The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
The village spoken of was really a Cliff Village, being arranged
along the very edge of a precipitous mesa, the only access to it
being along a narrow causeway. Then again, although we have
described many ruins near which no water is to be had, at least,
in dry seasons, yet we have every reason to suppose water was
formerly more plentiful and easily attained. But in this section
it must always have been a serious question with them to obtain
enough water for necessary purposes. They must have had to store
away water in vessels of pottery, whose ruins are now so
abundant. It is not such a country as we would suppose a people
to choose for a place to settle in, only that they knew not where
else to go.
It is also considered settled that all the inhabited pueblos, as
well as those in ruins near the inhabited ones, were built by the
descendants of these people whose houses we have described. This
is proven by the similarity of pottery. Though some styles of
ancient corrugated ware are found in the San Juan section not
found near the inhabited pueblos, yet vast quantities of ware,
similar to that now found in the inhabited pueblos, can be picked
up all over the ruins to the north. Again, their religion must
have been the same, as ruined estufas are common, in all respects
similar to those now in use. In the modern pueblos we are struck
with the small cell-like rooms, yet they are but little smaller
than the ordinary single houses plentifully found over the entire
field of ruins. All the Pueblo tribes are agricultural, so were
these old people. In fact, all evidence confirms the conclusion
that the remnants of the Pueblo people that we have already
described, are also the descendants of the people driven by
hostile bands from north of the San Juan.
This statement may give false impressions, however. The
traditions of the Pueblo Indians, of New Mexico, are to the
effect that they came from the north, and also that their
ancestors formerly lived in the small houses we have described.
But we do not mean to say that all the small houses and pueblos
in Arizona and New Mexico are later in date than the
cliff-houses. The pressure has always been from the north to the
south. Neither would we be understood as saying that all the
sedentary tribes, both ancient and modern, belong to the same
stock of people. There are several different stocks of people
even among the present Pueblos.25
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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