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
[Illustration: Fig. 4--Granary in the rocks, connected with a ruin.]
Almost directly opposite this ruin, on the other side of the canyon, are
the remains of a village that might properly be called a cave village.
At this point a large rock stands out from the cliff and in it there is
a cavity shaped almost like a quarter sphere. Its greatest diameter is
45 feet and its height about 20 feet. The bottom land here is 10 or 12
feet above the stream bed and slopes up gradually toward the cliff,
forming the bottom of the cave, which is perhaps 18 or 20 feet above the
stream and some distance from it. The cave commands an extensive outlook
over the cultivable lands below it and those extending up a branch
canyon a little above.
The whole bottom of the cave is covered by remains of rooms, shown in
plan in figure 5. The population could not have been greater than 10 or
12 persons, yet the remains of two kivas are clearly shown. Both were in
the front of the cave, adjoining but not connected with each other, and
were about 12 feet in diameter. Both had interior benches, extending in
one perhaps completely around, in the other only partly around. The
rooms are very irregular in shape and in size, ranging from 8 by 10 feet
to 3 by 4 feet, but the latter could be used only for storage. The
masonry is not of fine grade, although good; but not much detail can be
made out, as the place has been used as a sheepfold by the Navaho and
the ground surface has been filled up and smoothed over.
[Illustration: Fig. 5--Ground plan of a ruin in a cave.]
The largest ruin in the canyons is that shown in plan in figure 6. It is
situated in Del Muerto, on the canyon bottom at the base of a cliff, and
is known to the Navaho as Pakashi-izini (the blue cow). The name was
derived probably from a pictograph of a cow done in blue paint on the
canyon wall back of the ruin. Traces of walls extend over a narrow belt
against the cliffs about 400 feet long and not over 40 feet wide, and
over this area many walls are still standing. Scattered over the site
are a number of large bowlders. No attempt to remove these was made, but
walls were carried over and under them, and in some cases the direction
of a wall was modified to correspond with a face of a bowlder.
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