26 ROOM USES. During excavation of this village, an infant burial was found in the corner of this room. The death rate among infants was high, and burying babies in the corners of houses was the custom among Pueblo Indians until quite recent times. Adults were usually buried in the loose rock slope in front of the village or in abandoned rooms. Terraces in front of some cliff dwellings served as burial grounds, but no terrace or cemetery has been found here.
Connecting rooms in two-story section of ruin; burial was found in right-hand corner of farthest room.
Although these rooms are small by our standards, there was no need among the Salado for larger spaces; actually the Salado houses are remarkably large in comparison to most cliff dwellings. Since the climate is mild here, most of the Indians’ time was spent on the roofs and outdoors. Houses served mainly for sleeping, storage, cooking, and winter shelter. Salado furniture was minimal: a few pottery vessels, baskets, spare tools, a metate and firepit, mats for sleeping and sitting, perhaps a ladder to an upstairs room. Looms for weaving their elaborate cotton textiles were apparently outdoors, as no trace of them was found in the rooms.
Elaborate woven cotton shirt recovered from Tonto Ruin—fine example of Salado weaving.
Photo courtesy of Arizona State Museum
Shells traded from the Gulf of California were carved to make bracelets.
Dramatic geometric designs in black, white and red were characteristic of Salado pottery.