The Coconino sun., 1923-06-08
Continued from Last Week.

6xcaYaIeQ chambers, the rooms having
been separated laterally by plaster
ed wall of small boulders brought
from the bottom of the adjacent de-
preston. Apparently, also, walls for
merly existed in front of the en-
frances to the caves, but of these the
greater part have fallen, and their
outlines are difficult to trace except
in small sections.
Entering by a side opening, one
passes into a subterranean room, IL
by 10 feet and feet high, the walls
and floors of which are partly plas-
tered. This room has five smaller
rooms leading from it, which will be
called B. G. d. E and F. They aver
age about five feet in diameter, and
have their floors depressed about
f6et below tnat of the main floor, A.
The entrances into the lateral
rooms, especially that into D, are
carefully made and almost square,
and when plastered, as there is good
evidence that they once were, made
good doorways. In fact, although the
walls of most of these cavate cham
bers are now very rough, and the
rooms seemingly desolate as places of
hahitation, they must once have been
comfortable abodes, for the plastering
made the finish almost as smooth as
that of any wall which could be con-
structed.
Several of the rooms in which the
plastering still remains have lodges
and cubby-holes in which the house
hold utensils were doubtless kept.
The similarity of these cavate cham
bers to those excavated in volcanic
tufa in Verde valley is apparent. The
material in which they occur is diff
ferent, but the plans of the rooms are
almost Identical Whatever peoples
inhabited the cavate dwellings of the
cinder cones near Flagstaff, and the
tufa mesas of the Verde, their culture
was not radically different.
Ruins Near Black Falls of the
Little Colorado
It has long been known that the
banks of the Little Colorado and
neighboring mesas were sites of an
eient dwellings,, but exploration has
been confined mostly to the upper
part of the river and its tributaries.
The numerous ruins along the stream
from Grand Falls to it's confluence
with Rio Colorado have been wholly
neglected, but there is little doubt
that future excavation will be reward
ca with many novelties.
The Black Falls ruins have been
known for several years to local anna
teur psychologists and a considerable
collection of ancient objects has been
taken from them by Mr.. Benjamin
Doney of Flagstaff. Under his guild
ance, several well-known residents of
that town, among whom may be men
toned Dr. Robinson and Mr.. Jack,
have visited and photographed them.
The author was guided to these ruins
by Mr.. Doney. Herders and cowboys
are acquainted with the ruins, and
the former have cleared some of the
ruins for use in the winter.
The geological features of the re-
gion in which these three groups of
ruins occur are instructive, but for
present purposes, one or two simple
statements about them will suffice.
The two well-marked formations
lava and sandstone-have affected
the appearance of the ruins. The
black lava covers the red sandstone,
forming great mesas or isolated
buttes, the SUBMITS of which are
crowned with ruins. The lava ruins
have low, rough walls, in which adobe
mortar was not detected. The red
sandstone formed a more tractable
material, and the buildings construct
ed of it show fine masonry with
adobe mortar.
These ruins ordinarily stand on the
k,{v,lyc 80 cV,a oil oopvopc orodoJ in fho
sandstone, on isolated blocks of the
same stone, or on ridges left by eros
ion. If these lava and red sandstone
ruins were found in different local
tiles they might be regarded as
products of different peoples, but
their existence side by side in this
region shows that the slight differ
ences in their architecture were due
simply to the building materials en-
ployed. The irregular forms of the
lava blocks made it impossible to
construct from them the fine rect
linear walls which were possible with
the well-squared blocks of sandstone.
The erosion of the lava produces
coal-black, porous sand, which as
rule, covers the finer red soil derived
from the sandstone. This soil, drift
ing into pockets or depressions in the
surface rocks, afforded burial places
for the inhabitants of the villages.
This region has few trees; there
are no pines, and only few cedars
1t is the same sage-brush country
which we find near the upper Little
Colorado at Holbrook and Winslow.
The region is arid; it now has few
springs. Those which were used in
ancient times probably have been fill
ed with drifting sand. We do not
share the common belief that when
these now ruined structures were in
habited the precipitation was greater
In an arid region springs are rapidly
filled by drifting sand if not dug out
repeatedly. The Hopis are obliged
to clean out some of their largest
springs annually.
Volcanic agencies have left their
mark on the whole region, causing in
places deep fissures in the rocks, into
some of which a strong current of air
continually passes, and from one of
which emerges a roar as though Of
subterranean currents of water. One
- L. &c fha-n fscc,,rac so