The rock employed depended in all cases on the immediate environments of the site of the village, the walls being composed in some cases of slabs of limestone, in other cases of river bowlders only, and in still others of both in combination. The walls of the large ruin near Limestone creek were composed of rude slabs of limestone with an intermixture of bowlders. The bowlders usually occur only in the lower part of the wall, near the ground, and in several cases, where nothing exists of the wall above the surface of the ground, the remains consist entirely of bowlders. A good example of this peculiarity of construction is shown in plate XLIV, and plate XLV shows the character of stone employed and also a section of standing wall on the western side of the village. A section of standing wall near the center of the ruin is illustrated in [plate XIII]. It will be noticed that some of the walls shown in this illustration are chinked, but to a very slight extent. The wall represented in plate XLV has slabs of limestone set on edge. This feature is found also in other ruins in this region, notably in those opposite Verde, though it seems to be more used in the south than in the north. An example occurring in the ruin opposite Verde is shown in plate XLVI. In this case chinking is more pronounced; the walls are from 2 to 2½ feet thick, built in the ordinary way with two faces and an interior filling, but the stones are large and the filling is almost wholly adobe mortar. The two faces are tied together by extra long stones which occasionally project into the back of one or the other face.
Plate XLVI. Masonry of Ruin Opposite Verde.
The western cluster of the ruin last mentioned, shown on the ground plan ([plate XVII]), has almost all its walls still standing, and the masonry, while of the same general character as that of the main cluster, is better executed. The stones composing the walls are smaller than those in the main cluster and more uniform in size, and the interstices are carefully chinked. The chinking is distinctive in that spalls were not used, but more or less flattened river pebbles. The different color and texture of these pebbles make them stand out from the wall distinctly, giving quite an ornamental effect.
Plate XLVII. Standing Walls Opposite Verde.
That portion of the standing wall of the ruin opposite Verde, which occurs in the saddle northeastward from the main cluster, shown on the plan in [plate XVII], represents the best masonry found in this region. As elsewhere stated, this was probably the last part of the village to be built. These walls are shown in plate XLVII. It will be noticed that the stones are of very irregular shape, rendering a considerable amount of chinking necessary to produce even a fair result, and that the stones are exceptionally large. The masonry of this village is characterized by the use of stones larger than common, many of them being larger than one man can carry and some of them even larger than two men can handle.
All the larger and more important ruins of this region are constructed of limestone slabs, sometimes with bowlders. The smaller ruins, on the other hand, were built usually of river bowlders, sometimes with an intermixture of slabs of limestone and sandstone but with a decided preponderance of river bowlders. This would seem to suggest that this region was gradually populated, and that the larger structures were the last ones built. This suggestion has been already made in the discussion of the ground plans, and it is, moreover, in accord with the history of the pueblo-builders farther northward, notably that of the Hopi.