[ WINDOWS.]
In the pueblo system of building, doors and windows are not always clearly differentiated. Many of the openings, while used for access to the dwellings, also answer all the purposes of windows, and, both in their form and in their position in the walls, seem more fully to meet the requirements of openings for the admission of light and air than for access. We have seen in the illustrations in Chapters [III] and [IV], openings of considerable size so located in the face of the outer wall as to unfit them for use as doorways, and others whose size is wholly inadequate, but which are still provided with the typical though diminutive single-paneled door. Many of these small openings, occurring most frequently in the back walls of house rows, have the jambs, lintels, etc., characteristic of the typical modern door. However, as the drawings above referred to indicate, there are many openings concerning the use of which there can be no doubt, as they can only provide outlook, light, and air.
In the most common form of window in present use in Tusayan and Cibola the width usually exceeds the height. Although found often in what appear to be the older portions of the present pueblos, this shape probably does not date very far back. The windows of the ancient pueblos were sometimes square, or nearly so, when of small size, but when larger they were never distinguishable from doorways in either size or finish, and the height exceeded the width. This restriction of the width of openings was due to the exceptionally small size of the building stone made use of. Although larger stones were available, the builders had not sufficient constructive skill to successfully utilize them. The failure to utilize this material indicates a degree of ignorance of mechanical aids that at first thought seems scarcely in keeping with the massiveness of form and the high degree of finish characterizing many of the remains; but as already seen in the discussion of masonry, the latter results were attained by the patient industry of many hands, although laboring with but little of the spirit of cooperation. The narrowness of the largest doors and windows in the ancient pueblos suggests timidity on the part of the ancient builders. The apparently bolder construction of the present day, shown in the prevailing use of horizontal openings, is not due to greater constructive skill, but rather to the markedly greater carelessness of modern construction.
The same contrast between modern and ancient practice is seen in the disposition of openings in walls. In the modern pueblos there does not seem to be any regularity or system in their introduction, while in some of the older pueblos, such as Pueblo Bonito on the Chaco, and others of the same group, the arrangement of the outer openings exhibits a certain degree of symmetry. The accompanying diagram, Fig. 87, illustrates a portion of the northern outer wall of Pueblo Bonito, in which the small windows of successive rooms, besides being uniform in size, are grouped in pairs. The degree of technical skill shown in the execution of the masonry about these openings is in keeping with the precision with which the openings themselves are placed. Pl. CV, gives a view of a portion of the wall containing these openings.
Plate CV. Small square openings in Pueblo Bonito.
| Fig. 87.
Diagram illustrating symmetrical arrangement of small openings in Pueblo Bonito. |
In marked contrast to the above examples is the slovenly practice of the modern pueblos. There are rarely two openings of the same size, even in a single room, nor are these usually placed at a uniform height from the floor. The placing appears to be purely a matter of individual taste, and no trace of system or uniformity is to be found. Windows occur sometimes at considerable height, near or even at the ceiling in some cases, while others are placed almost at the base of the wall; examples may be found occupying all intermediate heights between these extremes. Many of the illustrations show this characteristic irregularity, but Pls. [LXXIX] and [LXXXII] of Zuñi perhaps represent it most clearly.
The framing of these openings differs but little from that of the ancient examples. The modern opening is distinguished principally by the more careless method of combining the materials, and by the introduction in many instances of a rude sash. A number of small poles or sticks, usually of cedar, with the bark peeled off, are laid side by side in contact, across the opening, to form a support for the stones and earth of the superposed masonry. Frequently a particularly large tablet of stone is placed immediately upon the sticks, but this stone is never long enough or thick enough to answer the purpose of a lintel for larger openings. The number of small sticks used is sufficient to reach from the face to the back of the wall, and in the simplest openings the surrounding masonry forms jambs and sill. American or Spanish influence occasionally shows itself in the employment of sawed boards for lintels, sills, and jambs. The wooden features of the windows exhibit a curiously light and flimsy construction.