The other portion of the ruin shows the remains of about 40 rooms on the ground, in addition to three kivas; there may have been 60 rooms in this part of the settlement, or 85 or 90 rooms altogether. The population could not have been over 55 or 60 persons, or about 12 families. In other words, it appears that, owing to the peculiarities of conditions under which they lived, and of the ground plan which resulted, the largest settlement of this class in the canyons, extending over 400 feet in one direction, provided homes for a very limited number of people. As it is probable that each family had one or more outlooks, occupied in connection with their horticultural operations, it will readily be seen that only a small number of inhabitants might leave a large number of house remains, and that it is not necessary to assume either a large population or a long period of occupancy.
The kivas are clustered in the lower end of the settlement, and all appear to have been inclosed within walls or other buildings. Two of them are fairly well preserved; of the third only a fragment
remains. The inclosure of the kivas is a suggestive feature, which will be discussed later, as will also the square shaft shown on the plan as attached to the principal kiva.
It will be noticed that in several places where bowlders occur within the limits of the settlement they have been incorporated into the walls and form part of them. In two places they have altered the direction of walls and produced irregularities in the plan. Elsewhere the face of a rock has been prolonged by a wall carried out to continue it, as in the front wall of the principal kiva apartment. This apartment appears to have been entered from the west through a passageway. This is an anomalous feature and suggests modernness.
Fig. 7—Ground plan of a ruin in Canyon del Muerto.
Figure 7 is a ground plan of another ruin in Del Muerto. There is a slight cove or bay in the cliff at the point where the ruin occurs, and the ground, which is on the level of the bottom lands, is strewn with large bowlders, as in the example last described. But few remains of walls are now observable, and there are traces of only one kiva. This was situated near the outer edge of the settlement. The wall lines are irregular and the disposition and size of the bowlders are such that it is improbable that this site was ever occupied by a large cluster of rooms. On the left of the plan will be seen a small room or storage cist still intact. At the point marked > in the center
of the site a burial cist was found and excavated in 1884 by Mr Thomas V. Keam. It contained the remains of a child, almost perfectly desiccated. It is said that when the remains were first removed the color of the iris could be distinguished. The specimen was subsequently deposited in the National Museum.