The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
Mr. Holmes calls attention to one point bearing on the antiquity
of this ruin. The buttresses, which probably support a
balustrade, noticed in the figure on the house, were built on the
sloping surface of the rock. It would take but very little
weathering of the rocks to throw them to the bottom of the cañon;
and, furthermore, the rock is a rough sandstone, and hence easily
crumbles; and it is not well protected by the overhanging cliff;
but no perceptible change has taken place since the buttresses
were first built. The thickness of a sheet of paper has hardly
been washed from the surface, and the mortar, almost as hard as
the rock itself, lies upon it as if placed there within a dozen
years. This structure is, evidently, not as old as the low mounds
of crumbling ruins we have heretofore described. It is more than
probable that such retreats as this were not provided until near
the close of their stay in the country.
A ruin further down the cañon, described by Mr. Holmes, is of
great interest, as it shows how necessary the people considered
it to be to construct an estufa. It will be observed that there
are two houses. So nicely are these hidden away that Mr. Holmes
had almost completed a sketch of the upper house before he
noticed the lower one. They are both overhung by the rocks above
so as to be protected from the weather. The upper house can only
be approached by means of steps cut in the rock. It appears to be
in an unfinished state, and, when we consider the great labor
required for its construction, we can not wonder that they grew
tired before its completion.
The lower house is some eight hundred feet above the bottom of
the cañon, but is comparatively easy of approach. The interesting
feature about it is the estufa. It was situated near the center
of the main portion of the house. The entrance to this chamber
shows the peculiar importance attached to it by the builders. Mr.
Holmes says: “A walled and covered passage-way of solid masonry,
ten feet of which is still intact, leads from an outer chamber
through the small intervening apartments into the circular one.
It is possible that this originally extended to the outer wall,
and was entered from the outside. If so, the person desiring to
visit the estufa would have to enter the aperture about
twenty-two inches high by thirty wide, and crawl, in the the most
abject manner possible, through a tube-like passage-way nearly
twenty feet in length.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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