THE CLIFF VILLAGES OF THE RED ROCK COUNTRY. ,575 



the nicely perforated and skillfully cut beads of this material made by 

 the ancient people of Awatobi are similar to those used today. These 

 turquoises, however, traveled many miles before they fell into the 

 hands of the Awatobi people. 



With the exception of the pottery it was in stone implements that 

 our collections were richest of all. Axes, arrowheads, spearpoints, and 

 grinding and polishing stones occurred in great numbers, and several 

 nicely fashioned grooved stones used to straighten arrowskafts, stone 

 slabs for paint grinding, metates, and pestles of similar shape and 

 manufacture to those universally found in the ruins of the Southwest 

 were added to our collection. 



The ancient Awatobi priests, as do their descendants to-day, prized 

 any botryoidal stone, quartz crystal, stalactite, fossil cephalopod, or 

 bright-colored rock. So closely similar is the life at Walpi to-day to 

 that which existed in Awatobi at the close of the seventeenth century 

 that the intelligent workmen whom T employed from the former vil- 

 lage were able to name and tell me the use of almost every object 

 found, thus verifying my interpretations. Where customs change so 

 little in so many generations, archaeology is simply an ancient aspect 

 of ethnology. 



THE RUIN OF SIKYATKI. 



Three miles east of the pueblo of Walpi, among the foothills which 

 skirt the mesa on the south side, lies a collection of mounds which 

 were said to be the site of an old pueblo called Sikyatki, or Yellow 

 House. 



My knowledge of this ruin dates back to 1892, when, in strolling over 

 the hills, it was pointed out to me by an Indian, and the romantic his- 

 tory of its destruction by the Walpians told by my companion. Although 

 this pueblo, judging from the size of the mounds, must have been one 

 of the most populous in Tusayan, comparatively nothing is known of 

 the character of the people who inhabited it. 



The destruction of Sikyatki occurred, according to tradition, before 

 the coming of the Spaniards, and therefore in prehistoric times. To 

 the definite statements to that effect made by old priests at Walpi, cor- 

 roboratory evidence of their truth is found in the fact that the place is 

 nowhere mentioned in ancient documents relating to the history of the 

 country. No doubt is entertained by anyone that Sikyatki is a prehis- 

 toric Indian pueblo, but there are no data at hand to determine its age. 



The probable antiquity of this ruin imparts to the rich collection of 

 archaeological objects collected from it a special value, revealing the 

 character of Tusayan life in prehistoric time. According to tradition- 

 ists, the village of Sikyatki was settled by a phratry of Mokis called the 

 Kokop or Fuel people, which are still strong in numbers at Walpi. It 

 took its name, they say, from the color of the water of the neighboring- 

 spring, which still preserves its yellowish appearance. The cause of its 

 destruction was a culmination of bickerings and altercations between 



