SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, I47 



friable sandstone, the second ; blocks so irregular as to prevent 

 uniform coursing, the third. 



Aztec Ruin, with its predetermined ground plan, its large high- 

 ceilinged rooms, and kivas sunk within the house mass is even 

 closer to Chaco architecture than Lowry. Like the latter, however, 

 Aztec masonry falls short of the Chaco ideal because building stone 

 comparable to that of Chaco Canyon is not found in the vicinity. 

 Aztec sandstones, and those generally throughout the northern 

 country, are tough and cross-bedded ; they lack the natural cleavage of 

 Chaco sandstones. 



Eventually both Lowry and Aztec were abandoned by their builders 

 and thereafter were appropriated, partially repaired, and reoccupied 

 by Mesa Verde peoples. This was also true of Solomon's Ruin, on the 

 south bank of the San Juan River, and of various lesser structures to 

 the northward. So-called Chaco peoples settled this northern country 

 first and those with a Mesa Verde-like culture moved in later. 

 Where remains of the two occur at the same site "the Mesa Verde is 

 always on top" (Morris, 1939, p. 204) — not Classic Mesa Verde 

 necessarily but its forerunner. 



The range of Chaco-like influences and the occurrence of Chaco- 

 like pottery and Mesa Verde-like pottery in the same river valleys 

 and even in the same ruins were puzzles Earl Morris took for 

 his own. No one did more than he to define and interpret the factors 

 in these puzzles. He recognized the West Pueblo at Aztec Ruin as a 

 Chaco-type building but regarded the pottery of its builders as no 

 more than "Chaco-esque." He recognized the contemporaneity of 

 "true Chaco," "Chaco-like," and "non-Chaco" earthenware through- 

 out La Plata Valley (Morris, 1939, p. 205). Chaco-like pottery and 

 masonry were especially noticeable at his Sites 36, VJ , 39, and 41 and 

 each of these had been reoccupied by peoples with a Mesa Verde-like 

 culture. 



On his plan of Aztec Ruin, Morris (1924) includes the local Great 

 Kiva and 28 lesser kivas. Of these latter, 12 are represented with 

 shallow basal recesses, 8 to 10 pilasters, and subfloor ventilators. Two 

 (C, N) are shown with the deep south banquette that identifies them 

 with the period of Mesa Verde, or a proto-Mesa Verde, occupancy. I 

 use "proto-Mesa Verde" as a synonym because, unlike others, I see 

 only one Mesa Verde-like culture for the Mesa Verde country — a 

 culture born in small-house settlements westward toward the Rio 

 Colorado or beyond, a culture that developed vigorously in McElmo 

 Canyon and its numerous tributaries along the Colorado-Utah border 



