196 ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN VERDE VALLEY. [eth.ann.13 



almost universal rule for the larger pueblos and ruins. It should be 

 noted in this connection, however, that, the preceding statements being 

 granted, a general plan of this character indicates an essentially mod- 

 ern origin or foundation. 



The ground plan shows a number of courts or open spaces, which 

 divided the village into four well-defined clusters. The largest court 

 wa.s nearly in the center of the village, and within it (as shown on the 

 plan) there are traces of a small single-room structure that may have 

 been a kiva or sacred chamber. Attached to this main court and 

 extending eastward is another court of considerable size, and connected 

 with this second court at its eastern end there is another one almost 

 square in plan and of fair size. West of the main court may be seen a 

 small court opening into it, and north of this another square space 

 separated from the main court by a single stone wall and inclosed on 

 the other three sides by rooms. In addition to these there are two 

 completely inclosed small courts in the center of the southwestern clus- 

 ter, and another one of moderate size between the southwastern and 

 southern clusters. 



The arrangement of these courts is highly suggestive. The central 

 space was evidently the main court of the village at the time of its 

 greatest developmeut, and it is equally evident that it was inclosed at 

 a later period than the small inclosed courts immediately adjacent to 

 it, for had the latter not preceded it they would not occupy the posi- 

 tions they now do. Plate xiii represents a part of the main court, and 

 beyond the debris can be seen a small portion of the bottom upon 

 which the village is built. To the left, in the foreground of the illus- 

 tration, are traces of a small detached room, perhaps the main kiva' 

 of the village; this is also shown on the ground plan, plate xii. 



The smaller courts are but little larger than the largest rooms, but 

 it will be noticed that while some of the rooms are quite large they are 

 always oblong. This requirement was dictated by the length of avail- 

 able roofing timbers. The cottonwood groves on the river bank would 

 provide timber of fair size but of very poor quality, and, aside from 

 this, roofing timbers longer than 15 feet could be obtained only at points 

 many miles distant. In either case the hauling of these timbers to the 

 site of the village would be a work of great labor and considerable dif- 

 ficulty. The width of the rooms was, therefore, limited to about 20 feet, 

 most of them being under 15 feet ; but this limitation did not apply to 

 the courts, which, though sometimes surrounded on all sides by build- 

 ings, were always open to the sky. 



It is probable that the central and northern portion of the southwest- 

 ern cluster comprised the first rooms bvtilt in this village. This is the 

 portion which commands the best outlook over the bottom, and it is 



' The kiva is the assembly chamber, termed estufa in some of the older writings, particularly 

 those of the early Spanish explorers. A full description of these peculiar structures has .already 

 been published in an article on Pueblo architecture; Eighth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1886- 

 '87, Wash., 1891, pp. 1-228. 



