CCy^."^^ 



260 ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN VERDE VALLEY. teTH.Aira.l3 



.^om the beginuing of tlie last ct'iitmv should not^Jte,hjst^_syjlitof in 

 this discussiiJii. 



The inhabitants of the Verde valley were an agricultural people, and 

 even in the darkest days of their history, when they were compelled 

 to abandon the minor settlements, they still relied on horticulture for 

 subsistence, and to a certain extent the defense motive was subordi- 

 nated to the reiiuirements of this method of life. There can be no 

 donbt that the hostile pressure which produced the larger villages was 

 Indian, pr<il)abl,\ the Apache and TValapai, who were in'undfspufed 

 possession at the time of the American adv'eiit, and but little doubt 

 that this pressure consisted not of regular invasions and set sieges, 

 but of sudden raids and descents upon the fields, resultuiglu the car- 

 rying off of the produce and the killing of the proiTucersT' Such raids 

 .^a-',^ jt-^-t-*-^ .-^^xi.-- ofteii made by the Navajo on Tusayan, Zuni, and the eastern 

 pueblos and on the Mexican villages along the Eio Grande for some 

 years after the American occupation, and are continued even today in 

 a small way on the Tusayan. The effect of such raids is ( lunulatiNc, 

 and it might be several years before im])ortant action would result on 

 the part of the village Indians subjected to them. On the other hand, 

 several long seasons might elapse during which comparative immunity 

 would be enjoyed by the village. In the lower Verde there is evidence 

 of two such periods, if not more, and during that time the small pueb- 

 los and settlements previously referred to were built. None of these 

 small settlements was occupied, however, for more than a few decades, 

 the ground plans of most of them indicating an even shorter i)eriod. 



That cavate lodges and clifif-dwellings are simply varieties of the 

 same~pTiase of life, and that life an agricultural one, is a louclusion 

 supported by the remains in the lower Verde valley. The almost entire 

 absence of cliff-dwellings and the great abundance of cavate lodges 

 has already been commented on, and as the geologic formations are 

 favorable to the latter, and unfavorable to the former on the Verde, 

 whereas the Canyon de Ghelly, where there are hundreds of cliff-dwell- 

 ings and no cavate lodges, the conditions are reversed, this abundance 

 of cavate lodges may be set down as dne to an accident of environ- 

 ment. The cavate lodge of the Rio Verde is a more easily constructed 

 and more convenient habitation than the clilf-dwelling of Canyon de 

 Chelly. 



An"examination and survey of the cliff ruins of Canyon de Chelly, 

 made some years ago by the writer, revealed the fact that they were 

 always located with reference to some area of adjacent tillable land and 

 that the defensive motive exercised so small an influence on the selec- 

 tion of the site and the character of the buildings that it could be 

 ignored. It was found that the cliff-dwellings were merely farming 

 outlooks, and that the villages proper were almost always located on 

 the canyon bottom. With slight modifications these conclusions may be 

 extended over the Verde region and applied to the cavate lodges there. 



