578 THE CLIFF VILLAGES OF THE RED ROCK COUNTRY. 



The accompanying cut shows the ground plan of nine of these rooms, 

 which for purposes of study are lettered A to I, accompanied with 

 dimensions. It will be seen that the largest were about 8 feet square, 

 of regular shape, and that the smallest was a narrow recess not com- 

 municating with the others. Several of the chambers had passage- 

 ways connecting them as indicated, and no doubt belonged to the same 

 household. 



On the sides of the walls I fouud several niches or cubbyholes nicely 

 plastered, in which objects used in daily life had been left over three 

 hundred years ago when the rooms were abandoned, and the soot of 

 ancient fireplaces still intact had not been obliterated during the gen- 

 erations during which the walls had been buried. In one corner of room 

 A we found a large, coarse jar, in which no doubt water for daily use 

 had been kept or possibly the food cooked, and numerous other jars 

 littered the floor. The plastering of the masonry in rooms G and H 

 was especially well done, and a portion of it when removed and cut in 

 section exhibited many strata, showing the many times some careful 

 housewife had replastered her house, or transmitted this task to 

 descendants. 



The majority of the objects found at Sikyatki were obtained from 

 extramural cemeteries which are situated in sandy places, on three 

 sides of the town, a few hundred feet beyond the outer walls. A 

 choice collection of food basins of remarkable fineness and beauty of 

 form and decoration were obtained from these burial places. These 

 and the many smaller objects found with them present a most instruc- 

 tive xficture of prehistoric mortuary customs. 



It was customary for the Sikyatki, as for the Walpi Indians, to place 

 pottery, with food and prayer sticks, fetiches, and stone implements 

 in the graves of their dead. As these objects from the graves bear 

 unmistakable evidence of having been in use i>reviously to burial, we 

 can obtain from an examination of them a good idea of household 

 utensils used by the Sikyatkians. Moreover, the dead were at times 

 buried with their personal ornaments and ceremonial paraphernalia — 

 insignia of rank, and the like — all of which, when rightly interpreted, 

 are most important in the study of the life of prehistoric Tusayan. 



The number of skeletons which were found reached into the hun- 

 dreds, and as almost every burial was accompanied by one or more 

 food vessels, vases, or ladles, the number of objects obtained was 

 corresx>ondingly large. The majority of the skeletons, on account of 

 their great age, were in a very poor state of preservation, and in most 

 cases only a fine dust indicated the presence of the dead. 



From my knowledge of surviving customs at Walpi, it was possible 

 in some instances to determine the sex and standing in the tribe of the 

 dead from votive offerings, a work in which I was aided by intelligent 

 priests who visited me during the excavations. Xo trace of metal or 

 other material which showed the influence of white man was discovered 



