CHAPTER IX. 



THE SUCCESSIVE STAGES OF CULTURE IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO. 



The ruins of southern Ai'izona and the neighboring parts of New Mexico and Sonora 

 by no means exhaust the evidence bearing on changes of climate. It is advisable to present 

 further evidence for several reasons. In the first place the examination of numerous ruins 

 in the northern half of New Mexico on the one hand, and in Central America and the south- 

 ern part of old Mexico on the other, shows how widely the phenomena of climatic change 

 appear to extend. In the second place such an examination brings out the fact that civiliza- 

 tions of quite diverse types were similarly affected. Moreover, it suggests that the rise and 

 fall of civihzation in America have been marked by a periodic or pulsatory character similar 

 to that of the Old World and perhaps connected in some way with variations in climate. 

 And finally, in the case of Yucatan, it brings out something of the probable nature of the 

 changes with which we have to deal. In the present chapter I shall discuss some of the 

 ruins of the northern half of New Mexico, leaving those of old Mexico and Central America 

 for later consideration. Three regions will be taken up, not because they are more reniark- 

 ablethan many others, but because those particular ones happened to be suggested as likely 

 to prove good places for study, and because they admirably illustrate the various stages of 

 culture in the northern part of the area where relatively high civihzation prevailed in early 

 America. One of the regions is the Chaco Canyon on the edge of the Navajo Reservation 

 in the northwest corner of New Mexico; another is the Pajaritan Plateau in the northern 

 part of the State, a little northwest of Sante Fe; the third is the district of Gran Quivira, 

 in the center of the State, south of Willard. 



Chaco Canyon, which Ues 85 miles from the northern or Colorado boundary of New 

 Mexico, and 75 miles from the western boundary toward Ai-izona, is situated in the 

 center of one of the most interesting regions in North America. Its bare, bright-colored 

 mesas, wooded mountain tops, broad desert plateaus, and steep-sided, inaccessible canyons 

 have a unique and striking quahty which impresses itself upon the memory. It is sur- 

 rounded by the most noteworthy ruins to be found in any part of the United States. To 

 the north, for instance, at a distance of 115 miles, the famous Cliff Dwellings of Mancos 

 never fail to arouse the enthusiasm of the visitor, even though he be wholly ignorant of 

 archeology. Only 65 miles west of Chaco Canyon the innumerable ruins of the Canyon de 

 Chelly speak of a past full of busy Ufe and activity and characterized by a considerable 

 degree of inventiveness and no mean amount of accompUshment in view of the oppor- 

 tunities. On the other side, eastward, the whole country is full of ruins, some of which 

 will be discussed when we come to speak of the Pajaritan Plateau, 100 miles away. 



The present inhabitants of the district surrounding the Chaco Canyon are no less 

 interesting than the scenery and the ruins. To the southwest, at a distance of 80 miles, 

 the modern Zunis are one of the few ancient tribes which still dwell in the land and perhaps 

 preserve some connection between the past civilization and that of the preserit. At 

 Oraibi, 130 miles to the west, the Hopi tribe is perhaps even more interesting as a diminished 

 remnant of a state of culture wholly different from that prevalent in most parts of the 

 Southwest at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards. Toward the east and southeast, 

 at distances of 100 miles more or less, the Pueblo Indians are a third type of ancient people, 

 less archaic than the others, but vastly different from anything elsewhere in the United 



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