If environment has had so marked an influence on the character of building, we can readily see how it has affected arts and crafts. We can hardly imagine a people living any length of time in this region without being mentally influenced by the precipitous cliffs that rise on all sides. The summits of these heights are eroded into fantastic shapes resembling animals or grotesque human forms. The constant presence of these marvelous forms, of awe-inspiring size and weird appearance, exerted a profound influence on the supernatural ideas of the inhabitants. Here were born many conceptions of earth gods and the like, survivals of which still remain among the Hopi.
As a rule the cliff-houses are not situated in sight of the main stream, but are hidden away in secluded side canyons, approached by narrow entrances, their sites having been determined no doubt by the position of the springs with their constant water supply.
Almost every side canyon, even in a dry season, has its spring of water which, trickling out of the rocks, follows the canyon bed until it is finally drunk up by the thirsty sands. Often water seeps out of a soft stratum of rock in the cave itself, where it was gathered in artificial reservoirs that in ancient times furnished an adequate supply for the inhabitants. One feature of these side canyons is that they enlarge into basins surrounded on all sides by lofty cliffs. Many of these basins are so hidden that they can be discovered only by following dry stream-beds from their junction with the creeks. How many of these basins are still undiscovered no one can yet tell. In these basins now covered with bushes the aboriginal farms were probably situated.
As the width of the valley of Laguna creek from Marsh pass to the point where the stream receives its largest branches on the left bank varies, the amount of arable land is greater in some places than in others. In stretches where the stream almost washes the bases of the ruins there could have been no extensive farming lands. The creek meanders through the soft clay and sand which fill the valley to the depth of many feet, forming treacherous banks that are continually falling and changing the course of the stream, so it is quite possible that the present configuration of the valley is very different from what it was when the cliff-dwellings were inhabited. If the occupants once had farms within its limits all traces of them would have long since been obliterated. Although too much credence should not be given to Navaho traditions, it is not unreasonable to believe that in one particular at least they are correct. These state that, before the introduction of sheep, grass was much higher in the level part of the valley than at present, and formerly game (at least the mountain sheep and the antelope) may have been more abundant. This condition would have exerted a marked influence on the life of the cliff-dwellers. Pictographs show that the ancient people, either here or in their former homes, were familiar with these animals, and various objects of bone and horn are significant in this connection.
The Navaho National Monument (see sketch map, pl. [22]) contains two kinds of ruins,[52] cliff-dwellings and pueblos. Most of the latter are situated on promontories or on low hills. The structural features of the cliff-dwellings are characteristic, their walls being constructed of stone or adobe built against, rarely free from, vertical faces of the cliff.
There are two types of kivas, one circular and subterranean, allied to those of the Mesa Verde, the other rectangular, above ground, entered from the sides.
The masonry of these northern ruins is crude, resembling that of modern Walpi. The component stones are neither dressed nor smoothed, but the walls are sometimes plastered. There is a great similarity in architecture. No round towers[53] relieve the monotony or impart picturesqueness to the buildings. The walls of ruined pueblos in this region and the ceramic remains closely resemble those at Black Falls on the Little Colorado. A prominent feature of the walls is a jacal construction in which the mud is plastered on wattling between upright poles. The ends of many of these supports project high above the ground, constituting a characteristic feature of the ruins. This method of wall construction is unknown at Black Falls or at Walpi, but survives in modified form in one or more Oraibi kivas and in one at least of the Mesa Verde ruins.[54] It has been described by Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff as common to several ruins in the Canyon de Chelly.
The key to the culture of the people from which the cliff-dweller culture was derived is probably the kiva, which furnishes also a good basis for the classification of the Pueblos and cliff-dwellers into subordinate groups.
Architecturally the kiva reached its highest development in the Mesa Verde region, where it is a circular subterranean room with pilasters and banquettes, ventilators and deflectors, fireplaces and ceremonial openings, the features of which have been described elsewhere. As we follow the San Juan down to its junction with the Colorado we find a gradual simplification of the circular type of kiva by the elimination of pilasters, ventilators, and other features, the round kiva being here represented by rooms in which almost the only architectural feature remaining is the large banquette. The question naturally arising in this connection is, whether the circular kiva in the eastern region is a development of that simpler form existing in the western or whether the latter is a degenerate form of the eastern. In other words, does the evidence show that this particular modification spread from the east down the San Juan or from the west up the river to the east? In this connection it may be urged that originally the form of circular kiva lacking pilasters extended along the entire course of the San Juan and that the kivas of the Mesa Verde became highly specialized forms in which pilasters were developed, while those lower down the river remained the same. We can not definitely answer either of these questions, but taken with other evidence it would seem that the circular form of kiva originated in the eastern section and gradually extended westward.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY