Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, ArizonaFewkes, Jesse Walter
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Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, Arizona
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Arizona -- Antiquities; Cliff-dwellings -- Arizona; Navajo National Monument (Ariz.)
One of the largest clusters of rooms in this cliff-house (Betatakin)
stands on a huge rock foundation, the vertical face of which is
continuous with the wall of masonry of the front building of the
cluster. (Pl. 11.) The rear wall of the front room is formed by the
vertical face of the cliff. About half of the roof of this room has
gone, but several patches still remain even in the broken section.
The rooms of the higher tier are set against an upright wall. The
doorway is on one side. The shelf of rock on which this room stands
is level with the roof of the first room and the cave wall
forms its rear. This room was probably a ceremonial chamber, having a
fire-hole in the floor, between which and the doorway is a low wall
of masonry corresponding to the deflector, or altar, in Mesa Verde
ruins.[31] The part of the floor on which one steps in entering this
room is raised slightly above the remainder, serving to connect the
base of the deflector with the doorsill. The deflector and fire-hole
are practically duplicates of features common to several Cliff Palace
kivas. At Betatakin, however, the ceremonial room is above ground, not
subterranean, and is entered from the side instead of from the top.
A two-story room stands on the rock one tier higher than the ceremonial
room just mentioned, its foundation being at the level of the roof
of the ceremonial room, as shown in the illustration. The front wall
of this room is more or less broken down, but on one side, where
projecting rafters are found in place, the masonry, otherwise unbroken,
is pierced by a small window. This room has also a door on the side.
Several well-preserved rooms extend along a ledge of rock on the same
level as the roofs of these buildings, forming another tier above the
ceremonial room. One of these has a fine roof; ends of rafters extend
from the walls.
Beyond the ceremonial room, on the side where the ruin is most
dilapidated, may be noted the same arrangement of the rooms in tiers
or terraces, brought about by the varying height of their foundations.
Several walls in these rooms are in good condition, but the fronts
of many are broken down. Here are found rows of sticks or supports
projecting from the débris. The walls are almost invariably of stone;
those supported by sticks are usually connecting walls. The roofs of
some of these rooms are entire, but many are broken, although their
rafters still remain in place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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