Chapter III: Part 3

The lower part of the outer corner of the tower has fallen out. At this point there was a small doorway or opening, which was the only entrance on the south or east. The corner which has fallen was apparently supported by three or four sticks laid horizontally on the rock at an angle of 45 degrees with either wall. The giving way of the timber support apparently caused the fall of the corner, but why a structure otherwise so substantial should be placed on such frail support, when a filling of masonry was both easy and practicable, is not clear.

The doorway mentioned is the only opening into the ground-floor room in the tower. Connection with the rooms on the west was through a large doorway in the western wall of the second story, and in the story above there was a similar opening. These are shown in plate XLVIII, which is a general view of the central portion of the eastern cove.

The lintels of the openings in the central part are formed of round sticks, about 3 inches in diameter, matched, and bound together with withes. These withes may be seen in places where the mud plaster has fallen away. The stick lintels occur only in the central portion; the windows and doorways of the other portions of the ruin, some fine examples of which remain, are always finished with stone lintels and sometimes with stone jambs.

A little east of the center of the front wall there is a large rock, or rather a pile of large rocks, near the outer edge of the ledge. This is shown in the illustration. Instead of removing this obstruction the wall was built under and over it. Near the western end of the front wall there is a large doorway or opening. Access to the western cove was along the narrow edge of the ledge under the front wall, thence through this doorway. The doorway gave entrance to a very narrow space, less than 4 feet square, surrounded by a heavy wall with a doorway through the left or western wall into the last apartment of the series. Through the western wall of this apartment a doorway opened on the end of the ledge and the western cove. This principal entrance is shown in plate XLVIII. Its size is exceptional, it being about 6 feet high. A little below the top there is a single stick across it, and a similar contrivance was found in place in the openings in the tower, but it does not occur in the opening in the cross wall. The same feature is found in the modern pueblos, where the stick forms the support of a blanket draped to close the opening.

A little east of the doorway in the front wall there is a small opening near the ground, through which can be seen what appears to be a roof. It is but 2 feet above the ground, however, and very roughly constructed. It consists of a layer of cedar logs; above this a layer of small sticks, and above this again slabs of stone and mud. It occurs under a narrow room or passage, shown on the plan, and seems to have been the floor of that room rather than a roof of a space below.

Roofing or flooring beams project from the tower on three sides. They are all rounded and carefully selected or matched. Those of the lower story or first roof are 41/2 inches in diameter, those of the story above about 3 inches, while those of the roof, which occur in pairs, are about 21/2 inches. They all, except those of the lower story, project about 2 feet from the wall. All the beams are from 18 inches to 2 feet apart, and the roof is formed of canes or willow sticks less than half an inch in diameter laid very neatly in patterns. The work here is by far the best in any part of the canyon. The beams of the first floor are represented only by the ends which pass through the walls, the middle portion being gone.

The cliff wall forming one side of the rooms in the tower was coated with a wash of yellowish clay to correspond with the other sides. It shows bare rock at the points where the floors abutted against it. The roof of the second story or middle room was 10 inches thick, and the marks are on the same level as those of the rooms over the west of the tower. There are also beam holes in the third story about 4 feet above its floor, but extending only from the cliff out to its opening.

A singular feature occurs in the tower, which is difficult to explain. The upper part of the third-story room was coated in the interior with whitewash, which appears to have been carelessly applied. Small quantities struck the setback at the floor level and spattered over the wall below--that of the second-story room. In one case a considerable quantity of the whitewash struck the top of a beam in what would be the roof of the second story and scattered over the wall surface below it. It is therefore clear that at the time when the whitewash was applied, which was either at the time or subsequent to the habitation of the rooms, there was no floor to the third-story room nor roof to the second story. The stains of whitewash never go below the floor level of the second story.

The house remains in the eastern cove are partly shown in plate XLIX, which is from a photograph. The point of view is from the ledge in front of the tower. The ruins rest on a ledge in the back of the cove formed of debris well compacted and apparently consisting partly of sheep dung. The rooms are small, sometimes three deep against the back of the cove, and many of them could only have been used for storage. The principal structure is the western kiva, with its chimney-like attachments. This is described at length on pages 177, 179, 186, and 187. Adjoining it on the east is another kiva, part of whose wall is still two stories high, and clearly shown in the illustration. Some 50 or 60 feet to the east or southeast there is another circular structure, which apparently had no interior bench. The small semicircular structure shown on the plan and in the illustration, which rests against and is roofed by the rock, is a Navaho burial cist, and another of these cists, of large size, occurs west of the principal kiva; but the ruin as a whole contains much less evidence of Navaho work than those farther down the canyon.

Many of the walls are built entirely of small pieces of stone, not more than 3 or 4 inches long by 2 inches wide and half an inch to an inch and a half thick. This construction is especially noticeable in inner walls. The joints are carefully plastered, evidently with the hand, but the mud is seldom allowed to cover the stone. It appears to have been applied externally, in pellets about the size of a walnut. The general thickness of walls is about 15 inches, although on the intermediate ledge they are over 2 feet, but some of the less important walls consist of a single layer, 6 to 8 inches thick. Walls are sometimes seen here supported by vertical timbers incorporated in them after the manner later described at some length. Ends of logs project here and there from the debris on the slope, but probably many of them are the debris of roofs.

The peculiar and anomalous features presented by the remains on the intermediate ledge seem to require some explanation. This portion of the ruin is not only different from the other portions, but different also from anything else in the canyon, and the difference is not one of degree only. Doubtless systematic excavation in the various parts of the ruin would afford an explanation. In the absence of such work we can only speculate on the problem.

The occurrence of two chimney-like shafts in connection with the rectangular rooms west of the tower is significant. Nowhere else in the canyons, except in the Casa Blanca ruin, do these structures occur, so far as known, except in connection with circular kivas. As regards the ruin named, it is almost certain that it was occupied in the historic period, probably in the seventeenth century.

The division of the ruin into three separate parts, the absence of kivas in the western cove, and the method of access to that portion all attract attention. If there were monks or other Spaniards in the settlement, the explanation would be plain; they and those of the natives allied with them would occupy the central ledge, and the anomalous features would be natural under the circumstances. Such a hypothesis would explain also the source of the many unaboriginal features which are found in other parts of the canyon, but there is no direct evidence to support it. It should be mentioned, however, that the walls here rest on about half an inch of substance which resembles compacted sheep dung. If the substance is really such, the walls must have been built within the historic period.

At the point marked 48 on the map there is a ruin which resembles somewhat in its location an example previously described (page 98). It is situated in a cove in a jutting point of rock, forming part of the talus slope, and is about 20 feet above the bottom, which it overlooks. Figure 17 shows the character of the site, and figure 18 is a ground plan. At the back of the cove a row of small rooms, five or six in number, was built against the rock. In front of these there were two kivas and perhaps other rooms. Only fragments of these now remain, but it can still be seen that both kivas had interior benches, and that the western one has been plastered with several successive coats--at least four. There are no pictographs on the back wall, and but little staining by smoke. The masonry is rather rough, consisting of large stones, pretty well chinked with small spawls.

Some of the walls were plastered. The western end of the ruin has been partially restored by the Navaho and used for burial cists, and other cists have been built on the site independent of the old walls, as shown on the plan. Figure 19 is a ground plan of a ruin on a ledge near the mouth of Del Muerto, at the point marked 15 on the map. It is situated at the back of a considerable bay, directly opposite a large rock at the mouth of Del Muerto, and overlooked the whole of the bottom land in the bay. The houses were built on a bench or ledge, about 30 feet wide, overhung by the cliff above and dropping down almost vertically to the bottom land, about 40 feet below, but on the east access to the bench was easy by a slope of talus extending up to it. The site was covered with bowlders, and walls have been built over and under them. The masonry is good, and was composed of larger stones than usual, carefully chinked with spalls, the work being well done.

There were but 10 rooms on the ground, in addition to one circular kiva; some of these rooms are too small for habitation, and one of them appears to have been a rectangular kiva. On the same bench, about 100 feet westward, however, there are traces of other rooms, the walls of which were very thin. The cliffs back of the ruin and for 200 feet west of it are covered with pictographs in white and colors.

Near the center of that portion of the ruin shown on the ground plan there is a large room which may have been a rectangular kiva. The walls are over 2 feet thick in the first story, diminishing at the roof level by a step or setback to the ordinary thickness of about a foot. These walls, as usual in such structures, were about 2 feet thick; they are slightly curved, the front wall markedly so, and the interior corners are well rounded. No reason for this curvature is apparent, and it is certainly not dictated by the occurrence of the rock over which the wall is built, as only the point of this rock comes through the wall in the western side of the front wall. There may have been an opening into the room through the eastern wall connecting it with the room on that side, as the masonry is there broken down; but this is doubtful, as the eastern room itself has no exterior opening. It is more probable that the large room was entered through the roof, for the thin wall of the second story shows in front one side of a well-finished doorway.

Just outside of the heavy front wall there is a round hole in the ground, the remains of a vertical shaft connected with the interior of the room. The hole is about a foot in diameter, and is neatly plastered inside, and appears to have been a chimney or a chimney-like structure such as occur in connection with the kivas in other ruins. It will later be discussed in detail.

The circular kiva occupies the western end of that part of the room shown in the plan. It was 15 feet in diameter, and is exceptionally well built. The wall is standing for about half of its circumference, and was so neatly finished that the interior coating of plaster was apparently omitted. There are no traces of inclosing rectangular walls; the thickness of the kiva walls and the exceptionally large stones used in parts of it suggest that the kiva stood alone. So far as the walls remain standing, an interior bench can be traced, about 2 feet wide and 6 feet below the top of the outside wall. On the southeastern side, in the interior, there is a buttress or projection, which terminates the bench at this point.

The walls between the rectangular room described and the circular kiva are thin and very irregularly laid out. In front of the rectangular room and on the edge of the bench, which is here but a few feet above the talus, a rather heavy wall has been built over the top of a rock, and inside or to the north of it another wall has been placed, hardly 2 feet distant. These walls are connected at the eastern end by a thin cross wall, now but slightly above the ground surface and notched like a doorway. Below the notch a slab of stone has been placed and was apparently used as a step. The purpose of these walls is not clear, but they may have constituted an entrance or passageway to the village. If so, we have here a very efficient defensive expedient and a decided anomaly in cliff-village architecture.

At the point marked 31 on the map there is a small ruin on a ledge about 150 feet above the bottom and difficult of access. The site overlooks considerable areas of bottom land on both sides of the canyon, and was probably connected with and formed part of a larger ruin on the same ledge and east of it, which will next be described. On this site there are remains of half a dozen rooms or more and of one circular kiva, which was 20 feet in diameter. (See ground plan, figure 20.) The site has been much filled up, and the kiva appears as a cylindrical depression, flush with the ground outside, but 3 to 5 feet deep inside. The walls are rather thin and smoothly plastered inside. On the south side there is an opening extending down to the floor level and opening directly on the sharply sloping rock. This feature will later be discussed at some length. The walls to the west of the kiva are still 14 or 15 feet high, showing two stories, and were well constructed and smoothly plastered. The interior of the kiva shows a number of successive coats of plastering--at least eight.

Immediately above the last-mentioned ruin, and on the same ledge, occur the remains of a large settlement, shown in plan in figure 21. It will be noticed that here, as in some of the previous examples described, the general arrangement consists of a row of rooms against the cliff, with the kivas in front. There were at least 17 rooms in line, and there may have been as many as 30 to 50 rectangular rooms in the village, scattered over an area nearly 200 feet long by 65 feet wide, but not all of this area was covered. Three kivas are still clearly shown.

This ruin is especially interesting on account of the site it occupies. The walls were placed on sharply sloping rock and in some cases on loose debris, and numerous expedients were resorted to to prevent them from slipping down the slope. The fact that these expedients were not successful makes them more interesting. Upright logs were inclosed in the walls and anchored in holes drilled in the rock below; horizontal logs were built into the masonry as ties and placed below it, and heavy retaining walls were erected. These constructive expedients will later be discussed at greater length.

The whole slope is more or less covered with debris, and there is no doubt that this was at one time a considerable settlement. The cliff walls near the east end show traces of two stories, and in one place of three stories, which formerly rested against them. Moreover, the number of successive coats of plaster in the kiva shows an extended occupancy, an inference which is further supported by the variety of expedients which were adopted to hold the walls in place.

The marked irregularity of the five eastern rooms as compared with the regular series west of them will be noticed on the plan. These eastern rooms must have been added at a period subsequent to the completion of the others. The marks of a second and third story occur on the cliff back of this cluster, and there is no doubt that it was an important part of the settlement. West of the area shown on the plan traces of walls occur on the slope and among the debris for a distance of over 100 feet.

Parts of three kivas can now be seen on the ground, and this was probably the total number in the settlement. The fronts of all of them have fallen out, notwithstanding various expedients that were employed to hold them in place. The western wall of the western kiva is part of the rectangular system and was apparently in place before the kiva was built. A triangular block which formed the junction in front of this kiva and the central one has slipped down and new walls were afterward built to restore the kivas to their original shape. The central kiva has an interior bench, which was, however, added after the structure was completed, and in fact after the front had been replaced. The second falling off of the front has left a fine section of the wall, and the changes which have taken place are plainly shown in it.

That the interior bench was added long after the original kiva had been completed and occupied is shown by the occurrence between it and the wall of nearly an inch of plaster composed of separate coatings, each smoke-blackened, varying from the thickness of a piece of heavy paper up to an eighth of an inch or more. If one of these coatings were added each year, twelve or fifteen years at least must have elapsed between the building of the kiva and the construction of the interior bench. The original floor of the kiva was composed of a layer of mud mortar about an inch thick, and extends through under the bench, the top of which is about 3 feet above it; Under this floor there is a straight wall at right angles to the cliff and extending some 4 feet toward the center of the kiva; what is left of it is just under the floor level.

There is a suggestion in this that the site of the kiva was originally occupied by rectangular rooms, and there is a further suggestion, in the end sections referred to, that the kiva had at some period fallen into decay and was subsequently rebuilt. All this occurred before the first falling out of the front.

The section shows that the original walls were not so thick as the present ones, and that there was formerly a slight setback in the wall of 21/2 or 3 inches at the level of the present bench, reducing the thickness of the wall by that amount. The original outside wall on the east extends only 6 inches above this setback. The upper portion of the exterior wall was added at the same time that the bench was constructed and is the same thickness as the lower part of the original wall. Figure 22 will make clear the changes which have taken place.

There was a recess of some kind in the original wall on the east and a similar one on the west side, but they have been filled up by the later additions. The upright logs which were built into the masonry are incorporated in the older walls. Under the floor, and apparently under the walls themselves, there is a layer nearly a foot thick of loose debris consisting of cornstalks, corn leaves, ashes, and loose dirt. The floor of the east circular room, which still covers about half the interior, rests similarly on a layer of ashes. The expedients employed to hold the front walls of these kivas in place are later discussed at some length.

Figure 23 shows the character of site occupied by a village ruin of some size situated in the first cove in the cliff wall below the mouth of Canyon del Muerto. The cliff here is about 300 feet high and the ruin is located on a ledge in a cove about 70 feet above the stream bed. Although seemingly very difficult to reach, the ruin is of comparatively easy access without artificial aid. The cavity was caused apparently by the occurrence of a pocket of material softer than that about it, and this softer material has weathered out, showing very strongly the lines of cross bedding, which, in the massive rock on either side, have been almost entirely obliterated. The strata are inclined at an angle and the edges project from a few inches to about a foot, forming a series of little benches tilted up at an angle of about 45 degrees. By the exercise of some agility, one can ascend along these benches. About halfway between the site of the ruin and the stream bed there is a narrow horizontal bench, and again halfway between this bench and the ruin there is another, about 55 feet above the stream. Access to the ruins is greatly facilitated by these intermediate ledges.

The bench on which the ruin occurs is about 250 feet long and generally about 20 feet wide, the surface being almost flat. There are structures on the extreme northern and on the extreme southern ends, but a considerable part of the intermediate area was not occupied. Reference to the ground plan (figure 24) will show that most of the buildings occur on the northern half of the ledge, which was fairly well filled by them. Many of the walls in this portion are apparently underlaid by a foot or more of ashes, sheep dung, domestic refuse, cornhusks, etc.

The room which is shown in the center of the plan, at the southern end of the main group, stood alone and was the largest rectangular room in the village. It covered an area 15 feet by 9 feet inside the walls, which are now 5 or 6 feet high. The masonry is very good, although chinking with spalls was but slightly employed to finish the exterior; inside it is more apparent. The western wall was built over the edge of the sloping rock forming the back of the cove, as shown on the plan, and this rock projects below the wall into the room. There were apparently no openings in the walls, except some very small ones on the eastern side, near the floor level. In the southern wall a piece of rough timber was inlaid in the masonry, about 5 feet above the floor, flush with the wall inside and extending nearly through it. This piece of timber was crooked and its bend determined the wall line, which is bowed outward, as shown on the ground plan. This feature will be discussed later.

There were two circular kivas in the village, one of which was unusually small, being only about 10 feet in diameter north and south; the east-and-west diameter is a trifle smaller. There was apparently no bench in the interior, but on the western or northwestern side there is a bench-like recess of about a foot which occupies 7 feet of the circumference. The whole interior was covered with a number of washes of clay, applied one over another, forming a coating now nearly three-quarters of an inch thick. This is cracked and peeled off in places, and in the section eighteen coats, generally about one thirty-second of an inch thick, may be counted. Each coat or plastering is defined by a film of smoke-blackened surface.

On a level about 2 feet above the bench and about 5 feet above the present ground surface, there seems to have been some kind of roof. The stones here project into the interior slightly beyond the wall surface, and the plaster seems to curve inward. This point or level is from 6 to 18 inches below the top of the wall, and here there are remains of occasional small sticks, about an inch in diameter, which projected into the kiva. They are irregularly disposed and probably had no connection with the roof, but there are no traces of heavier timbers above them. In the interior a white band with points completely encircled the kiva. The top of this band is about a foot above the present ground surface and about 18 inches below the bench on the western side. It is illustrated in figure 72.

The exterior wall of the kiva was very roughly laid up, and some of the lower stones were set on edge, which is rather an anomalous feature. There is no evidence that the structure was ever inclosed in rectangular walls, as was the usual custom; in fact, the occurrence of other walls near it would apparently preclude such an arrangement. The wall which runs north or northwest from the kiva, joining it to the cliff wall behind, is pierced by a doorway some feet above the ground, and in front of or below this doorway there is a buttress or step of solid masonry, shown on the plan. There was apparently an open space between this doorway and the next wall to the north. The room entered through the doorway was very small, and its roof, formed by the overhanging cliff, is much blackened by smoke.

The main or north kiva was 15 feet in diameter on the floor, with a bench a foot wide extending around it. The external diameter is over 20 feet. The interior was decorated by bands and dots in white, which are described at length in another place (page 178). The roof was 51/2 feet above the bench, and there is a suggestion that it rested on a series of beams extending north and south, but this is not certain.

On the southeastern side, at the point where the kiva comes nearest the edge of the cliff, there was a narrow opening or doorway not more than 15 inches wide. This was the only entrance to the interior, except through the roof, and it opens directly on the edge of the cliff, so that it is very difficult, although not impossible, to pass it. In front of the opening a little platform was built on the sloping edge of the cliff, as though entrance was had from the lower bench by artificial means, but it is more probable that this feature is all that remains of a chimney-like structure.

Above this kiva there was apparently a living room, the walls of which, where they still remain on the north and west sides, were approximately straight, but the corners were rounded. The roof was formed by the overhanging cliff and the interior walls were whitewashed. The kiva walls were about 18 inches thick, but on the west side, in the small room between the kiva and the cliff, the masonry is much heavier, the lower part extending into the room a foot farther than the upper. This is caused by the wall of the second-story room above setting in toward the east or center of the kiva. This upper wall was supported by a beam, part of which is still in place. The small room behind is much blackened by smoke.

The exterior wall of the main kiva on the northwest side is very rough. On the northeast and southeast, however, it is covered by straight walls which are well finished. The western end of the north wall is joined to the exterior circular wall of the kiva, at the point shown on the plan, by a short flying wall whose purpose is not clear. It extends to what may have been the roof of the kiva, but underneath it is open. The triangular cavity formed by it is too small to permit the passage of a person, and was available only from the second story.

The site of these ruins commands an extensive prospect, including several small areas of good bottom land, one of which lies directly in front of it; but the number of other ruins in the cove suggests that there was once a much larger area of bottom land here, and this suggestion is supported by the presence of several large cottonwood trees, now standing out in the midst of the sand, in the bed of the stream, where these trees never grow. Some of these trees are not yet entirely dead, indicating that the change in the bed of the stream was a recent one. Against the foot of the talus, just above the ruin, there is a narrow strip of bottom land, about 3 feet above the stream bed, and on it a single tree, still alive, but inclined at an angle. In the stream bed, above and below the ruin, there are large trees, of which only one or a few branches are still alive. The position of the cove with reference to the stream bed made the bottom lands here especially subject to erosion when the stream assumed its present channel and they were gradually worn away.

The western end of the ledge was occupied by a structure whose use at first sight is not apparent. The wall, as shown on the plan, is curved, very thick and heavy, and built partly over the sloping rock forming the back of the cave. The front wall is 3 feet thick, and its top, now level, is about 5 feet above a narrow bench in front of it. There is no doorway or other opening into it, and access into its interior was had over the steep sloping rock to the north by means of hand-holes in the rock. These are shown in plate L. The interior appears to have been plastered.

This structure measures 15 by 5 feet inside, there being no wall on the north, as the east wall merges into the sloping rock. The foot-holes in the rock, before referred to, are at this end, nearest the village, and appear to be in several series. The structure is so situated that the sun shines on it only a few hours each day, and it seems more than probable that it was a reservoir. The bed of the stream, the channel followed in low water, sweeps against the base of the cliff below this point, and by carrying water 20 feet it would be directly beneath and about 50 feet below it. Finally, the cliff wall above this point is decorated with pictographs of tadpoles and other water symbols in common use among the pueblos, and these do not occur elsewhere on this site. In the southwestern corner of the structure, near the bottom, there was an opening about 18 inches high, which was carefully filled up from the inside and plastered. This may have been an outlet by which the water was discharged when the reservoir was cleaned out. The wall has caved in slightly above it. The mud mortar used in building this structure and the other walls was necessarily brought from below.

About 25 feet east of the reservoir there are remains of a small single room, rectangular, with a circular addition, shown on the ground plan. The walls are well chinked and well constructed, the mud mortar being used when about the consistency of modeling clay. In front of this room, about 5 feet distant and on the edge of the sloping rock, a hole has been pecked into the solid rock of the ledge. This hole is 12 inches wide on top, slightly tapering, 10 inches deep on the upper side, and 4 inches on the lower. Twelve feet to the northeast there is a similar hole, and below it, distant 10 inches, another, and beyond this others, distributed generally along the foot of the sloping rock forming the back of the ledge, but sometimes farther out on the flat floor. Probably these holes mark the sites of upright posts supporting a drying scaffold or frame, the horizontal poles of which extended backward to the wall of the cliff.

Near the center of the ledge, at the point shown on the plan, there are some remains which strongly suggest the Mexican oven. The bed rock, which is here nearly flat, was removed to a depth of about 4 inches over a rectangular area measuring 4 feet north, and south by 31/2 feet. There were natural fissures in the rock on the north and west sides which left clean edges. The southern edge appears to have been smashed off with a rock. The eastern side required no dressing, as it was at a slightly lower level, and it was to reach this level that the rock was removed. In the rectangular space described there was a circular, dome-shape structure, about 3 feet in diameter, composed of mud and sticks, with a scant admixture of small stones. This is shown in figure 25, and in plan in figure 26. The walls were about 3 inches thick, and from their slope the structure could not have been over 3 feet high. The mud which composed the walls was held together by thin sticks or branches, incorporated in it and curved with the wall--apparently some kind of a vine twisted together and incorporated bodily. On the edge of the rectangular space there is a drilled hole, 3 inches in diameter, shown in the illustration. Three feet to the south there is another, 6 inches in diameter.

If this structure was a dome-shape oven, and it is difficult to imagine it anything else, its occurrence here is important. It is well known that the dome-shape oven, which is very common in all the pueblos, in some villages being numbered by hundreds, is not an aboriginal feature, but was borrowed outright from the Mexicans. If the structure above described was an oven, it is clear evidence of the occupancy of these ruins within the historic period--it might almost be said within the last century. No other structure of the kind was found in the canyon, however, and it should be stated that the ovens of the pueblos are as a rule rather larger in size than this and usually constructed of small stones and mud--sometimes of regular masonry plastered. There is a suggestion here, which is further borne out by the chimney-like structures to be discussed later, that only the idea of these structures was brought here, without detailed knowledge of how to carry it out--as if, for example, they were built by novices from description only.

Figure 27 is the ground plan of a small village ruin situated at the mouth of Del Muerto at the point marked 16 on the map. The site, which is an excellent one, but rather difficult of access, overlooks the bottom land at the junction of the canyons and a long strip on the opposite side, together with a considerable area above. The approach is over smooth sandstone inclined at such an angle as to make it difficult to maintain a footing, but the ruin can be reached without artificial aid.

The village was not of large extent and contained but one kiva, but the walls were well constructed and the masonry throughout is exceptionally good. The exterior wall of the western rooms was constructed of small stones neatly laid. The eastern room of the two was built after the other, and entrance was had by an almost square opening 2 feet from the ground. To facilitate ingress, a notch was dug in the wall about 8 inches from the ground. There was no communication between the rooms, the western room being entered by a small doorway on the western side, about 8 inches from the ground, 3 feet high and 14 inches wide. There was no plastering in the interior of these rooms.

The kiva is 15 feet in diameter on the floor, and about 23 feet in its exterior diameter. The walls are 3 feet thick above the bench level and 4 feet thick below it. The interior was plastered with a number of successive coats, probably four or five in all; but although the wall is still standing to a height of 4 feet or more above the bench, there are gaps on the eastern and western sides which render it impossible to say whether doorways were there or not. The eastern break exposes the western side of the inclosing wall, which is smoothly finished as though there were originally a recess here. There are rectangular inclosing walls on the east and south; the northern side was formed by the cliff against which the kiva rests, while on the west there are no traces of an inclosing wall. The triangular spaces formed by the inclosing walls on the northeast and southeast sides of the kiva were not filled up in the customary manner, but appear to have been preserved as storerooms. The southeastern space was connected with the kiva by a narrow doorway, shown in the plan, and another doorway, completely sealed, led from this space into the room adjoining on the east. The latter doorway had not been used for a long time prior to the abandonment of the ruin, and its opening into the rectangular room was carefully concealed from that side by several successive coats of plaster.

On the south side of the kiva and outside the rectangular wall is a square buttress or chimney-like construction, 4 by 3 feet, inclosing a shaft 10 by 5 inches. This feature will be discussed in another place. It was added after the wall was completed, and embedded in it, about a foot from the ground, is a heavy beam about 5 inches in diameter. Plate LI, which shows the whole front of the village, will make this feature clear. The beam projects from the kiva wall at or under the floor level, and seems to have no reference to the shaft, which is, however, shouldered to accommodate it. Similar beams project from the walls to the east, about 8 inches above the bed rock.

In the room east of the kiva no doorway was found. The walls are still intact to a minimum height of 6 feet from the floor, except in the southeast corner, where they are 3 feet. The opening described, which occurs in the southwest corner of the room, was 4 feet from the floor; and in the southeast corner, where the wall is broken down, there now are remains of one side of a similar opening on the same level. No stains of smoke are found on the exterior coat of plaster in this room, but the coats underneath were much blackened. The room north of the one described, and adjoining the kiva, was also without a doorway, unless it existed in the northeast corner, next the cliff, where no trace of walls now remains. The walls of this room, now 6 feet high, were plastered and show old smoke stains. The wall on the western side of the kiva is very rough, as though at one time another wall existed outside of it. This is shown in plate LII, which shows also the debris, consisting of ashes, sheep dung, and refuse, well compacted, upon which the wall rests.

West of the kiva and on the extreme edge of the cliff are the remains of two small apartments, a trifle below the surface of the ledge and with a 3-foot wall on the south. These are too small for habitations, and were used probably for the storage of corn. About 100 feet west of the group described, on the same bench, there are remains of a large room, divided into two, and of quite rough construction. It contains several Navaho dead and may be of Navaho origin.

A type of site which is abundant in the San Juan country and is found in other regions, but is very rare in this, is shown in figure 28. This example, which occurs in the upper part of Del Muerto, is the only one of its kind in the canyons. A large mass of rock, smoothed and rounded by atmospheric erosion, but still connected with the cliff at one point, juts out into the bottom, a large area of which is commanded by it. At three different levels there are remains of rooms, the group on the summit being the largest. It is doubtful whether any of these remains represent permanent villages, but it is possible that the uppermost one did. It is therefore included in this place.

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.

The southern end of the lower ledge merges into the head of the talus, the northern part drops down by a sharply sloping and in places an almost vertical wall of about 30 feet; thence it descends to the bottom by a long slope of bare rock, generally passable on foot. The lower ledge is about 50 feet above the upper. Upon it are scattered the remains of a few rooms of the same general character as those above, but smaller. Many of these have been utilized for modern Navaho burials, and perhaps some of them were constructed for that purpose. If these rooms were used as habitations, it must have been under very peculiar circumstances; moreover, the site is hardly suited for such a purpose, having the sunshine less than half of the day. In this respect it is anomalous.

At the southern end of the ledge there is a large angular bowlder, one edge of which rests against the cliff wall and is free from the ground. Under this the walls of a small room can be seen. The cliff formed one side of the room and the bowlder acted as a roof. On the extreme northern end of the ledge, 200 feet distant from the nearest room, there are remains of a structure standing alone. The masonry is much rougher than that of the other rooms, and, although the walls are now about 6 feet high, there is no evidence of any doorway or opening into the room.

On the surface of the sloping rock, at this point nearly flat, there are traces of a circular kiva 18 or 20 feet in diameter. These traces occur at a point about midway between the southern and northern ends of the lower ledge and some 30 feet below it. The cliff walls, both of the lower and upper ledges, are covered with pictographs in white, red, and yellow.

The location and character of this site and the character of the remains suggest that most if not all of the rooms which can now be traced were used for storage only. For this purpose the site is well adapted. But the remains of the circular kiva at the foot of the lower ledge show plainly that there were at one time some habitations here. Doubtless these were located on the smooth rock at the foot of the cliff, and the disappearance of all traces of walls may be due to the subsequent use of the material by the Navaho for the construction of burial cists, in which the site abounds. There still remains on the ground a fair amount of broken stone, suitable for building, but no lines of wall are now traceable.

Figure 30 shows one of the most inaccessible sites in the canyon. It occurs at the point marked 62 on the map, where there is a narrow ledge nearly 400 feet above the stream. The approach is over bare rock, sharply sloping, but passable at two points by an active man accustomed to climbing. Both of these points are near the western or left-hand end of the ruin; toward the right the rock becomes vertical. Immediately below this ruin there are the remains of a large settlement on a low spur near the stream, now much obliterated, and above and below it on suitable sites there were a number of small settlements which may have been connected with it.

There were a number of rooms scattered along the ledge which appear to have been used as habitations. The overhanging cliff is so close that in a number of cases it formed the roof of the room, and the whole site was an inconvenient and dangerous one. The rooms on the east rest on a large block which has split off from the wall since the walls were built, and now hangs apparently ready to drop at any moment.

At the time this site was inhabited access was had over the smooth rounded rock on the west. Here hand and foot holes have been pecked in the steep places, but as the rock is much exposed to atmospheric erosion these holes are now almost obliterated. After ascending the rock the village was entered through a doorway in a wall of exceptional thickness, shown on the left of the drawing. The room which was entered through this doorway appears to have been placed at this point to command the entrance to the village. The wall is exceptionally heavy and was pierced with oblique loopholes commanding a narrow bench immediately in front of it. This appears to have been a purely defensive expedient, and as such is unique.

The site commands an extensive outlook over the canyon bottom, including several areas of cultivable land, and while it may have been occupied as a regular village, such occupancy could not have been long continued. Altogether the site and the character of the house remains are anomalous and doubtless resulted from anomalous conditions.

Figure 31 is a ground plan of a large ruin in Del Muerto. It occupied almost the whole available area of the ledge on which it is situated, and over 40 rooms can now be made out on the ground, in addition to 3 circular kivas. The settlement may have comprised between 80 and 100 rooms, which would accommodate 15 to 20 families. The size is very unusual, and the presence of but 3 kivas would indicate that the families were closely related. There are other examples of this character in the canyons, but not so large as the one illustrated.

Figure 32 illustrates a type which is more common. Here we have the usual arrangement of rooms along the cliff, with a kiva in front of them. There were altogether not over 10 or 12 rooms, and they were probably occupied by one family. Figure 33 shows a kind rather more abundant than the last, and consisting like it of one circular kiva with rooms back of and between it and the cliff. Ruins of this type are generally well protected by an overhanging cliff. Figure 34 is another example, in which only three rectangular rooms can be made out. The site here is almost covered with large bowlders. All these examples occur in Del Muerto.

Figure 35 is a ground plan of a small ruin which occurs at the point marked 36 on the map. It is situated in a shallow cove at the head of the talus, 200 or 300 feet above the bottom, and is of comparatively easy access. There is but a small amount of cultivable bottom land immediately below it, but it commands extensive areas on the opposite site of the canyon and in the lower part of a branch on that side. There are but few remains of rooms other than parts of two kivas, but there is no question that there was at one time a considerable number here. Both kivas had interior benches, and were of small size, plastered in the interior. The masonry is fair to good. On the highest point of the bowlder shown on the right of the plan there is a fragment of compacted sheep dung and soil, which is now 6 feet above the ground. It is all that remains of a layer of some thickness which must have been deposited when the surface was filled up to or nearly to the top of the rock. Possibly there was a wall outside and only the intermediate space was filled.