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
The interior of the kiva was not exactly circular, being a little
elongated northeast and southwest. The inclosing wall on the east is
still standing in one place to a height of 5 feet above the top of the
kiva structure, and about a foot above that level is marked by a
setback, which reduces its thickness. Apparently the upper part was
added at a date some time subsequent to the completion of the kiva
structure, as the wall on the south, now some 3 feet above the level
mentioned, does not conform to the lower exterior wall on which it was
placed. On the western side there is another fragment of the upper
inclosing wall. Both this wall and the one on the south are less than 15
inches in thickness.
West of the kiva there are remains of other stone walls which differ in
character from those on the east. They are now usually less than 3 feet
high; they were 12 to 15 inches thick, and the lines are very irregular.
South of the kiva, in the center of the ruin, there are other stone
walls even thinner and more irregularly placed than those on the west,
but most of the walls here are of adobe. As the use of adobe blocks is
not an aboriginal feature, the occurrence of these walls is a matter of
much interest, especially as they are so intimately associated with the
stonework that it is not always an easy matter to separate them.
The occurrence and distribution of adobe walls is shown on the ground
plan. They are not found as subordinate walls, dividing larger rooms,
except perhaps in one instance; but apparently this method of
construction was employed when it was desired to add new rooms to those
already constructed. No room with walls constructed wholly of adobe can
be made out, but walls of this character closing one side of a room are
common, and rooms with two or even three sides of adobe are not
uncommon. There are some instances in which part of a wall is stone and
part adobe, and also instances in which the lower wall, complete in
itself, is of stone, while the upper part, evidently a later addition,
is of adobe; such, for example, is the cross wall in the eastern tier,
about 30 feet from the cliff.
The mere occurrence of adobe here is evidence of the occupancy of this
site at a period subsequent to the sixteenth century--we might almost
say subsequent to the middle of the seventeenth; but its occurrence in
this way and in such intimate association with the stone walls indicates
that the occupancy was continuous from a time prior to the introduction
of adobe construction to a period some time subsequent to it. This
hypothesis is supported by other evidence, which will appear later.
Attention may here be directed to the fact that there are four
chimney-like structures in the lower ruin, all of adobe, and all, except
the one which pertains to the kiva, attached to adobe walls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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