FEWKES: UNIT TYPE OF PUEBLO ARCHITECTURE 551 



unique culture was autochthonous, being largely due to environ- 

 ment. Judging from the characteristics of the ruins and the 

 evidences of their antiquity, it is much more likely that the ter- 

 raced-house architecture in our Southwest arose in a region of 

 caves like those of the San Juan, and reached its highest develop- 

 ment in the Chaco canyon, or in the Rio Grande valle3^ Where- 

 ever we find this peculiar form outside this area it can be traced 

 either to the influence of colonists that had migrated from this 

 center of distribution or to transmission of cultural ideas. 



But the Keresan were not the only group of ancient seden- 

 tary people with community dwellings, in the Southwest. Com- 

 pact buildings existed along the Gila river, in early times, and 

 dwellings ascribed to another stock are found in the Rio Grande 

 valley. Prominent among the latter may be mentioned an- 

 cestors of a Tanoan people who inhabited northern New Mexico ; 

 valleys peopled by them extend along the upper Rio Grande 

 valley, from Taos to Isleta, and as far west as Jemez. In the 

 early days the Tanoans also probably did not build terraced 

 houses or pueblos; they may have become acquainted with this 

 specialized architecture, and circular ceremonial rooms, or 

 kivas, through association with other peoples, or even have ac- 

 quired it independently. There are at the present time evidences 

 of variation in the composition of this people, which is believed 

 to have originated from a mixture of Tanoans with Keresan 

 clans and wilder nomads from the Great Plains or elsewhere. 

 So great was the mixture that the various members of the Tanoan 

 stock speak widely divergent dialects of the Tewa language, as 

 evidenced by the Taos and Isleta. 



The third of the great prehistoric culture areas of the South- 

 west, the inhabitants of which were linguistically allied to the 

 Tanoan, especially Jemez, once extended from the pueblo Pecos, 

 a few miles east of Santa Fe, to the border of Texas, ^ following 

 down the Pecos river, which practically forined its eastern border, 

 and extending through the salt regions (Salinas) near Alama- 

 gordo, on the eastern side. The pre-puebloan habitations of 



5 A ruin is marked on the "Engineer's Map" (1877) on the Pecos in Texas, 

 but this site has not been verified. 



