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.
[ COOKING PITS AND OVENS.]
Most of the cooking of the ancient Pueblos was probably done out of doors, as among the ruins vestiges of cooking pits, almost identical in
character with those still found in Tusayan, are frequently seen. In Cibola the large dome-shaped ovens, common to the Pueblos of the Rio Grande and to their Mexican neighbors are in general use. In Tusayan a few examples of this form of oven occur upon the roofs of the terraces, while the cooking pit in a variety of forms is still extensively used.
| Fig. 51.
A series of cooking pits in Mashongnavi. |
The distribution of the dome-shaped ovens in Cibola and in Tusayan may be seen on the ground plans in Chapters [III] and [IV]. The simplest form of cooking pit, still commonly used in Tusayan, consists of a depression in the ground, lined with a coating of mud. The pit is usually of small size and is commonly placed at some little distance from the house; in a few cases it is located in a sheltered corner of the building. [Fig. 51] illustrates a series of three such primitive ovens built against a house wall, in a low bench or ledge of masonry raised 6 inches above the ground; the holes measure about a foot across and are about 18 or 20 inches deep. Many similar pits occur in the Tusayan villages; some of them are walled in with upright stone slabs, whose rough edges project 6 or 8 inches above the ground, the result closely resembling the ancient form of in-door fireplace, such as that seen in a room of Kin-tiel. ([Pl. C].)
Plate C. An excavated room at Kin-tiel.