Cosmos Mindeleff

“ Doors are often converted into windows, and windows are reduced in size or enlarged, or new ones are broken through the walls, apparently, with the greatest freedom, so that they do not, from their finish or method of construction, furnish any clue to the antiquity of the mud-covered wall in which they are found. Occasionally surface weathering of the walls, particularly in Zuñi, exposes a bit of horizontal pole embedded in the masonry, the lintel of a window long since sealed up and obliterated by successive coats of mud finish. ”

“ No trace of the numerous constructive details that interest the student of pueblo architecture in the modern villages can be seen in the low mounds of broken down masonry that remain in most of the ancient villages of Tusayan. But little masonry remains standing in even the best preserved of these ruins, and villages known to have been occupied within two centuries are not distinguishable from the remains to which distinct tradition (save that they were in the same condition when the first people of the narrators’ gens came to this region) no longer clings. ”

“ There was but one man present at this house-building, whose grudgingly performed duty consisted of lifting the larger roof beams and lintels into place and of giving occasional assistance in the heavier work. The ground about this house was strewn with quantities of broken stone for masonry, which seemed to be all prepared and brought to the spot before building began; but often the various divisions of the work are carried on by both men and women simultaneously. While the men were dressing the stones, the women brought earth and water and mixed a mud plaster. ”

“ A strong independent race of people, who had to fear no invasion by stronger foes, would necessarily have been influenced more by the physical environment and would have progressed further in the art of building, but the motive for building rectangular rooms—the initial point of departure in the development of pueblo architecture—would not have been brought into action. The crowding of many habitations upon a small cliff ledge or other restricted site, resulting in the rectangular form of rooms, was most likely due to the conditions imposed by this necessity for defense. ”

“ The adobe walls are built only as thick as is absolutely necessary, few of them being more than a foot in thickness. The walls are thus, in proportion, to height and weight, sustained, thinner than the crude brick construction of other peoples, and require protection and constant repairs to insure durability. As to thickness, they are evidently modeled directly after the walls of stone masonry, which had already, in both Tusayan and Cibola, been pushed to the limit of thinness. ”

“ The traditions of the Zuñis, as well as those of the Tusayan, frequently refer to such migrations. At times tribes split up and separate, and again phratries or distant groups meet and band together. It is remarkable that the substantial character of the architecture should persist through such long series of compulsory removals, but while the builders were held together by the necessity for defense against their wilder neighbors or against each other, this strong defensive motive would perpetuate the laborious type of construction. ”

“ The apparently bolder construction of the present day, shown in the prevailing use of horizontal openings, is not due to greater constructive skill, but rather to the markedly greater carelessness of modern construction.
The same contrast between modern and ancient practice is seen in the disposition of openings in walls. In the modern pueblos there does not seem to be any regularity or system in their introduction, while in some of the older pueblos, such as Pueblo Bonito on the Chaco, and others of the same group, the arrangement of the outer openings exhibits a certain degree of symmetry. ”

“ In the small roof holes methods of construction are seen which would not be so practicable on the larger scale of the ladder holes after which they have been modeled. In these latter the sides are built up of masonry or adobe, but the framing around them is more like the usual coping over walls. The stone that, set on edge in the small openings built for the admission of light, forms a raised end never occurs in these. The ladder for access rests against the coping. ”

“ In each village one of the kivas, usually the largest one, is called (aside from its own special name) mungkiva—chief kiva. It is frequented by the kimungwi—house or village chief—and the tshaakmungwi—chief talker, councillor—and in it also the more elaborate ceremonies are observed.
No women frequent any of the kivas; in fact they never enter them except to plaster the walls at customary periods, or during the occasion of certain ceremonies. Yet one at least of the Oraibi kivas was built for the observances of a society of women, the Mamzrántiki. ”

“ In Cibola particularly, a marked tendency in this direction has shown itself within a score of years; Ojo Caliente, the newest of the farming pueblos, is perhaps the most striking example within the two provinces. The greater security of the pueblos as the country comes more fully into the hands of Americans, has also resulted in the more careless construction in modern examples as compared with the ancient.
There is no doubt that, as time shall go on, the system of building many-storied clusters of rectangular rooms will gradually be abandoned by these people. ”

“ Consecration.—When all the work is finished the kiva chief prepares a baho and “feeds the house,” as it is termed; that is, he thrusts a little meal, with piki crumbs, over one of the roof timbers, and in the same place inserts the end of the baho. As he does this he expresses his hope that the roof may never fall and that sickness and other evils may never enter the kiva.
It is difficult to elicit intelligent explanation of the theory of the baho and the prayer ceremonies in either kiva or house construction. The baho is a prayer token ”

“ The earth was rent in great chasms, and water covered everything except one narrow ridge of mud; and across this the serpent deity told all the people to travel. As they journeyed across, the feet of the bad slipped and they fell into the dark water, but the good, after many days, reached dry land. While the water was rising around the village the old people got on the tops of the houses, for they thought they could not struggle across with the younger people ”

“ All the Sikyátki men were to begin the season by planting the fields of their chief on a certain day, which was announced from the housetop by the Second Chief as he made his customary evening proclamations, and the Walpi, becoming aware of this, planned a fatal onslaught. Every man and woman able to draw a bow or wield a weapon were got in readiness and at night they crossed the mesa and concealed themselves along its edge, overlooking the doomed village. ”

“ The development of architecture among the Pueblo Indians was comparatively rapid and is largely attributable to frequent changes, migrations, and movements of the people as described in Mr. Stephen’s account. These changes were due to a variety of causes, such as disease, death, the frequent warfare carried on between different tribes and branches of the builders, and the hostility of outside tribes; but a most potent factor was certainly the inhospitable character of their environment. ”

“ SHUMOPAVI.
This village, although not so isolated as Oraibi, has no near neighbors and is little visited by whites or Indians. The inhabitants are rarely seen at the trading post to which the others resort, and they seem to be pretty well off and independent as compared with their neighbors of the other villages (Pl. XXXIV) . The houses and courts are in keeping with the general character of the people and exhibit a degree of neatness and thrift that contrasts sharply with the tumble-down appearance of some of the other villages, especially those of the Middle Mesa and Oraibi. ”

“ This is a decided innovation on the traditional form, as the orifice from which the people emerged, which is symbolized in the sipapuh, is described as being of circular form in all the versions of the Tusayan genesis myth. The presence of the sipapuh possibly at one time distinguished such kivas as were considered strictly consecrated to religious observances from those that were of more general use. At Tusayan, at the present time, certain societies do not meet in the ordinary kiva but in an apartment of a dwelling house, each society having its own exclusive place of meeting. ”

“ Before the invention of a chimney hood, and while the primitive fireplace occupied a central position in the floor of the room, the smoke probably escaped through the door and window openings. Later a hole in the roof provided an exit, as in the kivas of to-day, where ceremonial use has perpetuated an arrangement long since superseded in dwelling-house construction. The comfort of a dwelling room provided with this feature is sufficiently attested by the popularity of the modern kivas as a resort for the men. ”

“ All the natives, as far as could be ascertained, regard this single-roomed house as being complete in itself, but they also consider it the nucleus of the larger structure. When more space is desired, as when the daughters of the house marry and require room for themselves, another house is built in front of and adjoining the first one, and a second story is often added to the original house. ”

“ The cultural distinctions between the Pueblo Indians and neighboring tribes gradually become less clearly defined as investigation progresses. Mr. Cushing’s study of the Zuñi social, political, and religious systems has clearly established their essential identity in grade of culture with those of other tribes. In many of the arts, too, such as weaving, ceramics, etc., these people in no degree surpass many tribes who build ruder dwellings. ”

“ In this chapter1 is presented a summary of the traditions of the Tusayan, a number of which were collected from old men, from Walpi on the east to Moen-kopi on the west. A tradition varies much with the tribe and the individual; an authoritative statement of the current tradition on any point could be made only with a complete knowledge of all traditions extant. Such knowledge is not possessed by any one man, and the material included in this chapter is presented simply as a summary of the traditions secured. ”

“ The small terraced gardens of Zuñi, located on the borders of the village on the southwest and southeast sides, close to the river bank, are each surrounded by walls 21⁄2 or 3 feet high, of very light construction, the average thickness not exceeding 6 or 8 inches. These rude walls are built of small, irregularly rounded lumps of adobe, formed by hand, and coarsely plastered with mud. When the crops are gathered in the fall the walls are broken down in places to facilitate access to the inclosures, so that they require repairing at each planting season. ”

“ As a result the poorer classes would be more likely to perpetuate primitive devices, through the necessity for practicing methods that to the wealthier members of the tribe were becoming a matter of tradition only. In such a sedentary tribe as the present Zuñi, these differences of wealth and station are more marked than one would expect to find among a people practicing a style of architecture so evidently influenced by the communal principle, and the architecture of to-day shows the effect of such distinctions. ”

“ Stephen observed, at the New Year festivals, that animal fetiches were set in groups upon this platform. It is also to be noted that the ladder leading to the surface is invariably made of pine, and always rests upon the platform, never upon the lower floor, and in their traditional genesis it is stated that the people climbed up from the third house (stage) by a ladder of pine, and through such an opening as the kiva hatchway; only most of the stories indicate that the opening was round. The outer air is the fourth world, or that now occupied. ”

“ It is often the practice in the modern pueblos to seal up the windows of a house with masonry, and sometimes the doors also during the temporary absence of the occupant, which absence often takes place at the seasons of planting and harvesting. At such times many Zuñi families occupy outlying farming pueblos, such as Nutria and Pescado, and the 199 Tusayans, in a like manner, live in rude summer shelters close to their fields. Such absence from the home pueblo often lasts for a month or more at a time. ”

“ Across the poles, covering the rest of the roof, willows and straight twigs of any kind are laid close together, and over these is placed a layer of dry grass arranged in regular rows. Mud is then carefully spread over the grass to a depth of about 3 inches, and after it has nearly dried it is again gone over so as to fill up all the cracks. A layer of dry earth is then spread over all and firmly trodden down, to render the roof water-tight and bring its surface level with the surrounding ground, following the same method and order of construction that prevails in dwelling-house buildings. ”

“ It is curious and instructive to see a room, the use of which is so intimately connected with the inner life of the village, placed in such a comparatively remote and inaccessible position through an intensely conservative adherence to ancient practice requiring this chamber to be depressed. ”

“ However, the cooking pit alone, developed to the point of the pi-gummi oven of Tusayan, may have been the stem upon which the foreign idea was engrafted. Instances of the complete adoption by these conservative people of a wholly foreign idea or feature of construction are not likely to be found, as improvements are almost universally confined to the mere modification of existing devices. In the few instances in which more radical changes are attempted the resulting forms bear evidence of the fact. ”

“ The architecture of this district exhibits a close adherence to aboriginal practices, still bears the marked impress of its development under the exacting conditions of an arid environment, and is but slowly yielding to the influence of foreign ideas.
The present study of the architecture of Tusayan and Cibola embraces all of the inhabited pueblos of those provinces, and includes a number of the ruins traditionally connected with them. ”

“ In large clusters there are necessarily many dark rooms, which has led to the employment of great numbers of roof holes, more or less directly modeled after the ordinary trapdoor. Their occurrence is particularly frequent in the larger clusters of the village, as in house No. 1. The exceptional size of this pile, and of the adjoining house No. 4, with the consequent large proportion of dark rooms, have taxed the ingenuity of the Zuñi to the utmost, and as a result we see roof openings here assuming a degree of importance not found elsewhere. ”

“ The pueblo of Zuñi is built upon a small knoll on the north bank of the Zuñi River, about three miles west of the conspicuous mesa of Tâaaiyalana. It is the successor of all the original “Seven Cities of Cibola” of the Spaniards, and is the largest of the modern pueblos. As before stated, the remains of Halona, one of the “seven cities,” as identified by Mr. Cushing, have served as a nucleus for the construction of the modern pueblo, and have been incorporated into the most densely clustered portions, represented on the plan (Pl. LXXVI) by numbers 1 and 4. ”

“ At Tusayan and Cibola, on the other hand, the tendency has been rather to elaborate the plastic element of the masonry. The nearly universal use of adobe is undoubtedly largely responsible for the more slovenly methods of building now in vogue, as it effectually conceals careless construction. It is not to be expected that walls would be carefully constructed of banded stonework when they were to be subsequently covered with mud. ”

“ Many of the kivas were built by religious societies, which still hold their stated observances in them, and in Oraibi several still bear the names of the societies using them. A society always celebrates in a particular kiva, but none of these kivas are now preserved exclusively for religious purposes; they are all places of social resort for the men, especially during the winter, when they occupy themselves with the arts common among them. ”

“ Perhaps the most noteworthy characteristic of pueblo masonry, and one which is more or less present in both ancient and modern examples, is the use of small chinking stones for bringing the masonry to an even face after the larger stones forming the body of the wall have been laid in place. ”