The Cliff Ruins of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona: Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-95, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 73-198Mindeleff, Cosmos
History
The Cliff Ruins of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona: Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-95, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 73-198
Mindeleff, Cosmos
Arizona -- Antiquities; Chelly, Canyon de (Ariz.); Cliff-dwellings -- Arizona; Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities
The inner surface of the rectangular inclosing wall is marked by a line
in the interior of the tunnel. Inside of this line, toward the center of
the kiva, the stones composing the wall are large; outside of it they
are small. The interior plastering of the kiva is not smoke-blackened,
but the coat next the surface is stained, as is also the third coat
underneath. The interior of the tunnel is not much smoke-blackened, but
it appears probable that part of its roof fell while the structure was
still in use, as there are a number of little cavities in the masonry
above its roof level filled with soot. A similar effect might result
from leaks or cavities between the flat roofing stones. In excavating
the tunnel a number of large lumps of clay were found in it, and there
is no doubt that they formed part of the roof. Some of these had
considerable quantities of grass mixed into them or stuck to the clay on
one side. Apparently dry grass was used in the construction. A large
fire could not have been built within the tunnel.
[Illustration: Fig. 80--Plan of chimney-like structure in ruin
No. 16.]
The principal kiva in Mummy Cave ruin has an elaborate structure of the
kind under discussion. Figure 82 shows a plan of this kiva, of which a
general view has already been given (figure 75). The bench extended only
partly around the interior, which had a continuous surface at the floor
level, except on the southwest. At this point it is interrupted to give
place to an elaborate chimney-like structure. Figure 83 is a general
view.
The wall surface on the southern side of the kiva has been extended
inward, as shown on the plan by a lighter shaded area. This was done at
some period subsequent to the completion of the kiva, but whether it had
any connection with the chimney-like structure could not be determined.
The curtain or screen before the opening, which seems to be an
invariable feature, is shown in both figures.
In this example the tunnel does not pass through the masonry as in those
previously described, but occurs in the form of a covered trough, shown
in the illustration with the covering removed. It occupies the middle
third of a large recess in the main wall of the kiva, and is connected
at its outer end with a vertical square shaft about a foot wide. This
shaft is separated from the recess above the bench level by a wall only
a few inches thick, composed of a single layer of stones. That portion
of it which is above the tunnel is supported by a single round stick of
wood, as shown in figure 83. The south or inner opening of the tunnel is
reduced to two-thirds, of the width elsewhere by a framing composed of
bundles of sticks bound together with withes and heavily coated with mud
mortar. This was not placed flush with the inner face, but a few inches
back, and the whole structure gives an effect of unusual neatness and
good workmanship.
[Illustration: Fig. 81--Section of chimney-like structure in ruin
No. 16]
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