t62 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



were observed. The predominant one had a shallow, rectangular pit, 

 from 12 to 1 8 inches deep, with a hard packed floor. The super- 

 structure was supported on posts set in the floor a short distance from 

 each corner. Some of the larger houses had six instead of four posts, 

 the two additional ones being placed at about the center of each side 

 wall. The upright posts carried stringers, which in turn supported 

 the roof and slightly sloping" side walls. The latter had a frame- 

 work of small poles, placed from six to twelve inches apart, sloping 

 from the walls of the pit to the stringers on the main posts. The wall 

 poles were not embedded in the earth at their lower ends, as in the 

 case of the T.ate Basket Maker houses,' but were held in position by 





Fic. 144. — View of the Piedra valley taken from one of the village sites. In the 

 middle background are two formations locally called the Chimney Rocks. 



Stringers supported on stones placed on the floor at the corners of 

 the room. Cross poles overspread with leaves and brush formed the 

 ceiling and roof. The entire wooden framework was then covered 

 with a six- to eight-inch thickness of plaster. 



The second type of house, found only in one village, showed a 

 considerable advance over the first in that the support posts were 

 removed from the interior of the structure and incorporated in the 

 walls. Because of this feature there was no slant to the latter. The 

 pit portion of this group was less pronounced, averaging between six 



^ Explorations and Field-work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1927. Smith- 

 sonian Publication No. 2957, Washington, 1928, p. 165. 



