Chapter 1

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This document is taken from the _Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution_, 1894-95, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 73-198. Images of the original pages are available through the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) (http://gallica.bnf.fr/).

Transcriber's Note:

Typographical errors are listed at the end of the text. Brackets within quotations are in the original.

THE CLIFF RUINS OF CANYON DE CHELLY, ARIZONA

by

COSMOS MINDELEFF

CONTENTS Page Introduction 79 History and literature 79 Geography 82 Classification and descriptions 89 Ruins of the pueblo region 89 I--Old villages on open sites 93 II--Home villages on bottom lands 94 III--Home villages located for defense 111 IV--Cliff outlooks or farming shelters 142 Details 153 Sites 153 Masonry 159 Openings 164 Roofs, floors, and timber work 165 Storage and burial cists (Navaho) 166 Defensive and constructive expedients 170 Kivas or sacred chambers 174 Chimney-like structures 182 Traditions 190 Conclusions 191

ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate Page XLI. Map of the ancient pueblo region, showing location of Canyon de Chelly 79 XLII. Map of Canyon de Chelly and its branches 85 XLIII. Detailed map of part of Canyon de Chelly, showing areas of cultivable land 93 XLIV. Section of old walls, Canyon de Chelly 95 XLV. General view of ruin on bottom land, Canyon del Muerto 97 XLVI. Village ruin in Canyon de Chelly 103 XLVII. Casa Blanca ruin, Canyon de Chelly 105 XLVIII. Mummy cave, central and eastern part 112 XLIX. Eastern cove of Mummy cave 115 L. Reservoir in ruin No. 10 127 LI. Small village, ruin No. 16, Canyon de Chelly 129 LII. Walls resting on refuse in ruin No. 16 131 LIII. Cliff outlook in lower Canyon de Chelly 149 LIV. Cliff ruin No. 14 151 LV. Site marked by pictographs 153 LVI. Site difficult of approach 159 LVII. Masonry in Canyon de Chelly 161 LVIII. Chinked walls in Canyon de Chelly 163 LIX. A partly plastered wall 165 LX. Plastered wall in Canyon de Chelly 167 LXI. Storage cist in Canyon de Chelly 169 LXII. Navaho burial cists 171 LXIII. Kivas in ruin No. 10, showing second-story walls 173

Figure Page 1. Ground plan of an old ruin in Canyon del Muerto 95 2. Ground plan of a ruin on bottom land in Canyon del Muerto 96 3. Ground plan of small ruin in Canyon de Chelly 96 4. Granary in the rocks, connected with a ruin 97 5. Ground plan of a ruin in a cave 98 6. Ground plan of Pakashi-izini ruin, Canyon del Muerto 99 7. Ground plan of a ruin in Canyon del Muerto 100 8. Ground plan of a ruin in Tseonitsosi canyon 100 9. Ground plan of a much obliterated ruin 101 10. Ground plan of a ruin in Canyon de Chelly 101 11. Ground plan of a village ruin 103 12. Ground plan of kivas in Canyon de Chelly 103 13. Ground plan of a small ruin on bottom land 104 14. Ground plan of the upper part of Casa Blanca ruin 105 15. Ground plan of the lower part of Casa Blanca ruin 106 16. Ground plan of Mummy Cave ruin 113 17. Ruin in a rock cove 117 18. Ground plan of a ruin in a rock cove 117 19. Ground plan of a ruin on a ledge 118 20. Ground plan of ruin No. 31, Canyon de Chelly 119 21. Ground plan of ruin No. 32, Canyon de Chelly 120 22. Section of a kiva wall 122 23. Ruin No. 10 on a ledge in a cove 123 24. Ground plan of ruin No. 10 124 25. Oven-like structure in ruin No. 10 127 26. Plan of oven-like structure 128 27. Ground plan of a small village, ruin No. 16 129 28. Ruins on a large rock 130 29. Ground plan of ruins No. 49 131 30. Ruins on an almost inaccessible site 133 31. Ground plan of a large ruin in Canyon del Muerto 134 32. Ground plan of a small ruin in Canyon del Muerto 135 33. Ground plan of a small ruin 135 34. Plan of a ruin of three rooms 136 35. Ground plan of a small ruin, with two kivas 136 36. Ground plan of a small ruin, No. 44 137 37. Ground plan of a ruin on a rocky site 137 38. Rock with cups and petroglyphs 138 39. Ground plan of a ruin in Canyon de Chelly 139 40. Site showing recent fall of rock 140 41. Ruin No. 69 in a branch canyon 140 42. Ground plan of a small ruin in Canyon del Muerto 140 43. Ground plan of a small ruin 141 44. Plan of a ruin with curved inclosing wall 141 45. Ground plan of ruin No. 34 142 46. Ground plan of cliff outlook No. 35 143 47. Plan of a cliff outlook 143 48. Plan of cliff ruin No. 46 144 49. Plan of cliff room with partitions 145 50. Plan of a large cliff outlook in Canyon del Muerto 145 51. Plan of a cluster of rooms in Canyon del Muerto 146 52. White House ruin in Tseonitsosi canyon 146 53. Ground plan of a ruin in Tseonitsosi canyon 147 54. Plan of rooms against a convex cliff 147 55. Small ruin with curved wall 147 56. Ground plan of a cliff outlook 148 57. Plan of cliff outlook No. 14, in Canyon de Chelly 148 58. Ground plan of outlooks in a cleft 149 59. Plan of a single-room outlook 149 60. Three-room outlook in Canyon del Muerto 150 61. Plan of a two-room outlook 150 62. Plan of outlook and burial cists, No. 64 150 63. Plan of rectangular room, No. 45 151 64. Rectangular single room 151 65. Single-room remains 152 66. Site apparently very difficult of access 158 67. Notched doorway in Canyon de Chelly 164 68. Cist composed of upright slabs 169 69. Retaining walls in Canyon de Chelly 172 70. Part of a kiva in ruin No. 31 175 71. Plan of part of a kiva in ruin No. 10 176 72. Kiva decoration in white 177 73. Pictograph in white 178 74. Markings on cliff wall, ruin No. 37 178 75. Decorative band in kiva in Mummy Cave ruin 179 76. Design employed in decorative band 180 77. Pictographs in Canyon de Chelly 181 78. Plan of chimney-like structure in ruin No. 15 182 79. Section of chimney-like structure in ruin No. 15 183 80. Plan of chimney-like structure in ruin No. 16 184 81. Section of chimney-like structure in ruin No. 16 185 82. Plan of the principal kiva in Mummy Cave ruin 186 83. Chimney-like structure in Mummy Cave ruin 187

THE CLIFF RUINS OF CANYON DE CHELLY, ARIZONA

By Cosmos Mindeleff

INTRODUCTION

HISTORY AND LITERATURE

Although Canyon de Chelly is one of the best cliff-ruin regions of the United States, it is not easily accessible and is practically unknown. At the time of the conquest of this country by the "Army of the West" in 1846, and of the rush to California in 1849, vague rumors were current of wonderful "cities" built in the cliffs, but the position of the canyon in the heart of the Navaho country apparently prevented exploration. In 1849 it was found necessary to make a demonstration against these Indians, and an expedition was sent out under the command of Colonel Washington, then governor of New Mexico. A detachment of troops set out from Santa Fe, and was accompanied by Lieutenant (afterward General) J. H. Simpson, of the topographical engineers, to whose indefatigable zeal for investigation and carefulness of observation much credit is due. He was much interested in the archeology of the country passed over and his descriptions are remarkable for their freedom from the exaggerations and erroneous observations which characterize many of the publications of that period. His journal was published by Congress the next year[1] and was also printed privately.

[Footnote 1: Thirty-first Congress, first session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 64, Washington, 1850.]

The expedition camped in the Chin Lee valley outside of Canyon de Chelly, and Lieutenant Simpson made a side trip into the canyon itself. He mentions ruins noticed by him at 41/2, 5, and 7 miles from the mouth; the latter, the ruin subsequently known as Casa Blanca, he describes at some length. He also gives an illustration drawn by R. H. Kern, which is very bad, and pictures some pottery fragments found near or in the ruin. The name De Chelly was apparently used before this time. Simpson obtained its orthography from Vigil, secretary of the province (of New Mexico), who told him it was of Indian origin and was pronounced _chay-e_. Possibly it was derived from the Navaho name of the place, Tse-gi.

Simpson's description, although very brief, formed the basis of all the succeeding accounts for the next thirty years. The Pacific railroad surveys, which added so much to our knowledge of the Southwest, did not touch this field. In 1860 the Abbe Domenech published his "Deserts of North America," which contains a reference to Casa Blanca ruin, but his knowledge was apparently derived wholly from Simpson. None of the assistants of the Hayden Survey actually penetrated the canyon, but one of them, W. H. Jackson, examined and described some ruins on the Rio de Chelly, in the lower Chin Lee valley. But in an article in Scribner's Magazine for December, 1878, Emma C. Hardacre published a number of descriptions and illustrations derived from the Hayden corps, among others figures one entitled "Ruins in Canon de Chelly," from a drawing by Thomas Moran. The ruin can not be identified from the drawing.

This article is worth more than a passing notice, as it not only illustrates the extent of knowledge of the ruins at that time (1878), but probably had much to do with disseminating and making current erroneous inferences which survive to this day. In an introductory paragraph the author says:

Of late, blown over the plains, come stories of strange newly discovered cities of the far south-west; picturesque piles of masonry, of an age unknown to tradition. These ruins mark an era among antiquarians. The mysterious mound-builders fade into comparative insignificance before the grander and more ancient cliff-dwellers, whose castles lift their towers amid the sands of Arizona and crown the terraced slopes of the Rio Mancos and the Hovenweap.

Of the Chaco ruins it is said:

In size and grandeur of conception, they equal any of the present buildings of the United States, if we except the Capitol at Washington, and may without discredit be compared to the Pantheon and the Colosseum of the Old World.

In the same year Mr J. H. Beadle gave an account[2] of a visit he made to the canyon. He entered it over the Bat trail, near the junction of Monument canyon, and saw several ruins in the upper part. His descriptions are hardly more than a mention. Much archeologic data were secured by the assistants of the Wheeler Survey, but it does not appear that any of them, except the photographer, visited Canyon de Chelly. In the final reports of the Survey there is an illustration of the ruin visited by Lieutenant Simpson about thirty years before.[3] The illustration is a beautiful heliotype from a fine photograph made by T. H. O'Sullivan, but one serious defect renders it useless; through some blunder of the photographer or the engraver, the picture is reversed, the right and left sides being interchanged, so that to see it properly it must be looked at in a mirror. The illustration is accompanied by a short text, apparently prepared by Prof. F. W. Putnam, who edited the volume. The account by Simpson is quoted and some additional data are given, derived from notes accompanying the photograph. The ruin is said to have "now received the name of the Casa Blanca, or White House," but the derivation of the name is not stated.

[Footnote 2: Western Wilds, and the Men who Redeem Them: Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Chicago, Memphis, 1878.]

[Footnote 3: U.S. Geog. Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Lieutenant George M. Wheeler in charge; reports, vol. VII, Archaeology; Washington, 1879, pp. 372-373, pl. xx.]

In 1882 Bancroft could find no better or fuller description than Simpson's, which he uses fully, and reproduces also Simpson's (Kern's) illustration. In the same year investigation by the assistants of the Bureau of Ethnology was commenced. Colonel James Stevenson and a party visited the canyon, and a considerable amount of data was obtained. In all, 46 ruins were visited, 17 of which were in Del Muerto; and sketches, ground plans, and photographs were obtained. The report of the Bureau for that year contains an account of this expedition, including a short description of a large ruin in Del Muerto, subsequently known as Mummy Cave. A brief account of the trip was also published elsewhere.[4] The next year a map of the canyon was made by the writer and many new ruins were discovered, making the total number in the canyon and its branches about 140. Since 1883 two short visits have been made to the place, the last late in 1893, and on each trip additional material was obtained. In 1890 Mr F. T. Bickford[5] published an account of a visit to the canyon, illustrated with a series of woodcuts made from the photographs of the Bureau. The illustrations are excellent and the text is pleasantly written, but the descriptions of ruins are too general to be of much value to the student.

[Footnote 4: Bull. Am. Geog. Soc., 1886, No. 4; Ancient Habitations of the Southwest, by James Stevenson.]

[Footnote 5: Century Magazine, October, 1890, vol. XL, No. 6, p. 806 et seq.]

In recent years several publications have appeared which, while not bearing directly on the De Chelly ruins, are of great interest, as they treat of analogous remains--the cliff ruins of the Mancos canyon and the Mesa Verde. These ruins were discovered in 1874 by W. H. Jackson and were visited and described in 1875 by W. H. Holmes,[6] both of the Hayden Survey. This region was roamed over by bands of renegade Ute and Navaho, who were constantly making trouble, and for fifteen years was apparently not visited by whites. Recent exploration appears to have been inaugurated by Mr F. H. Chapin, who spent two summers in the Mesa Verde country. Subsequently he published the results of some of his observations in a handsome little volume.[7] In 1891 Dr W. R. Birdsall made a flying trip to this region and published an account[8] of the ruins he saw the same year. At the time of this visit a more elaborate exploration was being carried on by the late G. Nordenskioeld, who made some excavations and obtained much valuable data which formed the basis of a book published in 1893.[9] This is the most important treatise on the cliff ruins that has ever been published, and the illustrations can only be characterized as magnificent. All of these works, and especially the last named, are of great value to the student of the cliff ruins wherever located, or of pueblo architecture.

[Footnote 6: U.S. Geol. Survey, F. V. Hayden in charge; 10th Ann. Rept. (for 1876), Washington, 1878.]

[Footnote 7: The Land of the Cliff Dwellers, by Frederick H. Chapin; Boston, 1892.]

[Footnote 8: Bull. Am. Geog. Soc., vol. XXIII, No. 4, 1891; The Cliff Dwellings of the Canons of the Mesa Verde.]

[Footnote 9: The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, by G. Nordenskioeld; Stockholm and Chicago, 1894.]

GEOGRAPHY

The ancient pueblo culture was so intimately connected with and dependent on the character of the country where its remains are found that some idea of this country is necessary to understand it. The limits of the region are closely coincident with the boundaries of the plateau country except on the south, so much so that a map of the latter,[10] slightly extended around its margin, will serve to show the former. The area of the ancient pueblo region may be 150,000 square miles; that of the plateau country, approximately, 130,000.

[Footnote 10: See Major C. E. Dutton's map of the plateau country in 6th Ann. Rept. U.S. Geol. Survey, pl. xi. His report on "Mount Taylor and the Zuni plateau," of which this map is a part, presents a vivid picture of the plateau country, and his descriptions are so clear and expressive that any attempt to better them must result in failure. The statement of the geologic and topographic features which is incorporated herein is derived directly from Major Dutton's description, much of it being taken bodily.]

The plateau country is not a smooth and level region, as its name might imply; it is extremely rugged, and the topographic obstacles to travel are greater than in many wild mountain regions. It is a country of cliffs and canyons, often of considerable magnitude and forming a bar to extended progress in any direction. The surface is generally smooth or slightly undulating and apparently level, but it is composed of a series of platforms or mesas, which are seldom of great extent and generally terminate at the brink of a wall, often of huge dimensions. There are mesas everywhere; it is the mesa country.

Although the strata appear to be horizontal, they are slightly tilted. The inclination, although slight, is remarkably persistent, and the thickness of the strata remains almost constant. The beds, therefore, extend from very high altitudes to very low ones, and often the formation which is exposed to view at the summit of an incline is lost to view after a few miles, being covered by some later formation, which in turn is covered by a still later one. Each formation thus appears as a terrace, bounded on one side by a descending cliff carved out of the edges of its own strata and on the other by an ascending cliff carved out of the strata which overlie it. This is the more common form, although isolated mesas, bits of tableland completely engirdled by cliffs, are but little less common.

The courses of the margins of the mesas are not regular. The cliffs sometimes maintain an average trend through great distances, but in detail their courses are extremely crooked; they wind in and out, forming alternate alcoves and promontories in the wall, and frequently they are cut through by valleys, which may be either narrow canyons or interspaces 10 or even 20 miles wide.

The whole region has been subjected to many displacements, both flexures of the monoclinal type and faults. Some of these flexures attain a length of over 80 miles and a displacement of 3,000 feet, and the faults reach even a greater magnitude. There is also an abundance of volcanic rocks and extinct volcanoes, and while the principal eruptions have occurred about the borders of the region, extending but slightly into it, traces of lesser disturbances can be found throughout the country. It has been said that if a geologist should actually make the circuit of the plateau country, he could so conduct his route that for three-fourths of the time he would be treading upon volcanic materials and could pitch his camp upon them every night. The oldest eruptions do not go back of Tertiary time, while some are so recent as probably to come within the historic period--within three or four centuries.

The strata of the plateau country are remarkable for their homogeneity, when considered with reference to their horizontal extensions; hardly less so for their diversity when considered in their vertical relation. Although the groups differ radically from each other, still each preserves its characteristics with singularly slight degrees of variation from place to place. Hence we have a certain amount of similarity and monotony in the landscape which is aided rather than diminished by the vegetation; for the vegetation, like the human occupants of this country, has come under its overpowering influence. The characteristic landscape consists of a wide expanse of featureless plains, bounded by far-off cliffs in gorgeous colors; in the foreground a soil of bright yellow or ashy gray; over all the most brilliant sunlight, while the distant features are softened by a blue haze.