A close scrutiny of the many favorable sites in this vicinity would probably reveal the sand-encumbered remains of some more important settlement than any of those now known.
[ RUINS ON THE ORAIBI WASH.]
The wagon road from Keam’s Canyon to Tuba City crosses the Oraibi wash at a point about 7 miles above the village of Oraibi. As it enters a branch canyon on the west side of the wash it is flanked on each side by rocky mesas and broken ledges. On the left or west side a bold promontory, extending southward, is quite a conspicuous feature of the landscape. The entire flat mesa summit, and much of the slope of a rocky butte that rises from it, are covered with the remains of a small pueblo, as shown on the plan, [Fig. 5]. All of this knoll except its eastern side is lightly covered with scattered débris. On the west and north sides there are many large masses of broken rock distributed over the slope. There is no standing wall visible from below, but on closer approach several interesting specimens of masonry are seen. On the north side, near the west end, there is a fragment of curved wall which follows the margin of the rock on which it is built. It is about 8 or 10 feet long and 3 feet high on the outer side. The curve is carefully executed and the workmanship of the masonry good. Farther east, and still on the north side, there is a fragment of masonry exhibiting a reversed curve. This piece of wall spans the space between two adjoining rocks, and the top of the wall is more than 10 feet above the rock on which it stands. The shape of this wall and its relation to the surroundings are indicated on the plan, [Fig. 5]. On the south side of the ruin on the mesa surface, and near an outcropping rock, are the remains
of what appears to have been a circular room, perhaps 8 or 10 feet in diameter, though it is too much broken down to determine this accurately. Only a small portion of the south wall can be definitely traced. On the south slope of the mesa are indications of walls, too vaguely defined to admit of the determination of their direction. Similar vestiges of masonry are found on the north and west, but not extending to as great a distance from the knoll as those on the south.
Fig. 5. Ruin 7 miles north of Oraibi.
In that portion of the ruin which lies on top of the knoll, the walls so far as traced conform to the shape of the site. The ground plan of the buildings that once occupied the slopes can not be traced, and it is impossible to determine whether its walls were carried through continuously.
The masonry exhibited in the few surviving fragments of wall is of unusually good quality, resembling somewhat that of the Fire House, [Fig. 7], and other ruins of that class. The stones are of medium size, not dressed, and are rather rougher and less flat than is usual, but the wall has a good finish. The stone, however, is of poor quality. Most of the débris about the ruin consists of small stone fragments and sand, comparatively few stones of the size used in the walls being seen. The material evidently came from the immediate vicinity of the ruin.
Pottery fragments were quite abundant about this ruin, most of the ware represented being of exceptional quality and belonging to the older types; red ware with black lines and black and white ware were especially abundant.