THE PREHISTORIC RUIN OF TSANKAWI 



821 



The regularly hewn stones of which 

 the houses were constructed still lie in 

 great heaps, probably almost as they 

 were left at the time of the exodus, as 

 very little excavation has been done in 

 this particular ruin. Where the debris 

 has been cleared away at all, the walls 

 are found to be standing for only a few 

 feet above the first floor. The arrange- 

 ment was in the customary quadrilateral 

 form, with court in the center 150 to 200 

 feet across, and with outlets at two oppo- 

 site corners of the enclosure. 



There were probably 200 rooms on the 

 ground floor ; adding two floors above 

 this one (each somewhat smaller than its 

 predecessor) would make a structure of 

 perhaps 400 rooms. Fragments of pot- 

 tery and arrowheads are easily found in 

 the ruins, particularly in the vicinity of 

 the graves, some of which have been 

 opened in recent years. Undoubtedly a 

 thorough excavation would reveal many 

 skeletons, or mummified bodies, as well 

 as interesting relics in the form of tools, 

 household utensils, etc. 



Among the many other prehistoric 

 ruins in this interesting region should be 

 mentioned Tsankawi's nearest neigh- 

 bors, Navawi and Otowi, as doubtless 

 the ancient inhabitants were constantly 

 passing back and forth between their re- 

 spective towns, the former being one and 

 one-half miles to the south and the latter 

 two miles to the west, while a few miles 

 farther away is the Pajarito, or Tschi- 

 rege ("Little Bird"), ruin. There is no 

 doubt that in prehistoric times, through- 

 out this region, which is now almost 

 utterly wild and uninhabited, could be 

 seen a very numerous population indus- 

 triously engaged in the common occupa- 

 tion, agriculture, in which some skill is 

 evidenced by the finding of the remains 

 or irrigating ditches, reservoirs, etc. 



Each of these ruins seems to have its 

 own characteristics. For instance, at 

 Navawi ("Place of the Game Trap") is 

 found a pit cut in the solid rock for the 

 purpose of capturing deer, bear, and the 

 like, it being a bottle-shaped excavation, 

 about six feet long and three feet wide 

 at the top and fifteen feet deep. This is 

 located on the top of the mesa toward 



one end, and is reached by four well- 

 worn paths. 



At the village in Otowi Canon the 

 wonderful "Tent Rocks" comprise the 

 distinctive feature. In this vicinity there 

 are probably fifty of these cone-shaped, 

 porous formations of tufa, about one- 

 half of them bearing on the pinnacle a 

 stone of another kind. Some of these 

 Tent Rocks were excavated by the an- 

 cient people and used as dwelling-places, 

 the interior walls still showing the pre- 

 historic plaster. 



Ten miles to the north and reached 

 from Espanola Station is Puye, another 

 great ruin. Here there is a most excel- 

 lent stairway from the cave dwellings on 

 the side of the mesa to the ruins above, 

 where important excavations were con- 

 ducted recently by Prof. Edgar L. 

 Hewett, Director of the Archaeological 

 Institute of America. It is estimated 

 that there were upwards of 500 rooms 

 on the ground floor, and about 100 of 

 these, forming one side of the rectan- 

 gular arrangement, have been excavated, 

 exposing almost intact the walls of the 

 first floor. Much pottery and many 

 ■metates and manos (stones for grinding 

 corn) were found, as well as a number 

 of skeletons. 



What became of the Cliff Dwellers, 

 and are there any descendants living at 

 the present day? These questions natu- 

 rally present themselves to every one 

 who becomes at all interested in the sub- 

 ject. Numerous theories have been ad- 

 vanced, but probably the sanest is that 

 put forth by Professor Hewett in his 

 "Antiquities of the Jemez Plateau." His 

 conclusion (based on known facts as 

 well as tribal traditions) is that the Cliff 

 Dwellers of this region abandoned their 

 homes on the mesas from six to eight 

 hundred years ago and moved to the val- 

 leys, where they became scattered and 

 eventually lost their identity, the tribes 

 being finally swallowed up in those of the 

 present Pueblo Indians, among whom 

 scientists have been able occasionally to 

 find descendants with the "long head" 

 peculiar to the skeletons found in the 

 Cliff Dwellings. 



These few are undoubtedly the only 



