NO. 12 ARCHEOLOGY OF TAOS VALLEY — JEANCON II 



Judging from present appearances there were no openings in the 

 outside lower walls, not even ventilators, such as have been observed 

 in other places on the Jemez Plateau. It is more than probable that 

 the lower outside rooms were supplied wath air and light entirely 

 through hatches in the roof. 



As far as could be determined by the excavation, the old walls did 

 not serve as foundations for the secondary ones. There is practically 

 no difference in the width of the walls of the buildings of the first 

 and second occupations. All of them, old and new, are very irregular, 

 and average from eight to twelve inches in thickness. Where the first 

 walls were established, they ran under and on different lines from 

 the newer ones. This was especially evident on the west side of the 

 kiva plaza, where the original wall extended across the whole west 

 side of the plaza and new ones were built on either side of the old one, 

 the later ones rising from the present ground level while the older 

 one extended for some distance below it. When these walls were 



h 



a 



c -^m 



Fig. 3. — a, new wall ; h, old wall ; c, new wall ; d, cache between 

 walls ; e, showing how spaces between walls were filled to make 

 banquette. 



completely excavated and swept it was found that the eastern one 

 formed a banquette which had been plastered over the top and outer 

 side (pi. 3, A). There was an open space between it and the central 

 wall, which was built against the western one. The newer walls were 

 not as well mixed and firm as the central one, which extended south 

 below the room next to the plaza (fig. 3). 



With the exception of room 7 all of the corners were square. In 

 room 7 the southeast and northwest corners had been rounded off 

 by the building of short walls across the corners. The northwest 

 corner appeared to have been used as a fireplace, as the wall was 

 smoke-stained from the floor to the top of the standing wall. There 

 was no evidence of a chimney or even a hood such as the Zuni and 

 Hopi use. The southeast corner was not filled in solid, and the curv- 

 ing front wall, with the rectangular corner behind it, formed a sort 

 of cupboard which was divided into an upper and lower shelf by a 

 huge, flat, river boulder. The cupboard opening was circular and 

 about one foot above the floor. There were no objects of any kind 

 inside it, nor any smoke stains to suggest its use as a fireplace. 



