The exceptional mode of access to Tusayan kiva hatchways by means of short nights of stone steps has already been noticed. In several instances the top steps of these short flights cover the thickness of the wall. The remains of a similar stairway were observed in Pueblo Bonito, where it evidently reached directly from the ground to an external doorway. Access by such means, however, is a departure from the original defensive idea.
Fig. 48. Stone steps at Oraibi, with platform at corner.
Modern practice in Zuñi has departed more widely from the primitive system than at Tusayan. In the former pueblo short nights of stone steps giving access to doors raised but a short distance above the ground are very commonly seen. Even in the small farming pueblo of Pescado two examples of this arrangement are met with. [Pl. XCIX] illustrates one of these found on the north outside wall. In the general views of the Tusayan villages the closer adherence to primitive methods is clearly indicated, although the modern compare very unfavorably with the ancient examples in precision of execution. [Pl. XXXII] illustrates two flights of stone steps of Shupaulovi. In many cases the workmanship of these stone steps does not surpass that seen in the Walpi trail, illustrated in [Pl. XXV].
Fig. 49. Stone steps, with platform at chimney, in Oraibi.
| Fig. 50. Stone steps in Shumopavi. |
Perhaps in no one detail of pueblo construction are the careless and shiftless modern methods so conspicuous as in the stone steps of the upper terraces of Tusayan. Here are seen many awkward makeshifts by means of which the builders have tried to compensate for their lack of foresight in planning. The absence of a definite plan for a house cluster of many rooms, already noted in the discussion of dwelling-house construction, is rendered conspicuous by the manner in which the stone stairways are used. Figs. [48] and 49 illustrate stone steps on upper terraces in Oraibi. In both cases the steps have been added long after the rooms against which they abut were built. In order to conform to the fixed requirement of placing such means of access at the corners of the upper rooms, the builders constructed a clumsy platform to afford passage around the previously built chimney. Fig. 50 shows the result of a similar lack of foresight. The upper portion of the flight, consisting of three steps, has been abruptly turned at right angles to the main flight, and is supported upon rude poles and beams. The restriction of this feature to the corners of upper rooms where they were most likely to conflict with chimneys is undoubtedly a survival of ancient practice, and due to the necessary vertical alignment of walls and masonry in this primitive construction.