This village, although not so isolated as Oraibi, has no near neighbors and is little visited by whites or Indians. The inhabitants are rarely seen at the trading post to which the others resort, and they seem to be pretty well off and independent as compared with their neighbors of the other villages (Pl. XXXIV). The houses and courts are in keeping with the general character of the people and exhibit a degree of neatness and thrift that contrasts sharply with the tumble-down appearance of some of the other villages, especially those of the Middle Mesa and Oraibi. There is a general air of newness about the place, though it is questionable whether the architecture is more recent than that of the other villages of Tusayan. This effect is partly due to the custom of frequently renewing the coating of mud plaster. In most of the villages little care is taken to repair the houses until the owner feels that to postpone such action longer would endanger its stability. Many of the illustrations in this chapter indicate the proportion of rough masonry usually exposed in the walls. At Shumopavi (Pl. XXXV), however, most of the walls are smoothly plastered. In this respect they resemble Zuñi and the eastern pueblos, where but little naked masonry can be seen. Another feature that adds to the effect of neatness and finish in this village is the frequent use of a whitewash of gypsum on the outer face of the walls. This wash is used partly as an ornament and partly as protection against the rain. The material, called by the Mexicans “yeso,” is very commonly used in the interior of their houses throughout this region, both by Mexicans and Indians. More rarely it is used among the pueblos as an external wash. Here, however, its external use forms quite a distinctive feature of the village. The same custom in several of the cliff houses of Canyon de Chelly attests the comparative antiquity of the practice, though not necessarily its pre-Columbian origin.

[full size]
Plate XXXIV. Plan of Shumopavi.

Shumopavi, compared with the other villages, shows less evidence of having been built on the open court idea, as the partial inclosures assume such elongated forms in the direction of the long, straight rows of the rooms; yet examination shows that the idea was present to a slight extent.

At the southeast corner of the pueblo there is a very marked approach to the open court, though it is quite evident that the easternmost row has its back to the court, and that the few rooms that face the other way are later additions. In fact, the plan of the village and the distribution of the terraces seem to indicate that the first construction consisted only of a single row facing nearly east, and was not an inclosed court, and that a further addition to the pueblo assumed nearly the same form, with its face or terraced side toward the back of the first row only partly adapting itself by the addition of a few small rooms later, to the court arrangement, the same operation being continued, but in a form not so clearly defined, still farther toward the west.

The second court is not defined on the west by such a distinct row as the others, and the smaller clusters that to some extent break the long, straight arrangement bring about an approximation to a court, though here again the terraces only partly face it, the eastern side being bounded by the long exterior wall of the middle row, two and three stories high, and almost unbroken throughout its entire length of 400 feet. The broken character of the small western row, in conjunction with the clusters near it, imparts a distinct effect to the plan of this portion, differentiating it in character from the masses of houses formed by the other two rows. The latter are connected at their southern end by a short cross row which converts this portion of the village practically into a single large house. Two covered passageways, however, which are designated on the plan, give access to the southeast portion of the court. This portion is partly separated from the north half of the inclosure by encroaching groups of rooms. This partial division of the original narrow and long court appears to be of later date.

The kivas are four in number, of which but one is within the village. The latter occupies a partly inclosed position in the southwest portion, and probably owes its place to some local facility for building a kiva on this spot in the nature of a depression in the mesa summit; but even with such aid the ceremonial chamber was built only partly under ground, as may be seen in Fig. 14. The remaining three kivas are more distinctly subterranean, and in order to obtain a suitable site one of these was located at a distance of more than 200 feet from the village, toward the mesa edge on the east. The other two are built very close together, apparently in contact, just beyond the northern extremity of the village. One of these is about 3 feet above the surface at one corner, but nearly on a level with the ground at its western side where it adjoins its neighbor. These two kivas are illustrated in [Pl. LXXXVIII] and [Fig. 21].

Fig. 14. Court kiva of Shumopavi.