The nature of the cliffs in which the ruins of the Navaho Monument are situated favored the construction of cliff-dwellings rather than of open pueblos in this region. These cliffs are full of caverns, large and small, presenting much the same condition as the cliffs of the red sandstone elsewhere in the Southwest, as the Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, the Red Rocks south of Flagstaff, and other sections where caverns abound. Fragments of fallen rocks present good plane surfaces for walls of masonry, and there is abundant clay for plastering. Trees suitable for rafters and beams are not wanting. In short, all conditions are favorable for stone and adobe houses in the cliffs. The neighboring Sethlagini mesa is of different geological formation; in it are no caverns, the mesa top is broad, and ruins thereon are necessarily open pueblos. The effect of difference in geological structure is nowhere more evident than in these adjacent formations.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 50 PLATE 18
a. LARGE BLACK-AND-WHITE VASE
Cat. No. 257774. Height, 17 inches.
b. LARGE VASE WITH HANDLE
Cat. No. 257787. Height, 8½ inches.
POTTERY FROM NAVAHO NATIONAL MONUMENT