Part 3
A main room (_A_, figure 245), or that first entered from outside, is roughly rectangular in shape, 12 feet long by 6 feet wide, and about 6 feet high. The floor, however, was covered with very dry débris which had blown in from the exterior or, in some instances, fallen from the roof. That part of the floor which was exposed shows that it was roughly plastered, sometimes paved or formed of solid rock.
On three sides of this room there is a step 2 feet high, to platforms, three in number, one in the rear and one on each side. These platforms are 5, 6, and 6 feet 6 inches wide, respectively, and of the same length as the corresponding sides of the central room. It would appear that these platforms are characteristic architectural features of these habitations, and we find them reproduced in some of the rooms of the cliff houses of the Red-rocks, while Nordenskiöld has described a kindred feature in the kivas of the Mesa Verde ruins. A somewhat similar elevation of the floor in modern Tusayan kivas forms what may be called the spectator's part, in front of the ladder as one descends, and the same feature is common to many older Hopi dwellings.[15]
Beginning with the lateral platforms (_B_, figure 245) we first note, as we step upon it at _c_, about midway of its length, a small circular depression in the floor of the central room extending slightly beneath the platform, as indicated by the dotted line. It is possible that this niche was a receptacle for important household objects, although it may have been a fireplace.
In a corner of the right platform a round cist, partially hewn out of the rock, was found, but its walls (_a_, figure 245) were badly broken down by some former explorer. The floor of this recess lies below that of the platform, while the cist itself (_D_) reminds one of the closed or walled structures, so commonly found in the Verde, attached to the side of the cliff. On the lateral wall of this chamber, at about the height of the head, a row of small holes had been drilled into the solid wall. These holes (_d_, _d_, _d_) are almost too small for the insertion of roof beams, and were probably made for pegs on which to rest a beam for hanging blankets and other textile fabrics when not in use. The roof of the cave was the natural rock, and showed over its whole surface marks of a pecking implement.
The left chamber is 6 feet 6 inches broad, and from one corner, opposite the doorway, a low passageway leads into a circular chamber, 6 feet in diameter, with its floor below the platform of the lateral room. Between the chamber, on the left of the entrance, and the open air, the wall of solid rock is broken by a slit-like crevice, which allows the light to enter, and no doubt served as a window. A recess, the floor of which is elevated, on a platform opposite the doorway, is 5 feet broad, and has a small circular depression in one corner. The floor and upraise of this recess is plastered with adobe, which in several places is smooth and well made.
In comparing the remaining cavate dwellings of this series with that described, we find every degree of complication in the arrangement of rooms, from a simple cave, or irregular hole in the side of the cliff, to squared chambers with lateral rooms. The room _I_,[16] for instance, is rectangular, 6 feet long by 3 feet wide, with an entrance the same width as that of the room itself.
In room _III_, however, the external opening is very small, and there is a low, narrow ledge, or platform, opposite the doorway. There is likewise in this room a small shelf in the left-hand wall. In _IV_ there is a raised platform on two adjacent sides of the square room, and the doorway is an irregular orifice broken through the wall to the open air.
Room _IV_ is a subterranean chamber, most of the floor of which is littered with large fragments of rock which have fallen from the roof. It has numerous small recesses in the wall resembling cubby-holes where household utensils of various kinds were undoubtedly formerly kept. This room is instructive, in that the entrance is partially closed by two walls of masonry, which do not join. The stones are laid in adobe in which fragments of pottery were detected. These unjoined walls leave a doorway which is thus flanked on each side by stone masonry, recalling in every particular the well-known walls of cliff houses. Here, in fact, we have so close a resemblance to the masonry of true cliff houses that we can hardly doubt that the excavators of the cavate dwellings were, in reality, people similar to those who built the cliff houses of Verde valley.
Room _VIII_ is a simple cave hewn out of the rock, with a chamber behind it, entered by a passageway made of masonry, which partially fills a larger opening. The doorway through this masonry is small below, but broadens above in much the same manner as some of the doorways in Tusayan of today.
Continuing along the left bank of the river, from the row of cavate rooms, just described, on the first mesa, we round a promontory and enter a small canyon,[17] which is perforated on each side with numerous other cavate dwellings, large and small, all of the same general character as the type described. Here, likewise, are small external openings which evidently communicated with subterranean chambers, but many of them are so elevated that access to them from the floor of the canyon or from the cliff above is not possible. A marked feature of the whole series is the existence here and there of small, often inaccessible, stone cists of masonry plastered to the side of the rocky cliff like swallows' nests.
All of these cists which are accessible had been opened and plundered before my visit, but there yet remain a few which are still intact and would repay examination and study. Similar walled-up cists are likewise found, as we shall see later, in the cliff-houses of the Red-rock country, hence are not confined to the Verde system of ruins.
Cavate dwellings similar to those here described are reported to exist in the canyons of upper Salado, Gala, and Zuñi rivers, and we may with reason suspect that the distribution[18] of cavate dwellings is as wide as that of the pueblos themselves, the sole requisite being a soft tufaceous rock, capable of being easily worked by people with stone implements. In none of the different regions in which they exist is there any probability that these caves were made by people different in culture from pueblo or cliff dwellers. They are much more likely to have been permanent than temporary habitations of the same culture stock of Indians who availed themselves of rock shelters wherever the nature of the cliff permitted excavation in its walls.
That the cavate lodges are simple "horticultural outlooks" is an important suggestion, but one might question whether they were conveniently placed for that purpose. So far as overlooking the opposite plain (which had undoubtedly been cultivated in ancient times) is concerned, the position of some of them may be regarded good for that purpose, but certainly not so commanding as that of the hill or mesa above, where well-marked ruins still exist.
The position of the cavate dwellings is a disadvantageous one to reach any cultivated fields if defenders were necessary. When the Tusayan Indian today moves to his _kisi_ or summer brush house shelter he practically camps in his corn or near it, in easy reach to drive away crows, or build wind-breaks to shelter the tender sprouts; but to go to their cornfields the inhabitants of the cavate dwellings I have described were forced to cross a river before the farm was reached. That these cavate dwellings were lookouts none can deny, but I incline to a belief that this does not tell the whole story if we limit them to such use. It is not wholly clear to me that they were not likewise an asylum for refuge, possibly not inhabited continuously, but a very welcome retreat when the agriculturist was sorely pressed by enemies. Following the analogy of a Hopi custom of building temporary booths near their fields, may we not suppose that the former inhabitants of Verde valley may have erected similar shelters in their cornfields during summer months, retiring to the cavate dwellings and the mesa tops in winter? All available evidence would indicate that the cavate dwellings were permanent habitations.[19]
There are several square ruins on top of the mesa above the cavate dwellings. The walls of these were massive, but they are now very much broken down, and the adobe plastering is so eroded from the masonry that I regard them of considerable antiquity. They do not differ from other similar ruins, so common elsewhere in New Mexico and Arizona, and are identical with others in the Verde region. I visited several of these ruins, but made no excavations in them, nor added any new data to our knowledge of this type of aboriginal buildings. The pottery picked up on the surface resembles that of the ruins of the Little Colorado and Gila.
The dwellings which I have mentioned above are said[20] to be duplicated at many other points in the watershed of the Verde, and many undescribed ruins of this nature were reported to me by ranchmen. I do not regard them as older than the adjacent ruins on the mesa above or the plains below them, much less as productions of people of different stages of culture, for everything about them suggests contemporaneous occupancy.
From what little I saw of the village sites on the Verde I believe that Mindeleff is correct in considering that these ruins represent a comparatively late period of pueblo architecture. The character of the cliff houses of the Red-rocks shows no very great antiquity of occupancy. While it is not possible to give any approximate date when they were inhabited, their general appearance indicates that they are not more than two centuries old. There is, however, no reference to them in the early Spanish history of the Southwest.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XCIII
BOWLDER WITH PICTOGRAPHS NEAR WOOD'S RANCH]
Few pictographs were found in the immediate neighborhood of the cavate dwellings; indeed the rock in their vicinity is too soft to preserve for any considerable time any great number of these rock etchings. Examples of ancient paleography were, however, discovered a short distance higher up the river on malpais rock, which is harder and less rapidly eroded. A half-buried bowlder (plate XCIII) near Wood's ranch was found to be covered with the well-known spirals with zigzag attachments, horned animals resembling antelopes, growing corn, rain clouds, and similar figures. These pictographs occur on a black, superficial layer of lava rock, or upon lighter stone with a malpais layer, which had been pecked through, showing a lighter color beneath. There is little doubt that many examples of aboriginal pictography exist in this neighborhood, which would reward exploration with interesting data. The Verde pictographs can not be distinguished, so far as designs are concerned, from many found elsewhere in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.
An instructive pictograph, different from any which I have elsewhere seen, was discovered on the upturned side of a bowlder not far from Hance's ranch, near the road from Camp Verde to the cavate dwellings. The bowlder upon which they occur lies on top of a low hill, to the left of the road, near the river. It consists of a rectangular network of lines, with attached key extensions, crooks, and triangles, all pecked in the surface. This dædalus of lines arises from grooves, which originate in two small, rounded depressions in the rock, near which is depicted the figure of a mountain lion. The whole pictograph is 3-1/2 feet square, and legible in all its parts.
The intent of the ancient scribe is not wholly clear, but it has been suggested that he sought to represent the nexus of irrigating ditches in the plain below. It might have been intended as a chart of the neighboring fields of corn, and it is highly suggestive, if we adopt either of these explanations or interpretations, that a figure of the mountain lion is found near the depressions, which may provisionally be regarded as representing ancient reservoirs. Among the Tusayan Indians the mountain lion is looked on as a guardian of cultivated fields, which he is said to protect, and his stone image is sometimes placed there for the same purpose.
In the vicinity of the pictograph last described other bowlders, of which there are many, were found to be covered with smaller rock etchings in no respect characteristic, and there is a remnant of an ancient shrine a few yards away from the bowlder upon which they occur.
MONTEZUMA WELL
One of the most interesting sites of ancient habitation in Verde valley is known as Montezuma Well, and it is remarkable how little attention has been paid to it by archeologists.[21] Dr Mearns, in his article on the ancient dwellings of Verde valley, does not mention the well, and Mindeleff simply refers to the brief description by Dr Hoffman in 1877. These ruins are worthy of more study than I was able to give them, for like many other travelers I remained but a short time in the neighborhood. It is possible, however, that some of my hurried observations at this point may be worthy of record.
Montezuma Well (plate XCIV) is an irregular, circular depression, closely resembling a volcanic crater, but evidently, as Dr Hoffman well points out, due to erosion rather than to volcanic agencies. As one approaches it from a neighboring ranch the road ascends a low elevation, and when on top the visitor finds that the crater occupies the whole interior of the hill. The exact dimensions I did not accurately determine, but the longest diameter of the excavation is estimated at about 400 feet; its depth possibly 70 feet. On the eastern side this depression is separated from Beaver creek by a precipitous wall which can not be scaled from that side. At the time of my visit there was considerable water in the "well," which was reported to be very deep, but did not cover the whole bottom. It is possible to descend to the water at one point on the eastern side, where a trail leads to the water's edge.
There appears to be a subterranean waterway under the eastern rim of the well, and the water from the spring rushes through this passage into Beaver creek. At the time of my visit this outflow was very considerable, and in the rainy season it must be much greater. The well is never dry, and is supplied by perennial subterranean springs rather than by surface drainage.
The geological agency which has been potent in giving the remarkable crater-like form to Montezuma Well was correctly recognized by Dr Hoffman[22] and others as the solvent or erosive power of the spring. There is no evidence of volcanic formation in the neighborhood, and the surrounding rocks are limestones and sandstones. Not far from Navaho springs there is a similar circular depression, called Jacob's Well, but which was dry when visited by me. This may later be found to have been formed in a similar way. At several places in Arizona there are formations of like geological character.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XCIV
MONTEZUMA WELL]
The walls of Montezuma Well are so nearly perpendicular that descent to the edge of the water is difficult save by a single trail which follows the detritus to a cave on one side. In this cave, the roof of which is not much higher than the water level, there are fragments of masonry, as if structures of some kind had formerly been erected in it. I have regarded this cave rather as a place of religious rites than of former habitation, possibly a place of retreat for ancient priests when praying for rain or moisture, or a shrine for the deposit of prayer offerings to rain or water gods.
Several isolated cliff dwellings are built at different levels in the sides of the cliffs. One of the best of these is diametrically opposite the cave mentioned above, a few feet below the rim of the depression. While this house was entered with little difficulty, there were others which I did not venture to visit.
The accompanying illustration (plate XCV) gives an idea of the general appearance of one of these cliff houses of Montezuma Well. It is built under an overhanging archway of rock in a deep recess, with masonry on three sides. The openings are shown, one of which overlooks the spring; the other is an entrance at one side. The face of masonry on the front is not plastered, and if it was formerly rough cast the mud has been worn away, leaving the stones exposed. The side wall, which has been less exposed to the elements, still retains the plastering, which is likewise found on the inner walls where it is quite smooth in places.
The number of cliff rooms in the walls of the well is small and their capacity, if used as dwellings, very limited. There are, however, ruins of pueblos of some size on the edge of the well.
One of the largest of these, shown in the accompanying illustration (plate XCVI), is situated on the neck of land separating the well from the valley of Beaver creek. This pueblo was rectangular in form, of considerable size, built of stones, and although at present almost demolished, shows perfectly the walls of former rooms. Fragments of ancient pottery would seem to indicate that the people who once inhabited this pueblo were in no respect different from other sedentary occupants of Verde valley. From their housetops they had a wide view over the creek on one side and the spring on the other, defending, by the site of their village, the one trail by which descent to the well was possible.
The remarkable geological character of Montezuma Well, and the spring within it, would have profoundly impressed itself on the folklore of any people of agricultural bent who lived in its neighborhood after emigrating to more arid lands. About a month after my visit to this remarkable spring I described the place to some of the old priests at Walpi and showed them sketches of the ruins. These priests seemed to have legendary knowledge of a place somewhat like it where they said the Great Plumed Snake had one of his numerous houses. They reminded me of a legend they had formerly related to me of how the Snake arose from a great cavity or depression in the ground, and how, they had heard, water boiled out of that hole into a neighboring river. The Hopi have personal knowledge of Montezuma Well, for many of their number have visited Verde valley, and they claim the ruins there as the homes of their ancestors. It would not be strange, therefore, if this marvelous crater was regarded by them as a house of Palülükoñ, their mythic Plumed Serpent.
Practically little is known of the pictography of this part of the Verde valley people, although it has an important bearing on the distribution of the cliff dwellers of the Southwest. There is evidence of at least two kinds of petroglyphs, indicative of two distinct peoples. One of these was of the Apache Mohave; the other, the agriculturists who built the cliff homes and villages of the plain. Those of the latter are almost identical with the work of the Pueblo peoples in the cliff dweller stage, from southern Utah and Colorado to the Mexican boundary. It is not a difficult task to distinguish the pictography of these two peoples, wherever found. The pictographs of the latter are generally pecked into the rock with a sharpened implement, probably of stone, while those of the former are usually scratched or painted on the surface of the rocks. Their main differences, however, are found in the character of the designs and the objects represented. This difference can be described only by considering individual rock drawings, but the practiced eye may readily distinguish the two kinds at a glance. The pictographs which are pecked in the cliff are, as a rule, older than those which are drawn or scratched, and resemble more closely those widely spread in the Pueblo area, for if the cliff-house people ever made painted pictographs, as there is every reason to believe they did, time has long ago obliterated them.
The pictured rocks (plate XCVII) near Cliff's ranch, on Beaver creek, four miles from Montezuma Well, have a great variety of objects depicted upon them. These rocks, which rise from the left bank of the creek opposite Cliff's ranch, bear over a hundred different rock pictures, figures of which are seen in the accompanying illustration. The rock surface is a layer of black malpais, through which the totem signatures have been pecked, showing the light stone beneath, and thus rendering them very conspicuous. Among these pictographs many familiar forms are recognizable, among them being the crane or blue heron, bears' and badgers' paws, turtles, snakes, antelopes, earth symbols, spirals, and meanders.
Among these many totems there was an unusual pictograph in the form of the figure 8, above which was a bear's paw accompanied by a human figure so common in southwestern rock etchings. A square figure with interior parallel squares extending to the center is also found, as elsewhere, in cliff-dweller pictography.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XCV
CLIFF HOUSE, MONTEZUMA WELL]
CLIFF HOUSES OF THE RED-ROCKS