462 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



The more compact of the two rela- 

 tively large ruins stood on the very 

 brink of the mesa. It had weathered 

 down to a mound 8 feet in height cov- 

 ering an area 75 by 100 feet. In some 

 places walls of cut sandstone were vis- 

 ible at the surface, indicating roughly 

 the outlines of the building. From an 

 estimate of the cubic contents it was 

 thought the entire structure could be 

 cleared in four weeks, but this calcula- 

 tion served only to reveal the impossi- 

 bility of foretelling from surface indi- 

 cations what lies beneath the soil. Under 

 the building which the mound concealed 

 were the remains of two other dwell- 

 ings, the walls of the most ancient ex- 

 tending twelve feet below the general 

 level of the mesa. Before the last of 

 these was uncovered four weeks had 

 lengthened into nine. 



The three superposed buildings dif- 

 fered greatly in age and construction, 

 and belonged to three distinct periods 

 of occupation. The homes of the first 

 inhabitants were subterranean in char- 

 acter. To construct them rectangular 

 pits with rounded corners were exca- 

 vated to the desired depth, and lined 

 with a wattlework of sticks. Adobe mud 

 was' applied over the wattlework and 

 gravelly floor until both walls and 

 floor were smoothly plastered. From 

 analogy it is to be supposed the roofs 

 consisted of a number of heavy beams 

 placed across the excavations, sur- 

 mounted by a transverse layer of 

 smaller poles, and rendered water-tight 

 by a thick covering of earth. At some 

 point, probably near the center of each 

 roof, an opening was left which served 

 the double purpose of an entrance for 

 the inhabitants and a vent for the 

 smoke which rose from a bowl-like fire- 

 place in the floor. 



In the course of time the builders of 

 the pit houses abandoned the mesa. 



leaving behind their household utensils 

 where some of them were found, meal- 

 ing stones leaning against the walls, 

 stone axes and bone awls scattered over 

 the floors, and occasionally a crude 

 bowl or globular pot reposing in a shel- 

 tered corner. More perishable materials 

 such as wood, basketry, and matting 

 had completely decomposed. For per- 

 haps a century or two the elements la- 

 bored to obscure all traces of the sub- 

 terranean dwellings, and succeeded in 

 filling them up partly or in some cases 

 completely. 



Then another group of people took 

 possession of the mesa and erected 

 above the ruins of the pit houses a com- 

 pact, thick-walled community house of 

 cobblestones and mud. The ground 

 plan of this structure seems to consist 

 of about forty rectangular rooms, and 

 from the amount of fallen masonry 

 there may as well have been twenty 

 more in a second story. In front of the 

 building, which faced south, four cir- 

 cular chambers, averaging fifteen feet 

 in diameter, were dug down through 

 the remains of the pit houses, and care- 

 fully walled with stone. From a study 

 of Pueblo tribes as described by writers 

 who accompanied the Spanish conquer- 

 ors, we know the significance of these 

 circular structures, and their relation 

 to the rest of the village. The main 

 dwelling belonged to the women, while 

 the men of each clan owned an under- 

 ground kiva or clubhouse in which 

 they slept and spent most of their time 

 when not engaged in agriculture and 

 the pursuit of game. These kivas were 

 the ceremonial centers in which coun- 

 cils were held and ritualistic rites per- 

 formed. Upon such evidence may be 

 based the conclusion that four clans 

 built and maintained this village of the 

 second period. 



If one may judge from the enormous 



