Betatakin
Following the canyon about five miles from Marsh pass, the writer’s party came to a fork in the canyon,[27] where a guide was found who led the way across the stream into a small side canyon, in the end of which lies Betatakin. This canyon is wooded and at the time of the writer’s visit contained plenty of water, a small stream issuing from almost under the walls and trickling down through the bushes over a mass of fallen rock which forms the talus. The climb to the ruin from the place where horses must be abandoned is not a hard one and a trail could easily be made; in fact a carriage road might be constructed at small expense from Marsh pass to within half a mile of this great ruin, one of the largest two and best preserved cliff-dwellings in the Navaho National Monument.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 50 PLATE 8
BETATAKIN—GENERAL VIEW
A feature of this ruin (plates 8-11) which attracts attention on entering it is the fine echo, due to the shape of the open cave in which it lies. Were the name not preempted, it would seem that Echo House would be a much more appropriate designation for the ruin than Betatakin, “High-ledges House,” applied to it by the Navaho.
Certain differences in architectural features between cliff-houses in the Mesa Verde region and those here considered are apparent. The caves in which the cliff-dwellings of the Navaho Monument region are situated differ in geological formation from those of the Mesa Verde National Park. While in the former there are many instances of horizontal cleavage planes, as a rule the falling of blocks of stone has left vertical flat faces. On this account the caves are shallow and high-vaulted rather than extending deep into the cliff. The process of formation of these vertical planes of cleavage is shown by examining plate [9]; in this case a pinnacle of rock has begun to break away and is partially separated from the surface of the cliff. This pinnacle will ultimately topple over and fall as many have done before, leaving a broken stump at its former base. In this way, from time to time, in the past geological history of the cave, detached pinnacles and slabs of rock have broken away along these vertical planes of cleavage, leaving the tops of their broken bases later to become foundations for rooms. Similar flat vertical planes of cleavage are rare, almost unknown, in the Mesa Verde caves. Here the cleavage is horizontal, the caves extending deep into the cliffs.[28]
The modifications in architecture brought about by the difference in direction of these cleavage planes are apparent. The ancient builders in the Navaho Monument region utilized the vertical faces as supports for walls of rooms on one or more sides. In some cases the face of the cliff forms the rear walls; in others a side wall and the rear wall of a room are formed by vertical cleavage planes at right angles, as shown in plate [9]. It can be seen that adjacent houses built upon fallen rocks of different heights, the vertical faces being utilized as rear walls, would seem to stand one above another, or, in other words, they would present the well-known terrace form which exists in some modern pueblos.
The writer approached this ruin by following the fallen débris at the end, where the rooms, being without covering and exposed to the elements, are most dilapidated. Over this fallen mass one makes his way with difficulty and is often in danger of falling from the cliff. On account of the perpendicular face of the cliff below the foundations of the other end of the ruin, it is impossible to climb into it, except from this side. On approaching the ruin there is to be seen on the vertical face of the cliff a pictograph (pl. [12]) worthy of special mention, or rather two pictographs which are doubtless connected in meaning. The larger of these is a circle, painted white, resembling a shield (a common object in pictographic representation), the other a horned animal, perhaps a mountain sheep.[29] The figure on the shield, which bears evidence of former coloration, represents a human being with outstretched arms, the hands being raised to the level of the head. On each side of the body are represented two designs—a circle of yellow and a crescent in which are parallel bands of red, yellow, and probably green.
The rooms in this cliff-house are rectangular, cubical, or box-like structures built against the face of the cliff, which serves as their rear wall. There are no towers or round rooms such as those that lend picturesqueness to several of the Mesa Verde cliff-dwellings. Few of the rooms are more than two stories high, the appearance of terraced rooms being given by the varying heights of their foundations. The masonry is crude, the lines are irregular, and the external faces of the walls vertical. The interior wall was probably plastered, and some walls afford good evidence that their exterior was formerly covered with mud.
A marked feature of ruins in this region is the adobe walls supported by rows of stakes with interwoven sticks. No adobe bricks were seen in the walls examined.[30]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 50 PLATE 9
BETATAKIN—WESTERN END
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 50 PLATE 10
GROUND PLAN
OF THE
BETATA KIN
NAVAHO IND·RES·ARIZ·
BY
W·B·DOUGLASS
U·S·EXAMINER OF SURVEYS
·GENERAL LAND OFF·
One of the largest clusters of rooms in this cliff-house (Betatakin) stands on a huge rock foundation, the vertical face of which is continuous with the wall of masonry of the front building of the cluster. (Pl. [11].) The rear wall of the front room is formed by the vertical face of the cliff. About half of the roof of this room has gone, but several patches still remain even in the broken section. The rooms of the higher tier are set against an upright wall. The doorway is on one side. The shelf of rock on which this room stands is level with the roof of the first room and the cave wall forms its rear. This room was probably a ceremonial chamber, having a fire-hole in the floor, between which and the doorway is a low wall of masonry corresponding to the deflector, or altar, in Mesa Verde ruins.[31] The part of the floor on which one steps in entering this room is raised slightly above the remainder, serving to connect the base of the deflector with the doorsill. The deflector and fire-hole are practically duplicates of features common to several Cliff Palace kivas. At Betatakin, however, the ceremonial room is above ground, not subterranean, and is entered from the side instead of from the top.
A two-story room stands on the rock one tier higher than the ceremonial room just mentioned, its foundation being at the level of the roof of the ceremonial room, as shown in the illustration. The front wall of this room is more or less broken down, but on one side, where projecting rafters are found in place, the masonry, otherwise unbroken, is pierced by a small window. This room has also a door on the side. Several well-preserved rooms extend along a ledge of rock on the same level as the roofs of these buildings, forming another tier above the ceremonial room. One of these has a fine roof; ends of rafters extend from the walls.
Beyond the ceremonial room, on the side where the ruin is most dilapidated, may be noted the same arrangement of the rooms in tiers or terraces, brought about by the varying height of their foundations. Several walls in these rooms are in good condition, but the fronts of many are broken down. Here are found rows of sticks or supports projecting from the débris. The walls are almost invariably of stone; those supported by sticks are usually connecting walls. The roofs of some of these rooms are entire, but many are broken, although their rafters still remain in place.
The whole length of Betatakin is not far from 600 feet, following the foundations from one end to the other. There are not far from 100 rooms visible, and evidences of others covered with débris. The larger of the two rooms identified as ceremonial rooms on account of their deflectors, measures 10 by 7 feet and is about 5 feet high; the smaller is about 7 feet square. There are no vertical ventilators as in circular kivas, the smoke evidently finding egress through a small hole in the roof. The floor of one of these ceremonial rooms was cut in the solid rock.
As above mentioned, there are no circular rooms or towers in Betatakin, although one room has a rounded corner. Traces of the repair of doors and windows are evident, but none of these apertures are T-shaped.
One of the interesting features in Betatakin and several other ruins in this region consists in rows of eyelets cut in the rocky side of the cliff evidently for the attachment of some long object.
A cluster of small rooms isolated from those above described are shown in plate [9]; these give a good idea of the general type of architecture of these buildings and of the modifications or adaptations due to the sites on which they are erected and the vertical cliffs against which they are built. Three rooms set into the angle formed by two vertical cliff faces at right angles to each other illustrate how the cliff serves for rear walls and how the buildings are attached to it for support. The roofs of these rooms are entire and their rafters project beyond the upright walls. The doors and windows are, comparatively speaking, small and rectangular in form. Fragments of walls projecting out of the ground indicate the existence of many rooms covered with débris. These are especially numerous at the end of the ruin to which the trail leads, but as most of them are buried an adequate idea of their arrangement can not be gained without systematic excavation.