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Show 42 a space, generally, of 100 feet square; thej' are seldom subdivided into more than two or four apartments. Relics were abundant, broken pottery and arrow- points being especially plenty, and of excellent quality; at one place, where the wash had partially undermined the foundations of one of the large buildings, it exposed a wall of regularly- laid masonry extending down six feet beneath the superincumbent debris to the old floor- level, covered with ashes and the remains of half- charred sticks of juniper. From this rubbish a fine example of a stone ax, about the size of one's hand, was found, with a smooth and sharp- cutting edge, formed by grinding it down to an acute angle; its h$ ad was roughly chipped to the required shape for bindiug on a handle. At another point a small earthen bowl, of the superior ware characteristic of the people, was found entire. No special burial- places were observed, but a number of boues of the lower extremities were unearthed at the edge of the wash, without any stone- work above them. There were no cave-dwellings in the neighborhood of this group, but two or three miles below several occurred, one of which is built in a huge niche in the solid wall of the cafion, with its floor level with the valley. ( See Fig. 2, Plate 17.) From the last camp the canon expanded into occasional valleys from 500 to 800 yards across, and then contracting again to a mere narrow passage, but still all shut in by the highescarpmeut of the mesa. From either side long narrow tongues or promontories extended out 100 yards, and from 20 to 100 feet high, sometimes connected with the main wall by a mere comb or wall of rock, its extremity, however, spreading out to an irregularly oval shape. In the valleys are occasional isolated mesas, the remnants, probably, of former promontories, left here by the great erosive powers which chanueled out these canons. Within a distance of 15 miles there are some sixteen or eighteen of these promontories and isolated mesas, varying in height, and every one of them covered with ruins of old and massive stone- built structures. They will average in size from 100 by 200 feet square down to 30 by 50 feet, always in a solid block, and, with one exception, so nearly similar that a description of one will fairly represent all. This exceptional instance is explained in the sketch ( Fig. 1, Plate 20), and the ground- plan, ( Fig. 1, Plate 10). The peculiarity here consists principally in the size and shape of the stones empioyed, as well as in the design of its ground plan. The ruin occupies one of the small isolated mesas, whose floor is composed of a distinctly laminated sandstone, breaking into regular slabs from 18 to 24 inches in thickness; these have been broken again into long blocks, aud then placed in the wall upright, the largest standing five feet above the soil in which they are planted. The sketch in Plate ( 20) is a view along the line a a a, looking toward the round tower. Very nearly the entire length of this wall is made up of the large upright blocks of even thickness, fitting close together, with only occasional spaces filled up with smaller rocks. In one place the long blocks have been pushed outward by the weight of the debris back of it. One side of the large square apartment in the rear is made of the same kind of rocks, standing in a solid row. The walls throughout the rest of the building are composed of ordinary- sized rocks, with an occasional large upright one. Judging from the debris, the walls could not have been more than 8 or 10 feet in height. The foundation- line was well preserved, euabling us to measure accurately its dimensions. The large square room was depressed in the center, and its three outside walls contained less material than in the rest of the building. No sign of any aperture, either of window or door, could be detected. |
