NO. I ARCHITECTURE OF PUEBLO BONITO JUDD 229 



(fig. 24, c), its silt-streaked bottom 4 or 5 feet below the present level 

 of the plain and its margin again eroded by the post-Bonito, or third- 

 cycle, channel. 



Bryan (1954, p. 45) believed these successive channels were en- 

 tirely artificial because they paralleled the south side of the two 

 refuse mounds, were confined on the downhill slope by masonry, and 

 were repaired or replaced whenever a section filled up or washed 

 out. He believed they were designed to convey upcanyon fioodwaters 

 to fields beyond the village — a practice followed by the inhabitants 

 of Penasco Blanco and Kinbiniyol (Judd, 1954, p. 59). That flood- 

 waters continued to flow this way despite Bonitian efforts to turn 

 them aside is obvious from the layers of laminated sand and silt they 

 laid down in passing. That they persisted in their accustomed course 

 long after Pueblo Bonito had been vacated is further suggested by 

 the water-borne gravels Dodge (in Pepper, 1920, p. 24) observed in 

 some of the south-side rooms. 



Thus a new and pertinent chapter in the history of Pueblo Bonito 

 has been disclosed by these prehistoric floodways, rubbish-filled and 

 forgotten until bared by our exploratory trenches. It is noteworthy 

 that the south wall of the pueblo, its foundation 2-2^ feet above the 

 present level of the plain, rests upon a 10-foot-deep rubbish fill the 

 beginnings of which lie 8-8^ feet below that same plain level (fig. 7). 

 As the village continued to increase in population and ground area 

 its accumulating refuse piled up 18 and 20 feet, forcing westward- 

 flowing floodwaters farther and farther toward midvalley until they 

 converged to form Bryan's 12th century arroyo. 



How long floodwaters had followed this east-west course where 

 Pueblo Bonito now stands is still open to conjecture. Our geologists 

 would venture no opinion. We did not attempt to dig deeper than the 

 floor of our two trenches and this appears to be as deep as Dodge 

 (in Pepper, 1920, p. 24) ventured. However, John Wetherill during 

 a visit to Pueblo Bonito on November 2, 1929, told me that his 

 brother, Richard, had dug a hole 43 feet deep between the ruin and the 

 south refuse mounds before finding clean sand. 



East of Pueblo Bonito, 400 feet beyond Room 176, a shallow 

 trench exposed still another round-bottomed channel (figs. 11, 24, c). 

 Its presence adds weight to Bryan's belief that upcanyon runoff, in- 

 cluding that from the rincon back of Chettro Kettle, was sometimes 

 purposely directed past Pueblo Bonito to down-valley plantings. I 

 am loath to suggest that the long, lone foundation wall from 

 Room 176 to Station 2, or that the curved pair south of it, had any- 



