12. In adding this room
to the pueblo the builders joined their walls to ones already existing, as can be seen on your left. As a result of constructing rooms in this fashion the builders were unable to interlock building stones of the new room with those of the old one. It was usually at these points that walls collapsed first, because they were not adequately tied together.
Unbonded walls more often collapsed.
One of the seven infant burials mentioned at Stake 12.
In this room seven infant burials were found in slab-lined pits (only one pit can be seen today). As with most people, the Indians held a close relationship to their children, probably believing, like the Hopi today, that the spirit of the dead child would be reborn in the next baby. Consequently the deceased were often buried in the mother’s house.
Collapsed roof.
The roof as built before collapse Mud Bark Split beams Main beams