MINDELEFF] THE IMPORTANCE OF SITES 153 
of De Chelly and the junction of Monument canyon, 13 miles aboye. 
Beyond this point they are rare, as the areas of cultivable land become 
scarce. A similar distribution prevails in Del Muerto. 
DETAILS : 
SITES 
The character of the site occupied by a ruin is a very important 
feature where the response to the physical environment is as ready and 
complete as it is in the ancient pueblo region. This feature has not 
received the attention it deserves, for it is more than probable that in 
the ultimate classification of ruins that will some day be formulated 
the site occupied will be one of the principal elements considered, if 
not the most important. The site is not so important per se, but must 
be considered with reference to the specific character of the ruin upon 
it, its ground plan, the character of other ruins in the vicinity which 
may have been connected with it, aud its topographic environment. 
The character and ground plan of a cliff ruin would be so much out of 
place on an open valley site that it would immediately attract attention. 
The reverse is equally remarkable. 
Considering all that has been written about the cliff ruins as defen- 
sive structures, it is strange how little direct evidence there is to sup- 
port the hypothesis; how few examples can be cited which show 
anything that can be construed as the result of the defensive motive 
except the general impression produced on the observer. Nor, on the 
other hand, do these ruins as a whole give any support to the theory 
that they represent an intermediate stage in the development of the 
pueblo people. Some few may, perhaps those examined by Mr F. H. 
Cushing south and east of Zunido; but more than 99 per cent of them 
give more support to a theory that they are the ultimate development 
of pueblo architecture than to the other hypothesis, for they contain 
in themselves evidence of a knowledge of construction equal and even 
superior to that shown in many of the modern pueblo villages. The 
only thing anomalous or distinctive about the cliff ruins, considered 
as an element of pueblo architecture, is the character of site occupied. 
If this were dictated by the defensive motive, it would seem reasonable 
to suppose that the same motive would have some direct influence on 
the structures, yet examples where it has affected the arrangement of 
rooms or ground plan or the character of the masonry are exceedingly 
rare and generally doubtful. 
It is well to specify that in the preceding remarks the term cliff ruin 
has been applied to small settlements, comprising generally less than 
four rooms, sometimes only one or two, and usually located on high and 
almost inaccessible sites. These are comprised in class ry of the classi- 
fication here followed. Regular villages located in the cliffs or on top 
of the talus (class 111) are a different matter. These have nothing in 
common with the small ruins, except that sometimes there is a similarity 
