148 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



this, of course, is purely speculative. Positive proof is lacking. Yet 

 it is significant that these so-called " roads," traceable on both sides 

 of Chaco Canyon, often lead from near a major ruin back across 

 the mesas to another ruin or to some rocky ridge or rincon where pine 

 trees dovibtless grew in former times. 



Pecked stairs occur wherever such a " road " crosses a natural ter- 

 race or ledge. Frequently these obstacles are so insignificant, com- 

 paratively, as to raise a question as to the necessity for steps, especially 

 steps from 5 to 18 feet in width. I have seen Navaho drive their 

 wagons with little hesitation over far rougher places. Yet, with rude 

 stone hammers, the prehistoric Chacoans cut these stairs from solid 

 sandstone to provide surer footing for their sandaled feet. No un- 

 certainty exists on this score. 



On the mesa north of Pueblo Bonito is a vast mound of fallen 

 masonry known as old Pueblo Alto. Some 200 yards south of the 

 ruin, a step series leads downward to connect with a " roadway " ex- 

 tending southeasterly more than a mile to the rim of Chaco Canyon 

 where a stairway, now almost wholly obliterated through weathering 

 processes, descends into the canyon. For a considerable distance this 

 " road " is recognizable by the retaining wall on its lower side ; in one 

 place, it bisects a rounded knoll. Across bare sandstone, occupying 

 the approximate middle of the " road,'' a pecked groove follows the 

 irregular surface to lose itself under drifted sand and to reappear 

 again and again. Its true significance remains unknown ; we have ob- 

 served no similar groove in connection with other ancient " roads " in 

 Chaco Canyon. 



I^jcIow the mesa top. half a mile northwest of Pueblo P>onito, and 

 on the west side of the rincon north of Chettro Kettle are long terraces 

 whose massive masonry, roughly laid, slopes upward and toward the 

 clifif. These, too, are known to the Indians as roads but they lead 

 nowhere. Each is 1)arred by colossal sandstone blocks ; cliffs crowd 

 in at one side. Neither shows trace of former buildings nor indication 

 of agriculture. In both cases the filled and fairly level area resulting 

 seems wholly inadequate for any purpose commensurate with the labor 

 each terrace represents. 



Throughout the Chaco Canyon region successive generations of 

 prehistoric men have left their finger prints to mark a slow but cer- 

 tain progress from a primitive, semi-nomadic mode of life to that 

 highly organized social state evidenced by Pueblo Bonito and its neigh- 

 boring ruins. But not all the diversified achievements of these ancient 

 folk are interpretable from the fragmentary record we have inherited. 



