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.
This outer wall contains by far the largest stones yet found incorporated in pueblo masonry. A fragment of this masonry is illustrated in [Pl. XI]. The largest stone shown measures about 5 feet in length, and the one adjoining on the right measures about 4 feet. These dimensions are quite remarkable in pueblo masonry, which is distinguished by the use of very small stones.
