ART. 5 



EXCAVATIOlSr AND REPAIR OF BETATAKIlSr JUDD 



29 



39 and 41 it attains its maximum width of 35 inches (0.88 m.). The 

 southeast wall probably did not extend more than 3 feet (0.91 m.) 

 above the floor level and may have been stepped down at the east 

 end. An earlier debris-covered floor lies 6 inches (0.15 m.) below 

 that last utilized. 



The masonry separating rooms 39 and 41 ends flush with their 

 wattled southeast walls, instead of continuing, as shown on Douglass's 

 plan. 



RooTYi Jfl, between rooms 17 and 39, opens into passage 40. As so 

 frequently happens in Betatakin, its northwest wall is formed by the 

 face of a rock ledge, in this instance surmounted by the southeast 

 wall of court 24. A fracture in 

 the cliff, 4 inches (0.10 m.) above 

 the room floor, left a flat surface 

 12 inches wide by 3 feet (0.91 m.) 

 long. 



The northeast and southwest 

 walls of the room are of masonry ; 



the southeast, of wattle. The roof 

 had been supported by at least 

 two large northwest-southeast 

 beams whose south ends rested 

 on posts incorporated within the 

 wattle construction. Charred ends 

 of nine cross poles protrude from 

 the southwest wall. The floor, 





/I 



1 



^5X, 







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t;r^ 



FiGUEE 3. 



Cross section and plan of 

 loom anchor 



almost wholly of solid rock, had 

 been pecked away more than 2 

 feet in the west corner. Such an 

 excavation, made only with ham- 

 merstones, furnishes ample proof 

 of the patience and industry of 

 prehistoric Pueblo workmen. 



A doorway, with stone sill slab lying 3 inches above the floor and 

 wholly outside the door, pierced the middle southeast wall. Directly 

 in front of and 15 inches (0.38 m.) within the door stands the 

 remnant of a masonry fire screen, 30 inches (0.76 m.) wide by 7 inches 

 (0.17 m.) thick; an upright stone slab connects its west end and the 

 southeast wall. It is not improbable that this slab, like others pres- 

 ent in houses with wattled south walls, was intended both as a second- 

 ary screen for the fireplace and as a check for sand carried by the 

 winds which usually sweep through the cave from east to west. 

 In 1917 we had ample opportunity to observe the force of these winds 

 and the amount of sand they transported. The fire-pit, pecked from 



