Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines

by Lewis Henry Morgan

There are reasons for believing, from the more advanced condition of their house architecture, that Yucatan was inhabited by Village Indians from an earlier, and for a much longer, period than the valley of Mexico. The traditions of the Yzaes of Chichenisa, possibly Chichen Itza, and of the Cocomes of Mayapan, related by Herrera, [Footnote: History of America, iv, 162, 163, 165.] claim a more ancient occupation of Yucatan than the Aztec traditions claim for the occupation of the valley of Mexico. The type of village life among the American aborigines was adapted to a warm climate, and presented in this area its highest exemplification.

The notices of the great houses in Yucatan are brief and general in the Spanish histories. Speaking of its eighteen districts, Herrera remarks that "in all of them were so many, and such stately stone buildings, that it was amazing, and the greatest wonder is, that having no use of any metal, they were able to raise such structures, which seem to have been temples, for their houses were always of timber and thatched." [Footnote: ib., iv, 162.]

This last statement is not only at variance with a previous one quoted above, but is another of the numerous misconceptions which impair so greatly the value of the Spanish histories. The people undoubtedly resided in these houses, which were adapted to such a use only, and were also in the nature of fortresses, thus proving the insecurity in which they lived. Some portion of the tribe may have resided in inferior and common habitations in the vicinity of these pueblos, and under their protection; but the great houses of stone were built for residences and not for temples, and were the homes of the body of the people. There were many of these pueblos, nearly all of them composed of one or two large structures, sprinkled over the face of the country in eligible situations after the manner of Village Indian life. The same adaptation to communism in living in large households is found impressed upon all the houses now in ruins in these areas. They are joint-tenement houses of the American type, and very similar to those still found in New Mexico and on the San Juan. At the epoch of the Spanish conquest, they were occupied pueblos, and were deserted by the Indians to escape the rapacity of Spanish military adventurers by whom they were oppressed and abused beyond Indian endurance. Instances are mentioned by Herrera where large numbers destroyed themselves to escape the exactions of Spanish masters, whom they were unable to resist. [Footnote: History of America, III, 346.]

The numerous pueblos in ruins scattered through the forests of Yucatan and southward are so many monuments of Spanish misrule, oppression, and rapacity.

The most extensive group of ruins in Yucatan is that at Uxmal. Its several structures are known as the "Governor's House"; the "House of the Nuns," which consists of four disconnected buildings, facing the four sides of a court; the "House of the Pigeons," consisting of two quadrangles; the "House of the Turtles"; the "House of the Old Woman"; and the "House of the Dwarf", with some trace of smaller buildings of inconsiderable size, and one or two pyramidal elevations unoccupied by structures. Of these, the "Governor's House" may have been the Tecan, or Official House of the Tribe, from the unusual size of the central rooms The "House of the Dwarf" was probably designed for the observance of religious rites. The remaining structures were evidently the residence portions of the pueblo.

Among the Aztecs, three kinds of houses were distinguished: 1. Calli, the ordinary dwelling house, of which the "House of the Nuns" is an example. 2. Ticplantlacalk, the "Stone House," which contained council halls, etc., of which the "Governor's House" is an example. 3. Teocalli, "House of God," such as the "House of the Dwarf." The estufas in New Mexican pueblos took the place of the last two in Mexico and Yucatan.

Ground plans of the principal structures will be given for comparison with those in New Mexico. The pyramidal elevations on which they stand are situated quite near each other, and form one Indian pueblo. The houses are constructed of stone laid in courses, and dressed to a uniform surface, with the upper half of the exterior walls decorated with grotesque ornaments cut on the faces of the stone. Foster states that "these structures are composed of a soft coralline limestone of comparatively recent geological formation, probably of the Tertiary period." [Footnote: Prehistoric Races of the United States, p 398]

The so-called idols at Copan are the largest stones worked by the Central Americans. They are about eleven feet high by three feet wide and three feet deep, each face being covered with sculptures and hieroglyphics. In a field near the ruins, and near each other, are nine of these elaborately ornamented statues. By the side of each is a so called altar, about six feet square and four feet high, made of separate stone. These Idols and Altars have been supposed to have some relation to their religious system, with human sacrifices in the background. From their situation and character it may be conjectured that we have here the Copan cemetery, and that these idols are the grave-posts, and these altars are the graves of Copan chiefs. The type of both may still be seen in Nebraska in the grave-posts and grave-mounds by their side, of Iowas and Otoes, and formerly in all parts of the United States east of the Mississippi. If Mr. Stephens had opened one of these altars he would, if this conjecture is well taken, have found within or under it an Indian grave, and perhaps a skeleton, with the personal articles usually entombed beside the dead. It was customary among the Northern Indians for the chosen friend of the decedent, with whom he formed this peculiar tie, to erect his grave-post, representing the chief exploits of the departed upon one side, with ideographs and his own upon the opposite side. "The stone," Mr. Stephens observes, "of which all these altars and statues are made, is a soft grit-stone." [Footnote: Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, 1-153.] Norman had previously described the material used as a "fine concrete limestone." [Footnote: Rambles in Yucatan, p 126.]

Elsewhere, with respect to the nature of the tools for cutting this stone, he remarks that "flint was undoubtedly used." [Footnote: ib., p 184] Stephens makes a similar statement. The exact size of the stones used is not given, but they were not large. Norman remarks of Chichen Itza that "the stones are cut in parallelopipeds of about twelve inches in length and six in breadth, the interstices filled up with the same materials of which the terraces are composed." [Footnote: Rambles in Yucatan p 127] He also speaks of "huge blocks of hewn stone used in the doorways." [Footnote: ib. p. 128]

A soft coralline limestone could be easily worked with flint implements when first taken from the quarry, and would harden after exposure to the air. The size and nature of the stones used is some evidence of limited advancement in solid stone architecture.