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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 78 



that represented by the great communal dwellings of Chaco Canyon. 

 One of the two sites had been occupied by pre-Pueblo peoples whose 

 local form of habitation was a semi-subterranean, circular structure 

 the lower wall of which was formed by upright sandstone slabs. Simi- 

 lar houses have been noted elsewhere in the Southwest ; their charac- 

 teristically flat or low, conical roofs were frequently supported by 

 four upright posts, as in Chaco Canyon. The second village examined 

 by Mr. Roberts was much later than the first, both in time and cul- 

 ture. But it was never inhabited ; indeed, it was not even completed. 



Fig. 167. — South half of a prototype kiva at a pre-Pueblo site 9 miles east 

 of Pueblo Bonito. (Photograph by Neil M. Judd. Courtesy of the National 

 Geographic Society. ) 



Excavation established the fact that although some of its rooms had 

 approached completion the larger number was represented merely 

 by foundations prepared but never built upon. 



This latter site had been wholly concealed by sedimentary deposits 

 washed down from the borders of the canyon and was only brought to 

 light by a narrow, deep arroyo cut within the past 15 years. As further 

 indication of the not inconsiderable length of time during which pre- 

 historic folk inhabitated Chaco Canyon prior to construction of the 

 great pueblos, it is interesting to note that the arroyo which disclosed 

 the unfinished settlement last mentioned also exposed a " pit-house " 



