NO. 3 ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT PARAGON AH — JUDD 5 



The walls of the quadrangular buildings were constructed entirely 

 of adobe, usually in layers, and averaging about lO inches in thick- 

 ness. No complete wall has yet been found, but it is reasonable to 

 suppose that none of these exceeded in height the walls of other 

 prehistoric habitations throughout the Southwest, that is to say, 

 from 4^ to 5 feet. This does not mean, however, that the inhabitants 

 were of small stature, a fallacy which has an unfortunately wide 

 circulation. Small houses were easier to build and they afiforded 

 greater protection from the elements ; they were utilized primarily 

 as sleeping quarters and for the storage of corn, beans, and other 

 foodstuffs. They were designed chiefly to meet these requirements ; 

 the daily activities of their owners being performed mostly out of 

 doors or in the shelter of secondary structures. 



Much has been said regarding the manner in which these adobe 

 dwellings were constructed, but it has been pointed out elsewhere * 

 that the methods employed were not so complex as has been com- 

 monly supposed. The builders required merely an abundant water- 

 supply and the clayey soil of the region. A shallow hole near the site 

 of the proposed house sufficed as a mixing box, into which water was 

 poured as needed ; the hole grew in extent and depth as its sides were 

 cut down to furnish additional clay. This was undoubtedly mixed by 

 the bare feet of the workers, a method still employed by modern 

 Pueblo Indians and their Mexican neighbors. 



Balls of this mud, worked to a stiff paste, were then thrown on to 

 a prepared area, tracing the outline of the room. Other masses were 

 added and the four walls gradually assumed their desired height. 

 Of necessity these were built up in layers, for the cohesive properties 

 of plastic clay are very low and supporting forms were unknown 

 among the primitive peoples of America. Each layer averaged 

 about 15 inches in thickness and the desert sun soon dried it suffi- 

 ciently to permit of the addition of a superposed course. The fact 

 that these layers vary in thickness from a few inches to more than 

 a foot may be traced usually to an effort on the part of the builders 

 to maintain uniform levels — an unintentional irregularity in one 

 layer would be corrected in placing the next above it. Mud plaster 

 was ordinarily employed in smoothing the inner faces of these walls, 

 but it is sometimes apparent that the freshly laid adobe was merely 

 dampened with water and surfaced over, obliterating all traces of 

 joints. 



^ Judd in Holmes .Anniversary Volume, pp. 241-252. Washington, D. C, 

 1916. 



