is often in danger of falling from the cliff. On
account of the perpendicular face of the cliff below the foundations of
the other end of the ruin, it is impossible to climb into it, except
from this side. On approaching the ruin there is to be seen on the
vertical face of the cliff a pictograph (pl. 12) worthy of special
mention, or rather two pictographs which are doubtless connected in
meaning. The larger of these is a circle, painted white, resembling a
shield (a common object in pictographic representation), the other a
horned animal, perhaps a mountain sheep.[29] The figure on the shield,
which bears evidence of former coloration, represents a human being
with outstretched arms, the hands being raised to the level of the
head. On each side of the body are represented two designs—a circle of
yellow and a crescent in which are parallel bands of red, yellow, and
probably green.
The rooms in this cliff-house are rectangular, cubical, or box-like
structures built against the face of the cliff, which serves as their
rear wall. There are no towers or round rooms such as those that lend
picturesqueness to several of the Mesa Verde cliff-dwellings. Few of
the rooms are more than two stories high, the appearance of terraced
rooms being given by the varying heights of their foundations. The
masonry is crude, the lines are irregular, and the external faces of
the walls vertical. The interior wall was probably plastered, and some
walls afford good evidence that their exterior was formerly covered
with mud.
A marked feature of ruins in this region is the adobe walls supported
by rows of stakes with interwoven sticks. No adobe bricks were seen in
the walls examined.[30]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 50 PLATE 9
BETATAKIN—WESTERN END]
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 50 PLATE 10
GROUND PLAN
OF THE
BETATA KIN
NAVAHO IND·RES·ARIZ·
BY
W·B·DOUGLASS
U·S·EXAMINER OF SURVEYS
·GENERAL LAND OFF·
]
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account