fewkes] PKEHISTOEIC VILLAGES, CASTLES, Al^D TOWERS 75 



among the modern Pueblos. He also does not hold that as a whole 

 they necessarily belonged to a radically different phase of culture, 

 notwithstanding the buildings they constructed show a greater 

 variety of form and masonry superior to that of their descendants. 



The evidences are cumulative that there existed and disappeared 

 in a wide geographical area of the Southwest a people whose build- 

 ings differed so much from those of any other area in North America 

 that the area in which they occur may be designated as a character- 

 istic one. 



The variety and type of buildings have a bearing on social organi- 

 zation. A large building composed of many units is probably but 

 not necessarily later in time than a single house; an isolated single 

 house would probably be of earlier construction than a collection of 

 several single houses of the same character compactly arranged in a 

 village; a complete consolidation of several houses of such a village 

 into a community house would naturally be more modern than a 

 group of isolated single houses. 



City blocks postdate hamlets. Between a stage indicated by 

 single houses and one characterized by consolidated building, there 

 is a phase in which the buildings are grouped in clusters and are not 

 united. We may theoretically suppose that the single house was 

 inhabited by one social unit as a clan or family. As the food quest 

 became more intensified and defense more urgent, social units, as 

 indicated by single houses, would be brought together, and as the 

 population increased the amalgamation would be more complete. 

 This social organization, in the beginning loose, in the course of time 

 would become more homogeneous, and as it did so the union of these 

 separate social units would have been closer; and if we combine with 

 that tendency the powerful stimulus of protection, we can readily 

 see how a compact form of architecture characteristic of the buildings 

 here described was brought about. The element of defense in the 

 villages with scattered houses does not appear to have been very 

 important, but might be adduced to explain the consolidation of 

 these into large community houses. 



If the growth of the large pueblos has followed the lines above 

 indicated, and if each unit type indicates a social unit as well, we 

 necessarily have in this growth of the community house the story of 

 the social evolution of the Pueblo people. Clans or social units at 

 first isolated later joined each other, intermarriage always tending 

 to make the population more homogeneous. The social result of the 

 amalgamation of clans seeking common defense would in time be 

 marked. The inevitable outcome would be a breaking down of clan 

 priesthoods or clan religions and the formation of fraternities of 

 priesthoods recruited from several clans. This in turn would lead 

 to a corresponding reduction and enlargement of ceremonial rooms 



