Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1890-05-03

, are ullte uullleIOuS' 4hooC VA 9hoih ucS
3 Guipuy, on the Galisteo creek near Ne
lace} Tabira, Abo, Chilli, fatigue, par
villages of the Zuni plain lin part Bat
AluauWha.. IL ,aAf M0oA oG9QqntrH, in I
had been built previous to the coming OF
Spaniards. Several Others, like the one
on the summit of the Mesa of San Felipe,
the one on the Potrero Viejo near Cochlti
and several of The Zuni towns principally
those on the top of Thunder mountain)
were bu 1t and abandoned within the past
two centuries. The pueblos OF to-day are
all comparatively modern. Not one Of
them dates (as tar as their buildings are
concerned) from the 10Th century. Even
Acoma is not the Acuco which Coronad ,
saw. l. was destroyed in 1899 and re-
built soon after.
The villages or ruins ante dating in
abandonment the time OF Spanish dis
covery are the most numerous. But their
number is by no means an evidence OF
a former large population and, as a com
plement to the latter, an Indication OF
more favorable Chronological conditions
in times long past. In many instances
as high as twenty and more pueblos were
successfully mot cOntempOraneously) in
habited by one and the same tribe. Their
number is therefore but a proof OF no.
tnadlc prociyities of the so-calIed seden-
tary Indian.
From their character the pre.Spanish
ruins can be divided into two classes, the
small isolated house villages, and the
mauy-storled communal pueblo. The
former is manilestly the older, i'll time of
abandonment at least. The small house
ruins" are irregulariy scattered over every
part of the territory where cultivation OF
the soil became possible. incidentally
| must remark here that east OF the Pecos
river and east OF the loot hills OF the high
range extending from laos to Santa Fe
no ruins are found, except perhaps along
the Canadian river. The great plains al
fOrded no iuducement for the land-tllling
| aborIgine, and they were too much ex-
posed to inroads from nOmadic indians.
The esluta, that peculiar construction
originally destined for the exclusive abode
OF tile males, accompanies the small
house village in many places. Some OF
the best preserved specimens OF the type
are found at the Cebolli,a, south OF The
Atlantic K Pacific railroad, and near
Zuui. Somt times as many as twenty
and thirty isolated dwellings, composed oi
TWO to ten apartments, constitute one VII
lage; again, the clusters are smaller.
These houses are one-story high. Still, in
! places Il marked transition from that type
10 the large house pueblo is visible in an
aglomeratlon OF numerous rooms and the
superpositIon of an upper tier.
THE CLIFF DWELLINGS.
The small house is the type to which
the so-raIled Chief dwellings," belong.
The only difference between the two CON-
sists in that the latter is invariably
placed on rocky shelves and promontories.
and in places difficult OF access. Cliff houses
are not very numerous in New Mexico
because the rocky formations that make
possible this peculiarly Of human abodes
are localized. Tn y appear more numer-
Gus in northern sections in the San Juan
region; also in the western portions,
around Zuni and north OF it and near
AConIa. The northwest contains alsu that
peculiar defensive structure the round
tower. But 1t is an error to admit that
the circular tower is limited to a certain
class OF architecture or to certain regions
or certain periods. A round tow er, nay two
of them, are seen at ecos. Round towers
are fouGd in the Sierra Madre and at
Casas Grandes in Chihuahua.
There is transition from the cliff house
to the many stored communal house.
This is the cave pueblo, village of con.
nected buildings, sometimes more than
one story high, built inside OF natural
recess or cave. Caves containing ancient
habitat!ons are OF frequent occurrence
wherever natural features favor the estab'
llshment OF human abodes under shelter
OF rocks or in real caverns. These villages
with partition walls and roofs should moi
be confounded with cave dwellings proper
where man has scooped out grottoes by
hand for his residence.
The latter belong plainly to the many
stored communal pueblo type of archi
lecture. They are found in New Mexico
in one particular section, where very
friable pumice stone and volcanic tuis
constitute the rock. This is the regioI
west of Santa Fe, on the west bank o
the Rio Grande, and extending from
Santa Clara in the north to Cochlti in the
south. Every gorge almost Of that viii,
and inaccessible mountain region j:
more or less lined with caves, burroweC
out in the friable rock, sometimes two
and three tiers snperposed with estufas
Some OF the latter are followed out of the
rock also, while others have been dug ou
i'll front OF the caves.
THE COMMUNAL HOUSES.
Lastly there is the large communal
house type, of which the present pueblos
are an illustration, although considerable
change has taken place in many details
since the sixteenth century. 1t may be
said that since the advent OF Europeans
the village consisting Of one single house
has fallen into disuse, Tao, aud, in Ger.
tain sense. Zuni, being the ones approx
mating the class. Of these enormous
structures, in comparison with which the
largest buildings of Yucatan and southern
Mexico vanish out of sight, very we'll pre-
served specimens are found at Pecos, anG
especially in the Chaca canon north o.
the Atlantic Il Pacific railroad, There is
also one house pueblo ruin twelve miles
west of Cochti. 1t is in fair condition
quadrangnlar, with court in the middle
and three stories are still visible.
70 assign definite geographic areas tc
each class of ruins or structures is not
possible in every case. The cliff house
and the cave village are bound to ge0logi
cal features, and wherever these are
lacking, the type need not be looked for.
The scattered small house is met with
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