86 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



of cooperation in digging and main- 

 taining irrigation ditches would have 

 been practicable. Again, the Pueblos 

 may have been hard pressed by en- 

 croaching nomads, and in that way 

 compelled to group together for mutual 

 protection and to build villages that 

 were in reality great fortresses of no 

 mean order. 



An examination of the accompany- 

 ing illustrations will perhaps give a bet- 

 ter general idea of the essential nature 

 of these fortresses than any amount of 

 verbal description. The ground plan 

 and the restoration are especially illu- 



minating. Stated in the simplest terms, 

 the Aztec pueblo consists of three build- 

 ings joined in such a way as to enclose 

 three sides of a rectangular court. This 

 court faces approximately south and is 

 enclosed by a curving wall, which in 

 this particular case has been expanded 

 so as to accommodate a row of small 

 rooms. The only entrance to the for- 

 tress, as far as we at present know, led 

 through a door in this wall and was 

 presumably closed and barred at night 

 as well as in time of trouble. The 

 guard, or at any rate the defenders, we 

 may imagine to have mounted this wall 



^" 



L 1 



t— — 



U- 





\ 



I" 



''"■ii j— —I p- 



...-4--!f' -.■ i 



i I :^5?£i£„' . 







._!. 



J'/' 



~\/ 



'i— iiv ■ 



KM I 



V I I 



^K A ■ 



.L_.L. 



::b 



I I 



111' 



Ground plan of the Aztec ruin as apparent before excavations were begun in July, 1916. The 

 numbered rooms with shaded or solid walls are those cleared by the Mus«im Expedition. It may be 

 noted that the long walls of the west wing and the cross walls of the north wing join exactly, as if this 

 portion of the village had been planned and built at the same time. The east wing, on the other hand, 

 shows irregularities in that its long partition walls do not meet the cross walls of the north wing, and 

 also in that this building does not appear to have been completed at the south end. This last peculiarity 

 was probably due to the presence at this spot of an older house which was partially incorporated in 

 the great pueblo 



