NO. I ARCHITECTURE OF PUEBLO BONITO JUDD 2$ 



unshaped stones as a rule and may be offset several inches or re- 

 cessed by a like amount — evidence that the foundation was prepared 

 in advance and not always to the satisfaction of the masons who fol- 

 lowed. Upper-story walls, invariably thinner than those next below, 

 suggest upward construction after each successive floor was com- 

 pleted, hence the presence or absence of so-called floor offsets and 

 their variability. 



Although it is possible to see others, I recognize three principal 

 varieties of Late Bonitian masonry. The first of these, that of the 

 outside row mentioned above, combines blocks of soft, friable sand- 

 stone dressed on the exposed surface with hammerstones or abraders 

 and interlaced with quarter-inch-thick tablets of harder, thin-bedded, 

 laminate sandstone (pi. 10, 2). 



In the second variety of Late Bonitian masonry (my third type 

 at Pueblo Bonito), tablets of laminate sandstone ^ to 1 inch thick 

 were neatly arranged between blocks of friable sandstone 3 to 4 inches 

 thick (pi. 10, 3). At its best this second variety, its individual blocks 

 hand-smoothed and of uniform size, had an artistic quality none will 

 deny (pi. 27, right) Later the denser laminate stone was often sub- 

 stituted. 



As their experience with Chaco Canyon sandstone advanced, Late 

 Bonitian architects increasingly favored the harder, laminate variety 

 until, in their third and final variation (the last of my four Pueblo 

 Bonito types), friable sandstone was practically eliminated (pi. 10, 4), 

 This final variation — the climax of all Bonitian masonry — is largely 

 restricted to the southeastern portion of the pueblo where, with no 

 loss of time, it was substituted for an intended addition whose aban- 

 doned foundations extend 500 feet eastward (fig. 11). 



Soft, friable Cliff House sandstone is available all along the 

 base of the north canyon wall wherever portions have broken away 

 and the harder, thin-bedded variety was formerly to be had on top, 

 back some distance from the brink. Because it breaks readily into 

 blocks that fit snugly with a minimum of mortar, this thin-bedded 

 variety became an early favorite of Late Bonitian builders and they 

 eventually exhausted the supply. I recall a pile of it, a one-man 

 load, left on the cliff edge midway between Pueblo Bonito and 

 Chettro Kettle and individual pieces scattered through the sand below. 



Together, these four distinct kinds of masonry — one, Old Bonitian ; 

 three, Late Bonitian — frame Pueblo Bonito as we know it today. 

 Late Bonitian masonry has won for Pueblo Bonito a reputation that 

 will endure for all time, but, in our general admiration, the cruder 



