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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BOLL. 70 



Fig. 9.— Ground plan of Twin Towers. 



Twin Towers (Ruin 8) 



The so-called Twin Towers, which seen together from certain points 

 appear as one ruin (pi. 15, a, b), rank among the most impressive 

 buildings in Square Tower Canyon. They stand on the south side 

 of the canyon on a rock isolated by a cleft from the adjoining cliff. 



The larger (fig. 9, A-E) has 

 an oval ground plan and a 

 doorway in the southwest 

 corner; the smaller (F, G, 

 H, I) is horseshoe shaped 

 with a doorway in the east 

 wall, which is straight. The 

 arrangement of rooms is seen 

 in figure 9. Small walled-up caves are found below the foundation 

 on the northwest base of the larger room. 



Ruin 9 



The ground plan of this ruin is rectangular in form, 19 feet 6 inches 

 long by 10 feet wide. The standing walls measure 11 feet in altitude. 

 It is situated on the south rim at the mouth of the South Fork, just 

 above Ruin 7, a few feet back from the cliff. A doorway opening in 

 the middle of its north wall was formerly made difficult of entrance 

 by walls, now fallen, extending from the northeast and northwest 

 angles to the edge of the cliff. The masonry throughout is rough; 

 projecting ends of rafters indicate a building two stories high. There 

 are peepholes with plastered surfaces through the southeast and west 

 walls, which suggest ports. A short distance east of the building is 

 a circle of stones reminding the author of a shrine. 



Unit-Type House (Ruin 10) 



This pueblo (pi. 19, c), from a comparative point of view, is one of 

 the most interesting ruins in the Hovenweep, and is situated on the 

 very edge of the canyon on the North Fork not far from where it 

 begins. It is the simplest form of prehistoric pueblo, or the unit * 

 of a pure type, made up of a centrally placed circular ceremonial room 

 (fig. 10, 70 embedded in rectangular rooms, six in number (A-F). 

 The resulting or external form is rectangular, oriented about due north 

 and south; the southern side, which formerly rose from the edge of 

 the canyon, being much broken down and its masonry precipitated 

 over the cliff. 



The central kiva (fig. 10) is made of exceptionally fine masonry and 

 shows by what remains that it had mural banquettes, and pilasters 

 to support the roof, with other features like a tyjncal kiva of the 



i The " unit type " was first recognized by Doctor Pruddcn in his illuminating studies of the pueblos of 

 the San Juan Basin. The author was the first to point out its existence in cliff-houses of the same area. 



