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 — John Shaqi
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
Figure 1 is a ground plan of a small ruin located in Del Muerto, on the
bottom lands near its mouth. No standing walls now remain, but there is
no doubt that the village at one time covered much more ground than that
shown on the plan. There are now remains of sixteen rooms on the ground,
in addition to two kivas. There is a shallow alcove in the cliff at the
ground level, and the overhanging cliff gave the village some protection
overhead. Plate XLV shows another example in Del Muerto, the largest in
that canyon. The walls are still standing to a height of three stories
in one place, and the masonry is of high class. The back cliff has not
entered into the plan here to the same extent that it generally does.
Figure 2, a ground plan, exhibits only that portion of the area of the
ruin on which walls are still standing. It shows about 20 rooms on the
ground, exclusive of three or perhaps four kivas. The rooms are small as
a rule, rectangular, and arranged with a more than ordinary degree of
regularity. One room still carries its roof intact, as shown on the
plan. In the center of the ruin are the remains of a very large kiva,
over 36 feet in diameter. It is now so much broken down that but little
can be inferred as to its former condition, except that there was
probably no interior bench, as no remains of such a structure can now be
distinguished. The size of this kiva is exceptional, and it is very
probable that it was never roofed. The structures within the kiva, shown
on the ground plan, are Navaho burial cists. West of the large kiva
there were two others, less than 20 feet in diameter. One of these was
circular; the other was irregular in shape, perhaps more nearly
approaching an oval form. At no fewer than five places within the ruin
there are comparatively recent Navaho burials.
[Illustration: Fig. 2--Ground plan of a ruin on bottom land in
Canyon del Muerto.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3--Ground plan of a small ruin in Canyon de
Chelly.]
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