Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico Part 8

Turning now to the inside of the building itself, I am compelled to acknowledge here an important omission in my survey of _B_. It relates to the vertical connection of the walls. They are all, with few exceptions, as far as their dilapidated condition admits of observation, continuous from bottom to top; that is, the sides were everywhere carried up above the ceiling (or floor), and then, after the beams had been embedded in the stones, another wall was piled up on it as straight as possible. In this manner it became possible to add each cell separately.

There are several doors visible in _A_, as marked on the ground-plan.

Those in the eastern and western wings open from east to west, those in the northern wing from north to south; therefore transversely to the length of each structure. But I have also seen longitudinal walls without pa.s.sages. The tops of the doors are all gone; the rest is everywhere similar to the sample found in _B_, and already figured. In some cases even the sills are gone. Windows I could not find, nor trap-doors or ladders; there was no trace of steps, and, unfortunately, no clew to any chimney or vent. Of furniture I secured pieces of new hearth-stones; of other articles, broken "metates," part of a fine maul of stone, flint chips, celts, stone skin-sc.r.a.pers, and, of course, painted pottery and obsidian. But not one specimen is entire; every striking implement, etc., has been carried off by amateurs, of whose presence besides broken beer bottles, with the inscription "Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co., St. Louis, Mo.," give occasional notice.

Room _I_, in the S.W. corner of the north wing is very well preserved: so well, indeed, that it is nearly certain that there was no entrance to it from above. On the contrary, the entrance appears to have been from the front, as shown in Pl. VIII., where this room stands in full view.

It is perfectly plain inside; eight posts of wood, round, and stripped of all bark, support the ceiling and roof, whose composition I have elsewhere described. These posts (which are also shown in Pl. VIII.) are so distributed as to have one in each corner, and two between, on each longer side of the room. In the S.E. quarter of the ceiling the splinters covering the rafters or poles are removed, and fresh straw (or rather very well preserved) protrudes, as having formed a layer with the brush. I was at first inclined to take it for wheat-straw, but other parties insisted that it was mountain gra.s.s. For the latter it appears to be very long, and it has a marked head. I have not, as yet, seen any wheat-plants grown at these elevations.[124]

Otherwise this chamber appears nearly perfect. In the middle of the north wall a hole is knocked out, but the two coats of plaster (dark and white) are almost everywhere preserved. Great interest attaches to this apartment, from the fact that, according to Sr. Mariano Ruiz, the sacred embers ("braza") were kept here until 1840, in which year the five last remaining families of Pecos Indians removed to their cognates at Jemez, and the "sacred fire" disappeared with them. Sr. Ruiz is good authority on that point, since, as a member of the tribe[125] ("hijo del pueblo"), he was asked to perform his duty by attending to the embers one year. He refused, for reasons which I shall hereafter state. The facts--that the fire was kept in a sort of closed oven, and that the front opening existed--made it unnecessary to search for any other conduit for smoke and ventilation. The fire was kept covered, and not permitted to flame.

I now come to one of the most interesting features of the court,--the three circular depressions marked _P_ on the diagram. Two of them are in the N. E. corner,--the northern one close to the northern wing, and the other 2.65 m.--9 ft.--to the S. S. E. of it. Both are perfect circles, and each has a diameter of 7.70 m.--25 ft. In the S.W. corner, near to the pa.s.sage _N_, is the third, with a diameter of only 6 m.--20 ft. They look like shallow basins, encased by a rim of stone-work piled up in the usual way, and forming a wall of nearly 0.35 m.--14 in.--in thickness.

This wall is sunk into the ground, but at the northern basin it certainly, as former excavations plainly show, did not reach the depth of 1 metre; and it appears that at about that depth there were flat stones laid, like a rough stone floor. These basins were the "Estufas,"

or council chambers, where, as late as 1840, the meetings of the poor remnants of the tribe were still held. Although an adopted son of Pecos, Sr. Ruiz was never permitted to enter the Estufa. Across the northern one a very large and very old tree, nearly 0.75 m.--2 ft. 6 in.--in diameter, is lying obliquely. Its thick end is towards the N.E. wall. It looks as if uprooted and fallen upon the ruins. But how could a tree of such dimensions ever have grown there? Again, for what purpose, and how, could the Indians of Pecos have carried it hither?

Outside of the building _A_, the narrow ledge separating its rubbish from the eastern wall of circ.u.mvallation, a rim 150 m.--192 ft.--long by 32 m.--105 ft.--wide at the south, and 12 m.--40 ft.--at the north, shows the basins _D_ and _F_, respectively 10 m.--33 ft.--and 8 m.--26 ft.--in diameter. They hug the rock of the _mesilla_ very closely, and look completely like the estufas in the court. These buildings, according to Sr. Epifanio Vigil, of Santa Fe, were barns or store-houses (round towers 10 to 11 feet high), in which the Indians preserved their gathered crops, forage, etc. Still, it is not unlikely that they were tanks, built for collecting rain-water.

On the south side of the eastern wing, and so close to it that the heaps of rubbish touch, are two circular depressions surrounded by large ma.s.ses of stones. They are marked S S on the plan. Their shape and size cannot be accurately determined, and their object is unknown.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE VIII INTERIOR OF BUILDING A, FROM THE SOUTH.]

Nearly the same must be said of a rectangular s.p.a.ce, dotted and intersected with foundations and upright beams marked _T T_, and lying out in front of the south wing on the denuded and thinly soiled ap.r.o.n forming the southern spur of the "body" of the _mesilla_. Its eastern line, a double stone wall sunk 0.50 m.--20 in.--into the soil, is 8 m.--26 ft.--long from N. to S. From its southern extremity similar foundations run to the west 37 m.--120 ft.,--thence 8 m.--26 ft.--north, and 37 m.--120 ft.--east back to the first line. Thus a rectangle of 8 m. 37 m.--26 ft. 120 ft.--is formed, within whose area, especially in the western portion, upright beams start up in something like a semicircle, which would indicate that the structure was once a building.

A metre and a half to the north, a foundation wall runs about 20 m.--66 ft.--E. and W.; and at both of its extremities a corridor ascends towards the south wing of _A_. The nature and object of these fabrics are equally a mystery to me.

Attached to the S.W. corner of the south wing is the annex of which I have already spoken. It is an elevated rectangle of 24 m. 9 m.--80 ft.

30 ft., and is clearly divided into compartments of 3-1/2 m. 3 m.--12 ft. 11 ft. The whole is not much more than a stone mound of oblong shape, but it contained on its ground-plan 21 chambers. I presume, from the ma.s.s of _debris_, that it had an upper story. Its eastern row of cells is a direct continuation of the most westerly row of the S. wing. Due south of this annex, and almost touching it, there are two structures marked _O O_ which are very remarkable. They are octagonal. The most easterly one is best preserved, and appears to be the largest. Its two lateral walls are each 4 m.--13 ft.--long, the transverse 5.34 m.--18 ft.,--and the corners are cut off sharply by intersections of 0.86 m.--3 ft.--in length, so as to give the whole eight sides. The walls are well defined; the corners sharp and still one metre high. They are of the usual thickness. The other structure is so ruined that it appears round. These buildings, according to Sr. Vigil, were store-houses also; and they favor the suspicion that those marked _S S_ south of the east wing had the same shape. As they now appear, they look like the ruins of octagonal towers. The stone-work is like that of the estufas, but they are erected exclusively above the ground, and still cannot have been very high.

I have now reached the utmost south-westerly point of ruins on the "body," where its drainage leads us into the often-mentioned depression and to the broad gateway of the circ.u.mvallation. From this gate the enclosure-wall creeps up along the edge of the _mesilla_ N.W. and N., in all 104 m.--340 ft.,--to a point 44 m.--144 ft.--due west of the S. W.

corner of the annex; and here we find a distinct stone enclosure 27 m.--89 ft.--long from N. to S., and 15 m.--50 ft.--wide, with an entrance of 3 m.--10 ft. wide, and terminating at the circ.u.mvallation.

North-east of this, and about 28 m.--92 ft.--west of i on the middle wall of western wing, another enclosure begins 20 m. 8 m.--66 ft. 26 ft.; and 3 m.--10 ft.--south of this a small ruin 10 m. 8 m.--33 ft. x 26 ft. Adjacent to _L L_, etc., around from o to y, a curved enclosure of stone extends, 42 m.--140 ft.--long, and thence east 6 m.--20 ft.--back to the N.W. corner of K. It appears like a garden, or corral, and shows no part.i.tions. These are, as far as I could see, all the remains west of the building _A_. The edge of the _mesilla_ rounds into the north-western corner of the latter, almost closing up with it; the slope is very steep and covered with huge rocks, broken and tumbled down along the declivity.

The small northern plateau between the transverse circ.u.mvallation and the top-wall of _A_ is therefore nearly shut out from communication to the S.W. This plateau is a trapezium 45 m.--148 ft.--long from N. to S.,--50 m.--164 ft.--wide on the S., and 30 m.--98 ft.--on the N. It holds but few ruins; but, among these, a valuable find was made a short time ago by Mr. Harry Dent, of Baughls.

These ruins, in the main, can be described as follows: The slope descending from the top-wall is a heap of rubbish with shrivelled posts of wood, impossible to disentangle without excavations. North of this _debris_, and 29 m.--95 ft.--from _A a B_, stands a knoll, or mound, covered with stones. Looking south from this, I thought I noticed that it stood in the line of the second row of chambers of the east wing of _A_, counting from E. to W.; and retracing my steps in that direction I found, indeed, traces of stone foundations disappearing under the great _debris_, which indicated a corridor, or perhaps series of rooms, about 2 m.--6 ft. 6 in.--wide. It therefore looked like a northern annex to A.

From the mound, which I have designated by _V_ (Pl. I., Fig. 5), other foundations radiate to the W. and N.W. Those west soon disappear, but to the N.W. they are plainly visible for 14 m.--46 ft.--to another mound, or knoll _T_, similar to the first, whence another line of foundations vanishes to the west also. This appears to be the utmost limit of structures north, except the wall of enclosure, from which to T on the south is about 10 m.--33 ft. About the N.W. corner of A large heaps of rubbish descend in shapeless terraces outside and merge into the slope of the _mesilla_. They are, like the entire slope itself, covered with fragmentary pottery. About their eastern declivity, also, I thought I saw foundations, but could not be sure whether or not they connected with those extending westward from the two mounds just mentioned.

In the eastern section of mound _V_, Mr. Dent has, as I was informed and saw, dug down one metre into the dark loamy clay and stones of which the knoll is composed, and has thus exposed a small stone chamber, or flue, walled in to the north, west, and south in the ordinary manner, and closed with earth, etc., at the east. Whether there was any stone top other than rocks heaped up above the hillock I could not learn; neither did I, in digging down further, find any floor. This chimney-like structure is 1.32 m.--3 ft. 8 in.--wide from E. to W., and 0.70 m.--2 ft. 3 in.--from N. to S. It is therefore too large for a chimney, or flue, and too small for a room. Out of it Mr. Dent, whom I could not find personally, as he was absent at the time, extracted a human skeleton and much fairly preserved pottery. Of course, I was unable to see what he carried off (among which was the skull), but I saw and dug further in the same excavation, removing out of it bone splinters and the best preserved pottery piece of the entire collection. They are, in part, very similar to the yellow bowls still made by the Indian pueblo of Nambe (a Tehua tribe); but many of them have been so charred and blackened that it is impossible to make out their color. The pottery is all thin. Among it were also bits of charcoal and of rotten wood. The structure therefore appears to have been a grave, in which the body was placed in a sitting posture with its face to the east. Subsequent information and discovery have fully confirmed this view. I shall return to this on a subsequent page, and only state here that my efforts to find another skeleton in the same location failed.

The aboriginal remains encircled by the great wall of circ.u.mvallation and north of the old church are now exhausted, so far as my work among them goes, and the surroundings of the _mesilla_ shall therefore become the subject of report.

The slope towards the east and south-east is rocky on the top, covered with sandy soil growing _grama_ and very few cedar bushes, studded with ant-hills, and devoid of all remains of human structures so far as I could see. Pottery and obsidian are ever present, but become perceptibly less and almost disappear further east. The rills which drain the eastern slope carry much of this broken stuff into a small arroyo that winds to the left of the _mesilla_. About one quarter of a mile east of the building _A_, on a bare sunny and gra.s.sy level, are, quite alone, the foundations of a singular ruin. They run N. and S., consist of three rows of stones laid aside of each other longitudinally, and have the shape shown in Pl. V., Fig. 10.

Its length from N. to S. is 25 m.--82 ft.,--and its width about 10 m.--33 ft. From its form I suspect it to have been a Christian chapel, erected, or perhaps only in process of erection, before 1680. Not only is it completely razed, but even the material of the superstructure seems to have been carried off. Stones are scattered about the premises, but I found neither obsidian nor pottery. It stands protected from the north by the extremely rocky ledge terminating the _mesilla_ towards the east, and appears without the least connection with the Indian pueblo proper.

It is the almost circular bottom on the west of the _mesilla_, encompa.s.sed by the north rock of _A_ to the north, by the whole length of the _mesilla_ to the east, by the gradual expanse below the church on the south, and by the Arroyo de Pecos on the west, that contains the aboriginal remains. Much better than a description, a diagram will ill.u.s.trate their extent and shape. Pl. I., Fig. 5.

The distances are not very correctly given, and the shape of _F_ is slightly exaggerated in irregularity.

_A_ and _B_ being the respective large buildings, _C_ the church, _D_ the great gate of the circ.u.mvallation; _E_ is a stone or rubble wall of undeterminable length running along the foot of the mesilla in a slight curve till near the "wash-out" sallying from the gate, and _F_ is an irregular lozenge, or trapeze, enclosed by a heavy low stone or rubble wall which might in some places be called an embankment. The corner _l_ is 50 m.--165 ft.--from the border of the creek-bottom, which there is cut off abruptly from 1 m. to 3 m.--3 ft. 3 in. to 10 ft.,--presenting a section of red clay and gravel with pottery fragments. The line _l r m_ runs W.N.W. to E.S.E., and is 138 m.--452 ft.--long; the line _m s n_ measures 121 m.--398 ft.,--_n o p_ 146 m.--480 ft., and _p l_ 100 m.--330 ft. From _r_ to _s_ an embankment of earth and stone runs almost in a circle, and the whole triangle _r m s_ forms a slightly elevated platform, in the centre of which is a pond (_estanque_) _t_, which, even at the present time, is filled with water. Viewed through the gate from above, this pond appears, with a part of the enclosure, as seen in Pl.

IX. Several gullies (_barrancas_) have cut through the western and southern parts of the enclosure.

This enclosed area, now covered with tufts of grama, occasional cactuses, knolls and scattered drift and pottery, was according to Sr.

Ruiz, the former _huerto del pueblo_; that is, the fields of the inhabitants of the pueblo, where they planted and raised Indian corn, beans, calabashes, squash, and, after the advent of the Spaniards, also wheat, melons, and perhaps other fruit. Not a vestige of former cultivation is left; but the platform _r m s_, with a pond in the centre, at once explains their mode of securing the water for irrigation. Through the gateway _D_ the drainage of the _mesilla_ was conducted directly to the platform _r m s_, where the pond _t_ acted as a reservoir, out of which the fields themselves could be very easily and equitably supplied with moisture. Whether this was done by channels radiating from below the curve _r s_ over the area _F_, or by carrying the water, I cannot tell, neither my informants nor the appearance of the area giving any clew. But I could not escape being forcibly struck by this plain and still very forcible ill.u.s.tration of communal living.

Not only did the Pecos Indians live together, and build their houses together, but they raised their crops in one common field (though divided into individual or rather family plots, according to Ruiz), irrigated from one common water source which gathered its contents of moisture from the inhabited surface of the pueblo grounds. "The lands,"

said Mariano Ruiz, "belong to the tribe, but each man can sell his own crops." ("Las tierras son del pueblo, pero cada uno puede vender sus cosechas.") It forcibly recalls the system of "distribution and tenure of lands" among the ancient Mexicans.

I now cross the Arroyo de Pecos, and on its western bank, in the triangle formed by the creek with the military road to Santa Fe, nearly opposite the site of the old church, I met with a ruined enclosure and with remains of structures whose purposes are yet unexplained to me.

The distance from _M_ to the arroyo is 40 m.--130 ft. Its E. line is 75 m.--246 ft.,--the S. line 70 m.--230 ft.,--the W., up to where the curve begins, 55 m.--180 ft. The distance from _M_ to _N_ is 15 m.--50 ft. At the north end of _N_ is a mound of stone and _debris_, like a conical tower, 5 m.--16 ft.--in diameter; the other lines are distinct foundations only. Both _M_ and _N_ are scattered over with broken pottery, chips of obsidian and flint, and I also found a fragment of a stone implement.

Mariano Ruiz told me that the enclosure _M_ was the corral of the pueblo; that is, the enclosure where they kept whatever herds they possessed. It was at all events but an enclosure, and no building.

Still, why were their herds, their most valuable property, kept on the opposite side of the creek, so far from the dwellings themselves?

There are other ruins yet further south on the western bank of the arroyo, which, however, I shall not mention here. They are so important as to deserve special discussion in a later portion of this report. I therefore cross the creek back again to its eastern sh.o.r.e, and thence to the south side of the old church, proceeding thence southwards. From the church a gra.s.sy slope, very gentle and with almost imperceptible undulations, extends to the road which runs almost due W. and E. from the creek towards the Rio Pecos. The distance is about 300 m.--1,000 ft.,--of which 74 m.--240 ft.--are taken up by the embankments, walls, and foundation lines already described as pertaining to the church building. Plate I. shows the position of this section, its northern limit being about 34 m.--112 ft.--N. of the southern lines of the church annexes (or 42 m.--138 ft.--S. of the temple itself) the southern limit being the road itself, while on the west the creek-bed forms the boundary.

_H_, Corral-like structure, very plain, about 50 m. 20 m., or 163 ft.

65 ft. I understood Sr. Ruiz to say that it was the garden of the church ("la huerta de la iglesia"), but believe that he probably meant _G_, not having my field-notes with me at the time.

_I_, rectangle of foundation lines 30 m.--98 ft.--from _A_; 30 m. 31 m.--98 ft. 100 ft.--divided into 2 compartments, the western one 9 m.

30 m.--30 ft. 98 ft.

_J_, trapezium, with mound at S.W. corner 18 m. 21 m., or 60 ft. 70 ft.

_K_, rectangle 25 m. 36 m.--82 ft 118 ft.--open to the west, and only recognizable from the semicircular mound of not 0.50 m.--20 in.--elevation, dotted out as leaving a depression in the centre.

_L_, circular depression 36 m.--118 ft.--in diameter; ground always wet.

_O_, circular mound 10 m.--33 ft.--in diameter, 1.5 m.--5 ft.--high.

_k_, shapeless mound, possibly part of a hollow rectangle.

In many cases the foundations (which are the only remains visible) are themselves obliterated,--or at least overgrown. They are sometimes of 0.27 m.--10 in.--in width; again, two rows, even three rows, of stones compose them longitudinally. The mound is regular, but the soil is everywhere so hard and gravelly that I desisted from excavating. The basin _L_ looks much like an estufa: there are few scattered stones on its surface, and this surface is moist; but I did not notice any trace of stone encas.e.m.e.nt. In general, there is no rubbish at all over the area. Stones are scattered about, and evidently they were once used for building purposes; but they nowhere form heaps. Then there is not the slightest trace of pottery or obsidian. In this respect the area just described forms a remarkable exception. All around it in every direction the painted fragments cover the soil; this particular locality, as far as I could find, has none. It only reappears in _I_, opposite the church annexes, and also in the enclosure _H_, whereas the church grounds are again strewn with handsome pieces, and some of the finest obsidian flakes were found on them.

Across the road to the south, the ground becomes covered with shrubs of cedar, and the eastern slope hugs the creek-bed. Upon reaching the creek, the road divides,--one branch crossing over directly to the west, and the other proceeding along the arroyo about 200 m.--630 ft.--to the south ere it turns across. The main military line of travel intersects there-about the one to the Pecos River, and thence, striking almost due south, forms a very acute angle with the creek. In this angle ledges of rock protrude, sheltered by a fine group of cedar-shrubs; and here, in what may be termed a snug little corner, the rocks bear some Indian carvings.

Expecting daily a supply of paper for "squeezes," I have until now deferred taking any exact copies of these vestiges. Therefore this report contains but superficial notice of them. It would have been useless labor to make sketches and take measurements when I knew that, within the period of time I shall spend in New Mexico, I should certainly be able to secure fac-similes. The carvings are certainly old; they are much worn, and represent mainly so-called footprints (of adults as well as of children), turkey tracks, a human form, and a circle formed by small cup-shaped holes, of the patterns about which I hope that my friend Professor C. C. Rau, of Was.h.i.+ngton, will by this time have finished his elaborate and very interesting work. The human figure is as rude and childlike an effort as any represented on the plates accompanying the reports of General Simpson and of my friend Mr. W. H.

Holmes; the footmarks are fair, and the circle is rather perfect.

Something like a "diamond" appears within its periphery, but I am not yet quite certain whether it is a carving or the result of decay. Some of the tracks seem to point to the high mesa, others to the north.[126]

By the side of these original efforts there are recent additions, destined, perhaps, to become at some future time as successful archaeological frauds as many of the most interesting products of excavation in the States of Ohio and Iowa. About the sculptured stones I again met with fragments of painted pottery. Still further down, on the east bank of the Arroyo de Pecos, about a mile from the church in a southerly direction, and on a low promontory of red clay jutting out into the creek-bed, there are vestiges of other ruins,--a low, flat mound covered with stones. I saw no pottery about it.

Directly opposite the sculptured rocks, on the other bank of the arroyo to the west, the cliffs of clay bordering it form a huge cauldron, out of which the contents seem to have been originally removed, leaving a semicircle of vertical bluffs of clay and drift about 3 m.--10 ft.--high. It is out of this locality that I suggested the clay for the adobe of the church might have been secured. The faces of the slope cannot have been washed out, for the creek runs straight far to the east, hugging closely that side of its banks; there is no trace of an old stream-bed winding to the westward, neither is there any sufficient drainage from the west in the shape of gulches or branches. It appears as if there had been an original start, at least, given to the present basin by a removal of earth in a curve, subsequent wearing and weakening enlarging the cauldron to its actual form and size. This size is constantly increased by decay and by the work of diggers; for this bluff has been of late a favorite resort for them, from the fact that in its face human bones--nay, complete graves--have been found.

I consequently started to examine the bluff, and finally noticed a plain wall jutting out at about one fourth of the length of the western curve from N. to S. This wall seemed at first to be a corner. It is well made, and its stone-work is much like that figured by Mr. Holmes from the cliff-dwellings on the Rio Mancos in South-western Colorado. Still the stones are not hewn, but only were carefully broken, the rock itself having a tabular cleavage. The surface is true. I am unable to say whether it was a corner or not; the thickness of the side (east) is 0.65 m.--2 ft.,--and it looks like a strong outside line running almost due N. and S., perhaps a little to the E.

The height of the wall is 0.94 m.--3 ft.; its depth beneath the surface, 0.52 m.--21 in. The sod (covered with grama) looks undisturbed; it is hard and coa.r.s.ely sandy on the top, but beneath the clay is softer and loamy. Under the wall there is red clay to the bottom of the bluff with bands of drift. Clambering along the cliff to the northward, I soon perceived, at a depth nearly agreeing with the base of the wall, a layer of white ashes, similar to those found over the hearthstone in building _B_, mixed with charcoal and charred pottery. This layer was continuous along the exposure of the bluff; it formed a regular seam, intersected horizontally by bands of charcoal, and, at the lower end, a continuous stratum of pottery totally different from that found hitherto, except one fragment in the drift of the creek and another one among the adobe rubbish of the church. Instead of being painted, it was corrugated and indented, and identical with the corrugated and indented ware from the Rio Mancos and from South-eastern Utah, so beautifully figured by Mr. W.

H. Holmes. There were also a very few pieces of painted pottery: but these, which became more numerous towards the top of the bluff, or cliff, appeared to have been washed in; whereas the corrugated fragments were a distinct, continuous band, most of the convex surfaces being downwards; and this band, except where ledges of the cliff projected far out into the bottom, or where the clay had tumbled down recently in front of the exposure, was visible from 50 m.--165 ft.--N. of the wall to 62 m.--203 ft.--S. of it on a line of 110 m.--360 ft. It was everywhere accompanied by the ashes and charcoal.

_A_, little barranca, exposing ashes, etc., which contained corncobs, and, in the upper parts of the clay, human bones.

_a_, grave found by Mr. E. K. Walters, of Pecos; obliterated now.