ART. 5 EXCAVATION AND REPAIR OF BETATAKIN JUDD 35 



3 feet 7 inches (1.09 m.) on the west. In the face of this bench, at 

 the floor level, is a recess measuring 6 inches (0.15 m.) wide by 18 

 inches (0.45 m.) high by 11 inches (0.27 m.) deep; its implastered 

 interior is but lightly smoked. 



At the beginning of our 1917 excavations debris sloped downward 

 from near the present top of the north wall, covering the floor and 

 extending beyond its south margin. In this rubbish were quantities 

 of cedar bark, sticks, and adobe flooring from dwellings higher in 

 the cave. We repaired the northwest corner bench and the broken 

 edge of the north shelf; recapped the walls and replaced some of the 

 missing plaster. (PL 23, B.) 



Room 56 lies north of room 51, between rooms 44 and 57. Its 

 northeast and southwest sides are of masonry, but its southeast wall, 

 above a masonry base which supports a debris fill and the floor level, 

 appears to have been of wattle construction. There is no trace of 

 masonry abutting the outer east corner of room 44. Of the north- 

 east wall only a small section remained; in this, next the cliff, was 

 the charred end of a ceiling cross pole and, in the lower front por- 

 tion, the north jamb of a door. An offset in this same wall forms a 

 triangular shelf, 12 inches (0.30 m.) wide by 18 inches (0.45 m.) 

 long, against the cliff and just below the ceiling level. The slab sill 

 of the blocked door to room 44 protrudes 4 inches (0.10 m.), forming 

 a shelf 2 feet (0.60 m.) above the floor. 



From the built-in floor the cave surface slopes sharply upward to 

 the rear cliff, which maj^ have served as the northwest wall of a 

 second-story room. 



In the debris-filled front part of the room were three mealing bins. 

 For two of these the inclosing slabs were still in position when our 

 excavations began ; those of the third bin had fallen. The two bins 

 measured 28 inches (0.71 m.) long by 17 inches (0.43 m.) and 14 

 inches (0.35 m.) wide, respectively. Although the original metates 

 were missing, their angle of inclination was evidenced by the adobe 

 packing inside the bins. 



In repairing this chamber we set three posts just inside the 

 masonry base of the southeast wall to suggest the wattling which 

 probably once stood there. Also we partly rebuilt the adjoining 

 northeast wall while retaining its original irregularities. But it 

 should be understood that the present dimensions of the restored door 

 are approximations only. We reset the slab sides of the three 

 mealing bins and substituted for those formerly employed, metates 

 salvaged from other sections of the ruin. (PI. 18, B.) 



Room 67 lies between rooms 56 and 60 ; in front of and below room 

 58; above and behind room 52. From the rather precipitous cave 

 floor a section 20 inches (0.51 m.) high by 12 inches (0.30 m.) deep 

 and extending the entire width of the room had been battered away 



