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
At the point marked 49 on the map there is a ruin or group of ruins
which presents some anomalous features. Figure 29 shows in detail the
distribution of the remains. The rooms were located on narrow benches in
the cliff, the principal part on a high, narrow bench, 40 or 50 feet
above the top of the talus and over 300 feet above the canyon bottom.
Access to the upper ledge from the top of the talus is exceedingly
difficult, requiring a climb over almost vertical rock for 40 feet.
Above the ledge there is massive sandstone, but below it for 100 feet or
more there is an area of cross bedding, and the rock has an almost
vertical cleavage, apparently standing upright in thin slabs 2 to 6
inches thick. Access was had by aid of the rough projections of the
slabs, aided where necessary by hand and foot holes pecked in the rock.
At several places little platforms of masonry have been built.
At the northern end of the upper ledge there are five small cells
occupying its whole width, and whose front wall follows the winding
ledge. The walls are about 5 feet high, and their tops bear the marks of
the poles which carried the roof. There are no exterior openings, nor is
there any evidence of a means of communication between the rooms; but in
the second room from the south two stones project from the wall inside,
near the southeastern corner, forming rude steps, doubtless to a
trapdoor in the roof. These cells could hardly have been used as
habitations. The floors are covered with many lumps of clay, which
apparently formed part of the roof.
To the south of this cluster of cells there was a large room of
irregular shape on a level about 8 feet higher. The remainder of the
ledge, which is about on the same level as this large room, is almost
covered with large bowlders, but at several points on it other remains
of walls occur. The largest room of all was near its center. It was
built against the cliff, which formed one of its sides, and measured
about 16 by 6 feet. There are no evidences of any partitions or roof,
the latter probably being formed by the overhanging rock. As the room
was built partly on the sloping rock, the floor is very uneven. It could
hardly have been used as a habitation, but may have been employed for
the storage of water.
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