Fig. 6. Ruin 14 miles north of Oraibi (Kwaituki).
In the nearly level tops of some of the rocks forming the central pile are many smoothly worn depressions or cavities, which have evidently been used for the grinding and shaping of stone implements.
A remarkable feature occurring within this village is a cave or underground fissure in the rocks, which evidently had been used by the inhabitants. The mouth or entrance to this cavern, partly obstructed and concealed at the time of our visit, occurs at the point A on the plan. On clearing away the rubbish at the mouth and entering it was found so obstructed with broken rock and fine dust that but little progress could be made in its exploration; but the main crevice in the rock could be seen by artificial light to extend some 10 feet back from the mouth, where it became very shallow. It could be seen that the original cavern had been improved by the pueblo-builders, as some of the timbers that had been placed inside were still in position, and a low wall of masonry on the south side remained intact. Some Navajos stated that they had discovered this small cave a couple of years before and had taken from it a large unbroken water jar of ancient pottery and some other specimens. The place was probably used by the ancient occupants simply for storage.
Fragments of pottery of excellent quality were very abundant about this ruin and at the foot of the central rocks the ground was thickly strewn with fragments, often of large size.
The defensive character of this site parallels that of the ruin 7 miles farther south in quite a remarkable manner, and the villages were apparently built and occupied at the same time.
[ TEBUGKIHU, OR FIRE HOUSE.]
| Fig. 7.
Oval (Fire House) ruin, plan (Tebugkihu). |
About 15 miles northeast of Keam’s Canyon, and about 25 miles from Walpi, is a small ruin called by the Tusayan “Tebugkihu,” built by people of the Fire gens (now extinct). As the plan (Fig. 7) clearly shows, this pueblo is very different from the typical Tusayan villages that have been previously described. The apparent unity of the plan, and the skillful workmanship somewhat resembling the pueblos of the Chaco are in marked contrast to the irregularity and careless construction of most of the Tusayan ruins. Its distance from the center of the province, too, suggests outside relationship; but still the Tusayan traditions undoubtedly connect the place with some of the ancestral gentes, as seen in Chapter I.
The small and compact cluster of rooms is in a remarkable state of preservation, especially the outside wall. This wall was carefully and massively constructed, and stands to the height of several feet around the entire circumference of the ruin, except along the brink of the cliff, as the plan shows.