144 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



Chaco. The handiwork of ancient man, his indefatigable energy, is 

 evidenced on every hand. Stairways, massive walls, " roadways " 

 and divergent channels for irrigation are to be found in every section 

 of the canyon. And much of this ancient work is inexplicable to us 

 now ; much represents a colossal and seemingly useless expenditure 

 of human labor. 



Local works related to prehistoric agriculture are, unfortunately, 

 not at once apparent in this 20th Century. Chaco Canyon has changed 

 since Bonitian farmers scratched its clayey soil with their crude dig- 

 ging sticks and sought to insure more bountiful crops through dra- 

 matic ceremonials and the planting of feathered prayer plumes to 

 gods who control the rains. Fields once cultivated now lie buried 

 beneath several feet of silty deposits, washed down from upper levels 

 and spread uniformly across the valley floor. With concealment of 

 these acres, time has also hidden from view those divergent channels 

 the ancients constructed. P>ut here and there, newly formed arroyos 

 have cross-sectioned such a channel and perhaps disclosed the slab- 

 stones or the imprint of its wickerwork re-enforcements. 



What the Navaho refer to as " roadways " ofifer an entirely different 

 problem. Imaginative Indians describe these cleared paths and ex- 

 pound at length upon the use to which they were put in ancient times, 

 but the more conservative and trustworthy individuals, like old Hosteen 

 Beyal, frankly admit that although they look like roads their makers 

 could not possibly have intended them for use as such. Our south- 

 western aborigines had no beasts of burden, excepting dogs, and no 

 wheeled vehicles prior to advent of the Spaniards in 1540. What func- 

 tion then did these " roadways " serve ? 



Two seemingly reasonable explanations come to mind : They were 

 utilized either by religious processions passing from one community 

 to another at stated intervals or they were prepared for the easier 

 transportation of large timbers required in house construction. The 

 latter appears to me the more plausible explanation. Within the 

 historic period, Pueblo peoples are not known to have sent to neigh- 

 boring villages messengers on recurrent ceremonial missions of such 

 significance as to warrant prior construction of a special pathway ; 

 supposedly, no such necessity existed in prehistoric times. But a 

 " road " would both expedite and facilitate the transportation of logs. 

 Thousands of them were utilized in roofing the rooms of Pueblo 

 Bonito alone ; a newly felled pine is no light burden even for a dozen 

 men. Since the need for beams was fairly constant, the Chacoans 

 may well have anticipated the difficulties involved and lessened them 

 somewhat by preparing the " roadways " under consideration. All 



