134 THE CLIFF RUINS OF CANYON DE CHELLY  [ev™.a»n.16 
ledge show plainly that there were at one time some habitations here. 
Doubtless these were located on the smooth rock at the foot of the 
cliff, and the disappearance of all traces of walls may be due to the 
subsequent use of the material by the Navaho for the construction of 
burial cists, in which the site abounds. There still remains on the 
ground a fair amount of broken stone, suitable for ee but no 
lines of wall are now traceable. 
Figure 30 shows one of the most inaccessible sites in the canyon. It 
occurs at the point marked 62 on the map, where there is a narrow 
ledge nearly 400 feet above the stream. The approach is over bare 
rock, sharply sloping, but passable at two points by an active man 
accustomed to climbing. Both of these points are near the western or 
left-hand end of the ruin; toward the right the rock becomes ver- 
tical. Immediately below this ruin there are the remains of a large 
settlement on a low spur near the stream, now much obliterated, and 

Fic. 31—Ground plan of a large rnin in Canyon del Muerto. 
above and below it on suitable sites there were a number of small 
settlements which may have been connected with it. 
There were a number of rooms scattered along the ledge which 
appear to have been used as habitations. The overhanging cliff is so 
close that in a number of cases it formed the roof of the room, and 
the whole site was an inconvenient and dangerous one. The rooms 
on the east rest on a large block which has split off from the wall 
since the walls were built, and now hangs apparently ready to drop at 
any moment. 
At the time this site was inhabited access was had over the smooth 
rounded rock on the west. Here hand and foot holes have been pecked 
in the steep places, but as the rock is much exposed to atmospheric 
erosion these holes are now almost obliterated. After ascending the 
rock the village was entered through a doorway in a wall of excep- 
tional thickness, shown on the left of the drawing. The room which 
was entered through this doorway appears to have been placed at this 
