190 



PAJARITO PARK PA.TASSUCK 



[b. a. e. 



tion is then expanded into a room usual- 

 ly of sufficient height only to permit of 

 standing erect, varying from roughly cir- 

 cular to rectangular. These rooms rare- 

 ly exceed 10 ft in the greatest dimension, 

 except those which were used for cere- 

 monial purposes. In these dwellings the 

 main living room usually contains prayer- 

 meal niches, alcoves, and in many cases 

 small back rooms, probabh^ for storage, 

 are connected with them. There is usu- 

 ally a crude fireplace beside the doorway, 

 a ventilating aperture at the floor level 

 and another for a smoke vent above the 

 door. There are no windows. In front 

 of the dwellings, against the cliffs, veran- 

 das were built of poles and stone that 

 doubtless served for living rooms during 

 a considerable part of the year. The en- 

 tire number of excavated cliff-dwellings 

 in Pajarito Park would reach several 

 thousand. 



Of the other general class of areheo- 

 logical remains, viz, ancient Pueblo ruins, 

 there are two forms: (1) The "small 

 house" ruins, containing from 2 to 100 

 rooms, that never exceeded one story in 

 height, of which there are large numbers 

 scattered over the mesa tops and in the 

 valleys. They are of great age and seem 

 to belong to an epoch when the mesas 

 were well watereil and the population 

 diffused over considerable areas. (2) 

 The great community houses contained 

 from 1,000 to 1,200 rooms, and 2 to 4 

 stories. The most noteworthy of these, 

 named from n. to s., are Chipiinuinge, 

 Kwengyauinge, Teeuinge, Poihuuinge, 

 Puye, Shufinne, Tshirege, Otowi, Tsan- 

 kawi, Tyuonyi, Yapashi, Haatse, Kuapa, 

 and Kotyiti. We find in these the pro- 

 totype of the present terraced community 

 houses of Taos, Zufii, and the Hopi vil- 

 lages. Many of the ancient buildings 

 were of much greater size than any of 

 the Puel)lo houses of the present day. 

 They were built in nearly all cases of 

 stone rudely dressed and laid in adobe 

 mortar. Ceilings and roofs were made 

 of poles, brush, bark, and clay. Floors 

 were made of adobe firmly tamped and 

 smoothed. Walls were plastered with 

 abobe mud, over which a thin wash made 

 of "white earth" was laid from time to 

 time. Doors were small and cased with 

 stone, rarely with wood. There were no 

 real windows. Small circular apertures 

 near the floor aided ventilation. Fire- 

 places were usually placed beside the 

 doors. These buildings differ from the 

 large Pueblo houses of the present day in 

 having no large and fairly commodious 

 rooms, all apartments being mere rec- 

 tangular cells ranging in size from 6x8 

 ft to 8 X 14 ft. Exterior rooms in all 

 cases were entered by ladders from above. 

 The type form of these great houses is 



that of four rectangular structures sur- 

 rounding a squarish court. Many are 

 found with one or more of the sides open. 

 With the increase of the community ad- 

 ditional courts were developed. 



The circular kiva, always wholly or in 

 great part subterranean, accompanies all 

 the larger pueblos, from 1 to 15 being 

 found in and about each village. Small 

 reservoirs and other vestiges of primitive 

 irrigation works are found about the 

 large buildings only. The entire district 

 is rich in pictography, the best specimens 

 of which are found etched upon the verti- 

 cal walls of the cliffs. 



The principal collections of archeologi- 

 cal material from Pajarito Park are to be 

 found in the National Museum at Wash- 

 ington and the Southwest Museum at Los 

 Angeles, Cal. Noteworthy facts shown 

 by these collections are that the art of 

 decorative glazing was quite advanced 

 among these people, and that their system 

 of symbolism was distinct from any other 

 known. The study of the skeletal re- 

 mains discloses the fact that the ancient 

 inhabitants of Pajarito Park were a homo- 

 geneous people, of medium stature, and 

 of rather inferior muscular development. 

 The prevailing cranial type was dolicho- 

 cephalic. In view of the fact that the 

 predominant cranial type among the peo- 

 ple of all the adjacent Pueblo villages at 

 the present time is brachycephalic, this 

 is of great ethnologic interest. As yet 

 nothing further can be said concerning 

 the relationship of these ancient people 

 to any existing tribes. The time of oc- 

 cupancy of the ancient pueblo and cliff 

 houses is conjectural. Excavations have 

 yielded not a single vestige of Spanish in- 

 fluence, and traditions reaching back of 

 four centuries are of questionable value 

 in determining even approximate chro- 

 nology. However, both archeological 

 and geological evidence point to long oc- 

 cupancy and remote abandonment of 

 these sites. Tentatively, from 2 to 4 

 centuries may be assigned as the length 

 of time they had been abandoned before 

 the Spanish invasion in 1540, and it may 

 be said that the accumulating evidence 

 now points to the lengthening of that 

 period. There are no evidences of events 

 of catastrophic character to have caused 

 the disappearance of their inhabitants. 

 In all probability their migration was 

 caused by progressive desiccation of the 

 country and the pressure of predatory 

 enemies. 



For further information, with ground 

 plans and other illustrations, see Hewett 

 in Bull. 32, B. A. E., 1906. Consult also 

 the articles on the several ruins above 

 mentioned. (e. l. h.) 



Pajassuck. A village in central Massa- 

 chusetts, apparently on Connecticut r.. 



