Excavations at Kin Tiel and Kokopnyama 

 By Lyndon L. Hargrave 



Following a superficial examination o£ several ruins in the Little 

 Colorado River drainage early in the summer of 1929, the Third Beam 

 Expedition of the National Geographic Society centered its initial 

 search for datable fragments of charred ceiling timbers in the two 

 pre-Spanish Indian villages at Showlow and Pinedale, Navajo County, 

 Arizona. After working a few weeks with Mr. Haury at the former 

 site the present writer proceeded to Kin Tiel ruin ; later, to Kokop- 

 nyama.' Since both these villages lie north of the Little Colorado and 

 show definite Hopi affinities, the observations presented herein may 

 prove helpful to those archeologists interested in that period of Hopi 

 history which shortly preceded the coming of the Spaniards in 1540. 

 The writer begs to remind his readers, however, that the 1929 explora- 

 tions were undertaken solely for the purpose of collecting ancient 

 beams that might contribute to the completion of the Douglass tree- 

 ring chronology and thus disclose the actual age of Pueblo Bonito, in 

 Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The data herein recorded are, therefore, 

 to be regarded merely as by-products of the expedition. 



KIN TIEL RUIN 



Wide Ruin, or Kin Tiel as the Navajo call it, is a well-known ruin 

 situated on an eastern tributary of LeRoux Wash 18 miles north of 

 Chambers, Arizona. On early maps the ruin is indicated as Pueblo 

 Grande ^ and was first given prominence through the work of Minde- 

 leflf ' and Fewkes." At the time of their respective observations, the old 

 village must have presented an inspiring sight, for many portions of 

 its broken walls were standing two stories high. Today these have 

 been reduced to a low mound which, from its shape, is sometimes 

 referred to as " The Butterfly Ruin." The appropriateness of this 

 term is at once apparent from the accompanying ground plan (fig. 23). 



' The author wishes to thank Mr. E. C. Greene, Jr., for his services as field 

 assistant, and for drawing the plans. 



'8th Ann. Rep., Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1886-7, P- 9i- 



'8th Ann. Rep., Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1886-7. A study of Pueblo architecture, 

 Tusayan and Cibola, by Victor Mindeleff. 



*22nd Ann. Rep., Bur. Amer. Ethnol., part i, 1900-01, p. 124. 



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