A Study of Pueblo Architecture: Tusayan and Cibola Part 6

The ruin called Payupki (Pl. XIII) occupies the summit of a bold promontory south of the trail, from Walpi to Oraibi, and about 6 miles northwest from Mashongnavi. The outer extremity of this promontory is separated from the mesa by a deep notch. The summit is reached from the mesa by way of the neck, as the outer point itself is very abrupt, much of the sandstone ledge being vertical. A bench, 12 or 15 feet below the summit and in places quite broad, encircles the promontory. This bench also breaks off very abruptly.

As may be seen from the plan, the village is quite symmetrically laid out and well arranged for defense. It is placed at the mesa end of the promontory cap, and for greater security the second ledge has also been fortified. All along the outer margin of this ledge are the remains of a stone wall, in some places still standing to a height of 1 or 2 feet.

This wall appears to have extended originally all along the ledge around three sides of the village. The steepness of the cliff on the remaining side rendered a wall superfluous. On the plain below this promontory, and immediately under the overhanging cliff, are two corrals, and also the remains of a structure that resembles a kiva, but which appears to be of recent construction.

In the village proper (Pl. XIV) are two distinctly traceable kivas. One of these, situated in the court, is detached and appears to have been partly underground. The other, located in the southeast end of the village, has also, like the first, apparently been sunk slightly below the surface. There is a jog in the standing wall of this kiva which corresponds to that usually found in the typical Tusayan kivas (see Figs. 22 and 25). On the promontory and east of the village is a single room of more than average length, with a well formed door in the center of one side. This room has every appearance of being contemporary with the rest of the village, but its occurrence in this entirely isolated position is very unusual. Still farther east there is a ma.s.s of debris that may have belonged to a cl.u.s.ter of six or eight rooms, or it may possibly be the remains of temporary stone shelters for outlooks over crops, built at a later date than the pueblo. As may be seen from the ill.u.s.tration (Pl. XV), the walls are roughly built of large slabs of sandstone of various sizes. The work is rather better than that of modern Tusayan, but much inferior to that seen in the skillfully laid masonry of the ruins farther north. In many of these walls an occasional sandstone slab of great length is introduced. This peculiarity is probably due to the character of the local material, which is more varied than usual. All of the stone here used is taken from ledges in the immediate vicinity. It is usually light in color and of loose texture, crumbling readily, and subject to rapid decay, particularly when used in walls that are roughly constructed.

Much of the pottery scattered about this ruin has a very modern appearance, some of it having the characteristic surface finish and color of the Rio Grande ware. A small amount of ancient pottery also occurs here, some of the fragments of black and white ware displaying intricate fret patterns. The quant.i.ty of these potsherds is quite small, and they occur mainly in the refuse heaps on the mesa edge.

This ruin combines a clearly defined defensive plan with utilization of one of the most inaccessible sites in the vicinity, producing altogether a combination that would seem to have been impregnable by any of the ordinary methods of Indian warfare.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XXV. Foot trail to Walpi.]

PLANS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INHABITED VILLAGES.

HANO.

The village of Hano, or Tewa, is intrusive and does not properly belong to the Tusayan stock, as appears from their own traditions. It is somewhat loosely planned (Pl. XVI) and extends nearly across the mesa tongue, which is here quite narrow, and in general there is no appreciable difference between the arrangement here followed and that of the other villages. One portion of the village, however, designated as House No. 5 on the plan, differs somewhat from the typical arrangement in long irregular rows, and approaches the pyramidal form found among the more eastern pueblos, notably at Taos and in portions of Zui. As has been seen, tradition tells us that this site was taken up by the Tewa at a late date and subsequent to the Spanish conquest; but some houses, formerly belonging to the Asa people, formed a nucleus about which the Tewa village of Hano was constructed. The pyramidal house occupied by the old governor, is said to have been built over such remains of earlier houses.

The largest building in the village appears to have been added to from time to time as necessity for additional s.p.a.ce arose, resulting in much the same arrangement as that characterizing most of the Tusayan houses, viz, a long, irregular row, not more than three stories high at any point. The small range marked No. 4 on the plan contains a section three stories high, as does the long row and also the pyramidal cl.u.s.ter above referred to. (Pl. XVII.)

The kivas are two in number, one situated within the village and the other occupying a position in the margin of the mesa. These ceremonial chambers, so far as observed, appear to be much like those in the other villages, both in external and internal arrangement.

Within the last few years the horse trail that afforded access to Hano and Sichumovi has been converted into a wagon road, and during the progress of this work, under the supervision of an American, considerable blasting was done. Among other changes the marginal kiva, which was nearly in line with the proposed improvements, was removed.

This was done despite the protest of the older men, and their predictions of dire calamity sure to follow such sacrilege. A new site was selected close by and the newly acquired knowledge of the use of powder was utilized in blasting out the excavation for this subterranean chamber. It is altogether probable that the sites of all former kivas were largely determined by accident, these rooms being built at points where natural fissures or open s.p.a.ces in the broken mesa edge furnished a suitable depression or cavity. The builders were not capable of working the stone to any great extent, and their operations were probably limited to tr.i.m.m.i.n.g out such natural excavations and in part lining them with masonry.

There is a very noticeable scarcity of roof-holes, aside from those of the first terrace. As a rule the first terrace has no external openings on the ground and is entered from its roof through large trap-doors, as shown on the plans. The lower rooms within this first terrace are not inhabited, but are used as storerooms.

At several points ruined walls are seen, remains of abandoned rooms that have fallen into decay. Occasionally a rough, b.u.t.tress-like projection from a wall is the only vestige of a room or a cl.u.s.ter of rooms, all traces on the ground having been obliterated.

The mesa summit, that forms the site of this village, is nearly level, with very little earth on its surface. A thin acc.u.mulation of soil and rubbish lightly covers the inner court, but outside, along the face of the long row, the bare rock is exposed continuously. Where the rooms have been abandoned and the walls have fallen, the stones have all been utilized in later constructions, leaving no vestige of the former wall on the rocky site, as the stones of the masonry have always been set upon the surface of the rock, with no excavation or preparation of footings of any kind.

SICHUMOVI.

According to traditional accounts this village was founded at a more recent date than Walpi. It has, however, undergone many changes since its first establishment.

The princ.i.p.al building is a long irregular row, similar to that of Hano (Pl. XVIII). A portion of an L-shaped cl.u.s.ter west of this row, and a small row near it parallel to the main building, form a rude approximation to the inclosed court arrangement. The terracing here, however, is not always on the court side, whereas in ancient examples such arrangement was an essential defensive feature, as the court furnished the only approach to upper terraces. In all of these villages there is a noticeable tendency to face the rows eastward instead of toward the court. The motive of such uniformity of direction in the houses must have been strong, to counteract the tendency to adhere to the ancient arrangement. The two kivas of the village are built side by side, in contact, probably on account of the presence at this point of a favorable fissure or depression in the mesa surface.

On the south side of the village are the remains of two small cl.u.s.ters of rooms that apparently have been abandoned a long time. A portion of a room still bounded by standing walls has been utilized as a corral for burros (PL. XIX).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XXVI. Mashongnavi, plan.]

At this village are three small detached houses, each composed of but a single room, a feature not at all in keeping with the spirit of pueblo construction. In this instance it is probably due to the selection of the village as the residence of whites connected with the agency or school. Of these single-room houses, one, near the south end of the long row, was being built by an American, who was living in another such house near the middle of this row. The third house, although fairly well preserved at the time of the survey, was abandoned and falling into ruin. Adjoining the middle one of these three buildings on the south side are the outlines of two small compartments, which were evidently built as corrals for burros and are still used for that purpose.

This village, though limited to two stories in height, has, like the others of the first mesa, a number of roof holes or trapdoors in the upper story, an approach to the Zui practice. This feature among the Tusayan villages is probably due to intercourse with the more eastern pueblos, for it seems to occur chiefly among those having such communication most frequently. Its presence is probably the result simply of borrowing a convenient feature from those who invented it to meet a necessity. The conditions under which the houses were built have hardly been such as to stimulate the Tusayan to the invention of such a device. The uniform height of the second-story roofs seen in this village, const.i.tuting an almost unbroken level, is a rather exceptional feature in pueblo architecture. Only one depression occurs in the whole length of the main row.

WALPI.

Of all the pueblos, occupied or in ruins, within the provinces of Tusayan and Cibola, Walpi exhibits the widest departure from the typical pueblo arrangement (Pl. XX).

The carelessness characteristic of Tusayan architecture seems to have reached its culmination here. The confused arrangement of the rooms, mainly due to the irregularities of the site, contrasts with the work at some of the other villages, and bears no comparison with much of the ancient work. The rooms seem to have been cl.u.s.tered together with very little regard to symmetry, and right angles are very unusual. (See Fig.

8.)

The general plan of the village of to-day confirms the traditional accounts of its foundation. According to these its growth was gradual, beginning with a few small cl.u.s.ters, which were added to from time to time as the inhabitants of the lower site upon the spur of the mesa, where the mission was established, moved up and joined the pioneers on the summit. It is probable that some small rooms or cl.u.s.ters were built on this conspicuous promontory soon after the first occupation of this region, on account of its exceptionally favorable position as an outlook over the fields (Pl. XXI).

Though the peculiar conformation of the site on which the village has been built has produced an unusual irregularity of arrangement, yet even here an imperfect example of the typical inclosed court may be found, at one point containing the princ.i.p.al kiva or ceremonial chamber of the village. It is probable that the accidental occurrence of a suitable break or depression in the mesa top determined the position of this kiva at an early date and that the first buildings cl.u.s.tered about this point.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 8. Topography of the site of Walpi.]

A unique feature in this kiva is its connection with a second subterranean chamber, reached from the kiva through an ordinary doorway.

The depression used for the kiva site must have been either larger than was needed or of such form that it could not be thrown into one rectangular chamber. It was impossible to ascertain the form of this second room, as the writer was not permitted to approach the connecting doorway, which was closed with a slab of cottonwood. This chamber, used as a receptacle for religious paraphernalia, was said to connect with an upper room within the cl.u.s.ter of dwellings close by, but this could not be verified at the time of our visit. The plan indicates that such an adjoining chamber, if of average size, could easily extend partly under the dwellings on either the west or south side of the court. The rocky mesa summit is quite irregular in this vicinity, with rather an abrupt ascent to the pa.s.sageway on the south as shown in Pl. XXII. Southeast from the kiva there is a large ma.s.s of rocks projecting above the general level, which has been incorporated into a cl.u.s.ter of dwelling rooms. Its character and relation to the architecture may be seen in Pl.

XXIII. So irregular a site was not likely to be built upon until most of the available level surface had been taken up, for even in masonry of much higher development than can be found in Tusayan the builders, unable to overcome such obstacles as a large ma.s.s of protruding rock, have accommodated their buildings to such irregularities. This is very noticeable in the center cl.u.s.ter of Mummy Cave (in Canyon del Muerto, Arizona), where a large ma.s.s of sandstone, fallen from the roof of the rocky niche in which the houses were built, has been incorporated into the house cl.u.s.ter. Between this and another kiva to the north the mesa top is nearly level. The latter kiva is also subterranean and was built in an accidental break in sandstone. On the very margin of this fissure stands a curious isolated rock that has survived the general erosion of the mesa. It is near this rock that the celebrated Snake-dance takes place, although the kiva from which the dancers emerge to perform the open air ceremony is not adjacent to this monument (Pl. XXIV).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XXVII. Mashongnavi with Shupaulovi in distance.]

A short distance farther toward the north occur a group of three more kivas. These are on the very brink of the mesa, and have been built in recesses in the crowning ledge of sandstone of such size that they could conveniently be walled up on the outside, the outer surface of rude walls being continuous with the precipitous rock face of the mesa.

The positions of all these ceremonial chambers seem to correspond with exceptionally rough and broken portions of the mesa top, showing that their location in relation to the dwelling cl.u.s.ters was due largely to accident and does not possess the significance that position does in many ancient pueblos built on level and unenc.u.mbered sites, where the adjustment was not controlled by the character of the surface.

The Walpi promontory is so abrupt and difficult of access that there is no trail by which horses can be brought to the village without pa.s.sing through Hano and Sichumovi, traversing the whole length of the mesa tongue, and crossing a rough break or depression in the mesa summit close to the village. Several foot trails give access to the village, partly over the nearly perpendicular faces of rock. All of these have required to be artificially improved in order to render them practicable. Plate XXV, from a photograph, ill.u.s.trates one of these trails, which, a portion of the way, leads up between a huge detached slab of sandstone and the face of the mesa. It will be seen that the trail at this point consists to a large extent of stone steps that have been built in. At the top of the flight of steps where the trail to the mesa summit turns to the right the solid sandstone has been pecked out so as to furnish a series of footholes, or steps, with no projection or hold of any kind alongside. There are several trails on the west side of the mesa leading down both from Walpi and Sichmovi to a spring below, which are quite as abrupt as the example ill.u.s.trated. All the water used in these villages, except such as is caught during showers in the basin-like water pockets of the mesa top, is laboriously brought up these trails in large earthenware canteens slung over the backs of the women.

Supplies of every kind, provisions, harvested crops, fuel, etc., are brought up these steep trails, and often from a distance of several miles, yet these conservative people tenaciously cling to the inconvenient situation selected by their fathers long after the necessity for so doing has pa.s.sed away. At present no argument of convenience or comfort seems sufficient to induce them to abandon their homes on the rocky heights and build near the water supply and the fields on which they depend for subsistence.

One of the trails referred to in the description of Hano has been converted into a wagon road, as has been already described. The Indians preferred to expend the enormous amount of labor necessary to convert this bridle path into a wagon road in order slightly to overcome the inconvenience of transporting every necessary to the mesa upon their own backs or by the a.s.sistance of burros. This concession to modern ideas is at best but a poor subst.i.tute for the convenience of homes built in the lower valleys.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 9. Mashongnavi and Shupaulovi from Shumopavi.]

MASHONGNAVI.

Mashongnavi, situated on the summit of a rocky knoll, is a compact though irregular village, and the manner in which it conforms to the general outline of the available ground is shown on the plan.

Convenience of access to the fields on the east and to the other villages probably prompted the first occupation of the east end of this rocky b.u.t.te (Pl. XXVI).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XXVIII. Back wall of a Mashongnavi house-row.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 10. Diagram showing growth of Mashongnavi.]

In Mashongnavi of to-day the eastern portion of the village forms a more decided court than do the other portions. The completeness in itself of this eastern end of the pueblo, in connection with the form of the adjoining rows, strongly suggests that this was the first portion of the pueblo built, although examination of the masonry and construction furnish but imperfect data as to the relative age of different portions of the village. One uniform gray tint, with only slight local variations in character and finish of masonry, imparts a monotonous effect of antiquity to the whole ma.s.s of dwellings. Here and there, at rare intervals, is seen a wall that has been newly plastered; but, ordinarily, masonry of 10 years age looks nearly as old as that built 200 years earlier. Another feature that suggests the greater antiquity of the eastern court of the pueblo is the presence and manner of occurrence here of the kiva. The old builders may have been influenced to some extent in their choice of site by the presence of a favorable depression for the construction of a kiva, though this particular example of the ceremonial room is only partly subterranean. The other kivas are almost or quite below the ground level. Although a favorable depression might readily occur on the summit of the knoll, a deep cavity, suitable for the construction of the subterranean kiva, would not be likely to occur at such a distance from the margin of the sandstone ledge. The builders evidently preferred to adopt such half-way measures with their first kiva in order to secure its inclosure within the court, thus conforming to the typical pueblo arrangement. The numerous exceptions to this arrangement seen in Tusayan are due to local causes. The general view of Mashongnavi given in Pl. XXVII shows that the site of this pueblo, as well as that of its neighbor, Shupaulovi, was not particularly defensible, and that this fact would have weight in securing adherence in the first portion of the pueblo built to the defensive inclosed court containing the ceremonial chamber. The plan strongly indicates that the other courts of the pueblo were added as the village grew, each added row facing toward the back of an older row, producing a series of courts, which, to the present time, show more terracing on their western sides. The eastern side of each court is formed, apparently, by a few additions of low rooms to what was originally an unbroken exterior wall, and which is still clearly traceable through these added rooms. Such an exterior wall is ill.u.s.trated in Pl. XVIII. This process continued until the last cl.u.s.ter nearly filled the available site and a wing was thrown out corresponding to a tongue or spur of the knoll upon which it was built. Naturally the westernmost or newer portions show more clearly the evidence of additions and changes, but such evidence is not wholly wanting in the older portions. The large row that bounds the original eastern court on the west side may be seen on the plan to be of unusual width, having the largest number of rooms that form a terrace with western aspect; yet the nearly straight line once defining the original back wall of the court inclosing cl.u.s.ter on this side has not been obscured to any great extent by the later additions (Pl. XXVIII). This village furnishes the most striking example in the whole group of the manner in which a pueblo was gradually enlarged as increasing population demanded more s.p.a.ce. Such additions were often carried out on a definite plan, although the results in Tusayan fall far short of the symmetry that characterizes many ruined pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 11. Diagram showing growth of Mashongnavi.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 12. Diagram showing growth of Mashongnavi.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XXIX. West side of a princ.i.p.al row in Mashongnavi.]

A few of these ancient examples, especially some of the smaller ruins of the Chaco group, are so symmetrical in their arrangement that they seem to be the result of a single effort to carry out a clearly fixed plan.

By far the largest number of pueblos, however, built among the southwest tablelands, if occupied for any length of time, must have been subject to irregular enlargement. In some ancient examples, such additions to the first plan undoubtedly took place without marring the general symmetry. This was the case at Pueblo Bonito, on the Chaco, where the symmetrical and even curve of the exterior defensive wall, which was at least four stories high, remained unbroken, while the large inclosed court was encroached upon by wings added to the inner terraces. These additions comfortably provided for a very large increase of population after the first building of the pueblo, without changing its exterior appearance.

In order to make clearer this order of growth in Mashongnavi, a series of skeleton diagrams is added in Figs. 10, 11, and 12, giving the outlines of the pueblo at various supposed periods in the course of its enlargement. The larger plan of the village (Pl. XXVI) serves as a key to these terrace outlines.