Figs.56and57illustrate two specimens of rough masonry ovens seen at Pescado. In one of these a decided horizontal arrangement of the stones in the masonry prevails. The specimen at the right is small and rudely constructed, showing but little care in the use of the building material. The few specimens of dome ovens seen in Tusayan are characterized by the same rudeness of construction noticed in their house masonry. The rarity of this oven at Tusayan, where so many of the constructions have retained a degree of primitiveness not seen elsewhere, is perhaps an additional evidence of its foreign origin.
oven
Fig. 57.Oven in Pescado exposing stones of masonry.
In Tusayan, there are other structures, of rude dome-shape, likely to be mistaken for some form of cooking device.Fig. 58illustrates two specimens of shrines that occur in courts of Mashongnavi. These are receptacles for plume sticks (bahos) and other votive offerings used at certain festivals, which, after being so used, are sealed up with stone slabs and adobe. These shrines occur at several of the villages, as noted in the discussion of the plans in ChapterIII. In the foreground ofPl.XXXVIIImay be seen an Oraibi specimen somewhat resembling those seen at Mashongnavi.
Fig. 59illustrates a very rude structure of stones in Sichumovi, resembling in form a dome oven, which is used as a poultry house. Several of these are seen in the Tusayan villages.
The original fireplace of the ancient pueblo builders was probably the simple cooking pit transferred to a position within the dwelling room, and employed for the lighter cooking of the family as well as for warmingthe dwelling. It was placed in the center of the floor in order that the occupants of the house might conveniently gather around it. One of the first improvements made in this shallow indoor cooking pit must have consisted in surrounding it with a wall of sufficient height to protect the fire against drafts, as seen in the outdoor pits of Tusayan. In excavating a room in the ancient pueblo of Kin-tiel, a completely preserved fireplace, about a foot deep, and walled in with thin slabs of stone set on edge, was brought to light. The depression had been hollowed out of the solid rock.
This fireplace, together with the room in which it was found, is illustrated inPl.CandFig. 60. It is of rectangular form, but other examples have been found which are circular. Mr. W. H. Jackson describes a fireplace in a cliff dwelling in “Echo Cave” that consisted of a circular, basin-like depression 30 inches across and 10 inches deep. Rooms furnishing evidence that fires were made in the corners against the walls are found in many cliff dwellings; the smoke escaped overhead, and the blackened walls afford no trace of a chimney or flue of any kind.
Kin-tiel room
Fig. 60.Ground plan of an excavated room in Kin-tiel.
The pueblo chimney is undoubtedly a post-Spanish feature, and the best forms in use at the present time are probably of very recent origin, though they are still associated with fireplaces that have departed little from the aboriginal form seen at Kin-tiel and elsewhere. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that the ceremony consecrating the house is performed in Tusayan before the chimney is added, suggesting that the latter feature did not form a part of the aboriginal dwelling.
In Cibola a few distinct forms of chimney are used at the present time, but in the more remote Tusayan the chimney seems to be still in the experimental stage. Numbers of awkward constructions, varying from the ordinary cooking pit to the more elaborate hooded structures, testify to the chaotic condition of the chimney-building art in the latter province.
Before the invention of a chimney hood, and while the primitive fireplace occupied a central position in the floor of the room, the smoke probably escaped through the door and window openings. Later a hole in the roof provided an exit, as in the kivas of to-day, where ceremonial use has perpetuated an arrangement long since superseded in dwelling-house construction. The comfort of a dwelling room provided with this feature is sufficiently attested by the popularity of the modern kivas as a resort for the men. The idea of a rude hood or flue to facilitate the egress of the smoke would not be suggested until the fireplace was transferred from the center of a room to a corner, and in the first adoption of this device the builders would rely upon the adjacent walls for the needed support of the constructional members. Practically all of the chimneys of Tusayan are placed in corners at the present time, though the Zuñi builders have developed sufficient skill to construct a rigid hood and flue in the center of a side wall, as may be seen in the view of a Zuñi interior,Pl.LXXXVI.
Although the pueblo chimney owes its existence to foreign suggestion it has evidently reached its present form through a series of timid experiments, and the proper principles of its construction seem to have been but feebly apprehended by the native builders, particularly in Tusayan. The early form of hood, shown inFig. 66, was made by placing a short supporting pole across the corner of a room at a sufficient distance from the floor and upon it arranging sticks to form the frame work of a contracting hood or flue. The whole construction was finally covered with a thick coating of mud. This primitive wooden construction has probably been in use for a long time, although it was modified in special cases so as to extend across the entire width of narrow rooms to accommodate “piki” stones or other cumbersome cooking devices. It embodies the principle of roof construction that must have been employed in the primitive house from which the pueblo was developed, and practically constitutes a miniature conical roof suspended over the fireplace and depending upon the walls of the room for support. On account of the careful and economical use of fuel by these people the light and inflammable material of which the chimney is constructed does not involve the danger of combustion that would be expected. The perfect feasibility of such use of wood is well illustrated in some of the old log-cabin chimneys in the Southern States, where, however, the arrangement of the pieces is horizontal, not vertical. These latter curiously exemplify also the use of a miniature section of house construction to form a conduit for the smoke, placed at a sufficient height to admit of access to the fire.
A further improvement in the chimney was the construction of a corner hood support by means of two short poles instead of a single piece, thus forming a rectangular smoke hood of enlarged capacity. This latter is the most common form in use at the present time in both provinces, but its arrangement in Tusayan, where it represents the highest achievement of the natives in chimney construction, is much more varied than in Cibola. In the latter province the same form is occasionally executed in stone.Fig. 61illustrates a corner hood, in which the crossed ends of the supporting poles are exposed to view. The outer end of the lower pole is supported from the roof beams by a cord or rope, the latter being embedded in the mud plastering with which the hood is finished. The vertically ridged character of the surface reveals the underlying construction, in which light sticks have been used as a base for the plaster. The Tusayans say that large sunflower stalks are preferred for this purpose on account of their lightness. Figs.63and64show another Tusayan hood of the type described, and inFig. 69a large hood of the same general form, suspended over a piki-stone, is noticeable for the frank treatment of the suspending cords, which are clearly exposed to view for nearly their entire length.
In a chimney in a Mashongnavi house, illustrated inFig. 62, a simple, sharply curved piece of wood has been used for the lower rim of this hood, thus obtaining all the capacity of the two-poled form. The vertical sticks in this example are barely discernible through the plastering, which has been applied with more than the usual degree of care.
A curious example illustrating a rudimentary form of two-poled hood is shown inFig. 63. A straight pole of unusual length is built into the walls across the corner of a room, and its insertion into the wall is much farther from the corner on one side than the other. From the longer stretch of inclosed wall protrudes a short pole that joins the principal one and serves as a support for one side of the chimney-hood. In this case the builder appears to have been too timid to venture on the bolder construction required in the perfected two-poled hood. This example probably represents a stage in the development of the higher form.
In some instances the rectangular corner hood is not suspended from the ceiling, but is supported from beneath by a stone slab or a piece of wood. Such a chimney hood seen in a house of Shupaulovi measures nearly 4 by 5 feet. The short side is supported by two stone slabs built into the wall and extending from the hood to the floor. Upon the upper stone rests one end of the wooden lintel supporting the long side, while the other end, near the corner of the room, is held in position by a light crotch of wood.Fig. 64illustrates this hood; the plan indicating the relation of the stones and the forked stick to the corner of the room.Fig. 71, illustrating a terrace fireplace and chimney of Shumopavi, shows the employment of similar supports.
Corner chimney hoods in Zuñi do not differ essentially from the more symmetrical of the Tusayan specimens, but they are distinguished bybetter finish, and by less exposure of the framework, having been, like the ordinary masonry, subjected to an unusually free application of adobe.
The builders of Tusayan appear to have been afraid to add the necessary weight of mud mortar to produce this finished effect, the hoods usually showing a vertically ridged or crenated surface, caused by the sticks of the framework showing through the thin mud coat. Stone also is often employed in their construction, and its use has developed a large, square-headed type of chimney unknown at Tusayan. This is illustrated inFig. 65. This form of hood, projecting some distance beyond its flue, affords space that may be used as a mantel-shelf, an advantage gained only to a very small degree by the forms discussed above. This chimney, as before stated, is built against one of the walls of a room, and near the middle.
All the joints of these hoods, and even the material used, are generally concealed from view by a carefully applied coating of plaster, supplemented by a gypsum wash, and usually there is no visible evidence of the manner in which they are built, but the construction is little superior to that of the simple corner hoods. The method of framing the various types of hoods is illustrated inFig. 66. The example on the left shows an unplastered wooden hood skeleton. The arrangement of the parts in projecting rectangular stone hoods is illustrated in the right-hand diagram of the figure. In constructing such a chimney a thin buttress is first built against the wall of sufficient width andheight to support one side of the hood. The opposite side of the hood is supported by a flat stone, firmly set on edge into the masonry of the wall. The front of the hood is supported by a second flat stone which rests at one end on a rude shoulder in the projecting slab, and at the other end upon the front edge of the buttress. It would be quite practicable for the pueblo builders to form a notch in the lower corner of the supported stone to rest firmly upon a projection of the supporting stone, but in the few cases in which the construction could be observed no such treatment was seen, for they depended mainly on the interlocking of the ragged ends of the stones. This structure serves to support the body of the flue, usually with an intervening stone-covered space forming a shelf. At the present period the flue is usually built of thin sandstone slabs, rudely adjusted to afford mutual support. The whole structure is bound together and smoothed over with mud plastering, and is finally finished with the gypsum wash, applied also to the rest of the room. Mr. A. F. Bandelier describes “a regular chimney, with mantel and shelf, built of stone slabs,” which he found “in the caves of the Rito de los Frijoles, as well as in the cliff dwellings of the regular detached family house type,”7which, from the description, must have closely resembled the Zuñi chimney described above. Houses containing such devices may be quite old, but if so they were certainly reoccupied in post-Spanish times. Such dwellings are likely to have been used as places of refuge in times of danger up to a comparatively recent date.
Among the many forms of chimneys and fireplaces seen in Tusayan a curious approach to our own arrangement of fireplace and mantel was noticed in a house in Sichumovi. In addition to the principal mantel ledge, a light wooden shelf was arranged against the wall on one side of the flue, one of its ends being supported by an upright piece of wood with a cap, and the other resting on a peg driven into the wall. This fireplace and mantel is illustrated inFig. 67.
Aside from the peculiar “guyave” or “piki” baking oven, there is but little variation in the form of indoor fireplaces in Cibola, while in Tusayan it appears to have been subjected to about the same mutationsalready noted in the outdoor cooking pits. A serious problem was encountered by the Tusayan builder when he was called upon to construct cooking-pit fireplaces, a foot or more deep, in a loom of an upper terrace. As it was impracticable to sink the pit into the floor, the necessary depth was obtained by walling up the sides, as is shown inFig. 68, which illustrates a second-story fireplace in Mashongnavi. Other examples may be seen in the outdoor chimneys shown in Figs.72and73.
A modification of the interior fireplace designed for cooking the thin, paper-like bread, known to the Spanish-speaking peoples of this region as “guyave,” and by the Tusayan as “piki,” is common to both Cibola and Tusayan, though in the former province the contrivance is more carefully constructed than in the latter, and the surface of the baking stone itself is more highly finished. In the guyave oven a tablet of carefully prepared sandstone is supported in a horizontal position by two slabs set on edge and firmly imbedded in the floor. A horizontal flue is thus formed in which the fire is built. The upper stone, whose surface is to receive the thin guyave batter, undergoes during its original preparation a certain treatment with fire and piñon gum, and perhaps other ingredients, which imparts to it a highly polished black finish. This operation is usually performed away from the pueblo, near a point where suitable stone is found, and is accompanied by a ceremonial, which is intended to prevent the stone from breaking on exposure to the fire when first used. During one stage of these rites the strictest silence is enjoined, as, according to the native account, a single word spoken at such a time would crack the tablet.
When the long guyave stone is in position upon the edges of the back and front stones the fire must be so applied as to maintain the stone at a uniform temperature. This is done by frequent feeding with small bits of sage brush or other fuel. The necessity for such economy in the use of fuel has to a certain extent affected the forms of all the heating and cooking devices.Fig. 69illustrates a Sichumovi piki stone, andFig. 70shows the use of the oven in connection with a cooking fireplace, a combination that is not uncommon. The latter exampleis from Shumopavi. The illustration shows an interesting feature in the use of a primitive andiron or boss to support the cooking pot in position above the fire. This boss is modeled from the same clay as the fireplace floor and is attached to it and forms a part of it. Mr. Stephen has collected free specimens of these primitive props which had never been attached to the floor. These were of the rudely conical form illustrated in the figure, and were made of a coarsely mixed clay thoroughly baked to a stony hardness.
Piki stone and andiron
Fig. 70.Piki stone and primitive andiron in Shumopavi.
Chimneys and fireplaces are often found in Tusayan in the small, recessed, balcony-like rooms of the second terrace. When a deep cooking-pit is required in such a position, it is obtained by building up the sides, as in the indoor fireplaces of upper rooms. Such a fireplace is illustrated inFig. 71. A roofed recess which usually occurs at one end of the first terrace, called “tupubi,” takes its name from the flat piki oven, the variety of fireplace generally built in these alcoves. The transfer of the fireplace from the second-story room to the corner of such a roofed-terrace alcove was easily accomplished, and probably led to the occasional use of the cooking-pit, with protecting chimney hood on the open and unsheltered roof.Fig. 72illustrates a deep cooking-pit on an upperterrace of Walpi. In this instance the cooking pit is very massively built, and in the absence of a sheltering “tupubi” corner is effectually protected on three sides by mud-plastered stone work, the whole being capped with the usual chimneypot. The contrivance is placed conveniently near the roof hatchway of a dwelling room.
cooking pit
Fig. 72.A terrace cooking-pit and chimney of Walpi.
The outdoor use of the above-described fireplaces on upper terraces has apparently suggested the improvement of the ground cooking pitin a similar manner. Several specimens were seen in which the cooking pit of the ordinary depressed type, excavated near an inner corner of a house wall, was provided with sheltering masonry and a chimney cap; but such an arrangement is by no means of frequent occurrence.Fig. 73illustrates an example that was seen on the east side of Shumopavi. It will be noticed that in the use of this arrangement on the ground—an arrangement that evidently originated on the terraces—the builders have reverted to the earlier form of excavated pit. In other respects the example illustrated is not distinguishable from the terrace forms above described.
In the discussion of the details of kiva arrangement in Tusayan (p. 121) it was shown that the chimney is not used in any form in these ceremonial chambers; but the simple roof-opening forming the hatchway serves as a smoke vent, without the addition of either an internal hood or an external shaft. In the Zuñi kivas the smoke also finds vent through the opening that gives access to the chamber, but in the framing of the roof, as is shown elsewhere, some distinction between door and chimney is observed. The roof-hole is made double, one portion accommodating the ingress ladder and the other intended to serve for the egress of the smoke.
The external chimney of the pueblos is a simple structure, and exhibits but few variations from the type. The original form was undoubtedly a mere hole in the roof; its use is perpetuated in the kivas. This primitive form was gradually improved by raising its sides above the roof, forming a rudimentary shaft. The earlier forms are likely to have been rectangular, the round following and developing later short masonry shafts which were finally given height by the addition of chimney pots. In Zuñi the chimney has occasionally developed into a rather tall shaft, projecting sometimes to a height of 4 or 5 feet above the roof. This is particularly noticeable on the lower terraces of Zuñi, the chimneys ofthe higher rooms being more frequently of the short types prevalent in the farming pueblos of Cibola and in Tusayan. The tall chimneys found in Zuñi proper, and consisting often of four or five chimney pots on a substructure of masonry, are undoubtedly due to the same conditions that have so much influenced other constructional details; that is, the exceptional height of the clusters and crowding of the rooms. As a result of this the chimney is a more conspicuous feature in Zuñi than elsewhere, as will be shown by a comparison of the views of the villages given in ChaptersIIIandIV.
In Tusayan many of the chimneys are quite low, a single pot surmounting a masonry substructure not more than 6 inches high being quite common. As a rule, however, the builders preferred to use a series of pots. Two typical Tusayan chimneys are illustrated inFig. 74. Most of the substructures for chimneys in this province are rudely rectangular in form, and clearly expose the rough stonework of the masonry, while in Zuñi the use of adobe generally obliterates all traces of construction. In both provinces chimneys are seen without the chimney pot. These usually occur in clusters, simply because the builder of a room or group of rooms preferred that form of chimney.Pl.CIillustrates a portion of the upper terraces of Zuñi where a number of masonry chimneys are grouped together. Those on the highest roof are principally of the rectangular form, being probably a direct development from the square roof hole. The latter is still sometimes seen with a rim rising several inches above the roof surface and formed of slabs set on edge or of ordinary masonry. These upper chimneys are often closed or covered with thin slabs of sandstone laid over them in the same manner as the roof holes that they resemble. The fireplaces to which some of them belong appear to be used for heating the rooms rather than for cooking, as they are often disused for long periods during the summer season.
chimneys
Plate CI. Masonry chimneys of Zuñi.
Pl.CIalso illustrates chimneys in which pots have been used in connection with masonry bases, and also a round masonry chimney. The latter is immediately behind the single pot chimney seen in the foreground. On the extreme left of the figure is shown a chimney into which fire pots have been incorporated, the lower ones being almost concealed from view by the coating of adobe. A similar effect may be seen in the small chimney on the highest roof shown inPl.LVIII.Pl.LXXXIIshows various methods of using the chimney pots. In one case the chimney is capped with a reversed large-mouthed jar, the broken bottom serving as an outlet for the smoke. The vessel usually employed for this purpose is an ordinary black cooking pot, the bottom being burned out, or otherwise rendered unfit for household use. Other vessels are occasionally used.Pl.LXXXIIIshows the use, as the crowning member of the chimney, of an ordinary water jar, with dark decorations on a white ground. A vessel very badly broken is often made to serve in chimney building by skillful use of mud and mortar. To facilitate smoke exit the upper pot is made to overlap the neck of the one below by breaking out the bottom sufficiently. The joining is not often visible, as it is usually coated with adobe. The lower pots of a series are in many cases entirely embedded in the adobe.
The pueblo builder has never been able to construct a detached chimney a full story in height, either with or without the aid of chimney pots; where it is necessary to build such shafts to obtain the proper draft he is compelled to rely on the support of adjoining walls, and usually seeks a corner.Pl.CIshows a chimney of this kind that has been built of masonry to the full height of a story. A similar example is shown in the foreground ofPl.LXXVIII. InPl.XXIImay be seen a chimney of the full height of the adjoining story, but in this instance it is constructed wholly of pots.Pl.LXXXVillustrates a similar case indoors.
The external chimney probably developed gradually from the simple roof opening, as previously noted. The raised combing about trapdoors or roof holes afforded the first suggestion in this direction. From this developed the square chimney, and finally the tall round shaft, crowned with a series of pots. The whole chimney, both internal and external, excluding only the primitive fireplace, is probably of comparatively recent origin, and based on the foreign (Spanish) suggestion.
Gateways, arranged for defense, occur in many of the more compactly-built ancient pueblos. Some of the passageways in the modern villages of Tusayan and Cibola resemble these older examples, but most of the narrow passages, giving access to the inner courts of the inhabited villages, are not the result of the defensive idea, but are formed by the crowding together of the dwellings. They occur, as a rule, within the pueblo and not upon its periphery. Many of the terraces now face outward and are reached from the outside of the pueblo, being in marked contrast to the early arrangement, in which narrow passages to inclosecourts were exclusively used for access. In the ground plans of several villages occupied within historic times, but now ruined, vestiges of openings arranged on the original defensive plan may be traced. About midway on the northeast side of Awatubi fragments of a standing wall were seen, apparently the two sides of a passageway to the inclosed court of the pueblo. The masonry is much broken down, however, and no indication is afforded of the treatment adopted, nor do the remains indicate whether this entrance was originally covered or not. It is illustrated inPl.CII.
gateway
Plate CII. Remains of a gateway in Awatubi.
Other examples of this feature may be seen in the ground plans of Tebugkihu, Chukubi, and Payupki (Fig. 7, and Pls.XIIandXIII).
In the first of these the deep jambs of the opening are clearly defined, but in the other two only low mounds of débris suggest the gateway. In the ancient Cibolan pueblos, including those on the mesa of Tâaaiyalana, no remains of external gateways have been found; the plans suggest that the disposition of the various clusters approximated somewhat the irregular arrangement of the present day. There are only occasional traces, as of a continuous defensive outer wall, such as those seen at Nutria and Pescado. In the pueblos of the Cibola group, ancient and modern, access to the inner portion of the pueblo was usually afforded at a number of points. In the pueblo of Kin-tiel, however, occurs an excellent example of the defensive gateway. The jambs and corners of the opening are finished with great neatness, as may be seen in the illustration (Pl.CIII). This gateway or passage was roofed over, and the rectangular depressions for the reception of cross-beams still contain short stumps, protected from destruction by the masonry. The masonry over the passageway in falling carried away part of the masonry above the jamb corner, thus indicating continuity of bond. The ground plan of this ruin (Pl.LXIII) indicates clearly the various points at which access to the inner courts was obtained. On the east side a noticeable feature is the overlapping of the boundary wall of the south wing, forming an indirect entranceway. The remains do not indicate that this passage, like the one just described, was roofed over. In some cases the modern passageways, as they follow the jogs and angles of adjoining rows of houses, display similar changes of direction. In Shupaulovi, which preserves most distinctly in its plan the idea of the inclosed court, the passageway at the south end of the village changes its direction at a right angle before emerging into the court (Pl.XXX). This arrangement was undoubtedly determined by the position of the terraces long before the passageway was roofed over and built upon.Pl.XXIIshows the south passageway of Walpi; the entrances are made narrower than the rest of the passage by building buttresses of masonry at the sides. This was probably done to secure the necessary support for the north and south walls of the upper story. One of the walls, as maybe seen in the illustration, rests directly upon a cross beam, strengthened in this manner.
gateway
Plate CIII. Ancient gateway, Kin-tiel.
One of the smaller inclosed courts of Zuñi, illustrated inPl.LXXXII, is reached by means of two covered passages, bearing some general resemblance to the ancient defensive entrances, but these houses, reached from within the court, have also terraces without. The low passage shown in the figure has gradually been surmounted by rooms, reaching in some cases a height of three terraces above the openings; but the accumulated weight finally proved too much for the beams and sustaining walls—probably never intended by the builders to withstand the severe test afterwards put upon them—and following an unusually protracted period of wet weather, the entire section of rooms above fell to the ground. This occurred since the surveying and photographing. It is rather remarkable that the frail adobe walls withstood so long the unusual strain, or even that they sustained the addition of a top story at all.
In the preceding examples the passageway was covered throughout its length by rooms, but cases occur in both Tusayan and Cibola in which only portions of the roof form the floor of superstructures.Pl.CIVshows a passage roofed over beyond the two-story portion of the building for a sufficient distance to form a small terrace, upon which a ladder stands.Pl.XXIIIillustrates a similar arrangement on the west side of Walpi. The outer edges of these terraces are covered with coping stones and treated in the same manner as outer walls of lower rooms. In Zuñi an example of this form of passage roof occurs between two of the eastern house rows, where the rooms have not been subjected to the close crowding characteristic of the western clusters of the pueblo.
passageway
Plate CIV. A covered passageway in Mashongnavi.
In Zuñi many rooms of the ground story, which in early times must have been used largely for storage, have been converted into well-lighted, habitable apartments by the addition of external doors. In Tusayan this modification has not taken place to an equal extent, the distinctly defensive character of the first terrace reached by removable ladders being still preserved. In this province a doorway on the ground is always provided in building a house, but originally this space was not designed to be permanent; it was left merely for convenience of passing in and out during the construction, and was built up before the walls were completed. Of late years, however, such doorways are often preserved, and additional small openings are constructed for windows.
In ancient times the larger doorways of the upper terraces were probably never closed, except by means of blankets or rabbit-skin robes hung over them in cold weather. Examples have been seen that seem to have been constructed with this object in view, for a slight pole, of the same kind as those used in the lintels, is built into the masonry of the jambs a few inches below the lintel proper. Openings imperfectly closed against the cold and wind were naturally placed in the lee walls to avoid the prevailing southwest winds, and the ground plans of the exposed mesa villages were undoubtedly influenced by this circumstance,the tendency being to change them from the early inclosed court type and to place the houses in longitudinal rows facing eastward. This is noticeable in the plans given in ChapterII.
Doorways closed with masonry are seen in many ruins. Possibly these are an indication of the temporary absence of the owner, as in the harvest season, or at the time of the destruction or abandonment of the village; but they may have been closed for the purpose of economizing warmth and fuel during the winter season. No provision was made for closing them with movable doors. The practice of fastening up the doors during the harvesting season prevails at the present time among the Zuñi, but the result is attained without great difficulty by means of rude cross bars, now that they have framed wooden doors. One of these is illustrated inFig. 75. These doors are usually opened by a latch-string, which, when not hung outside, is reached by means of a small round hole through the wall at the side of the door. Through this hole the owner of the house, on leaving it, secures the door by props and braces on the inside of the room, the hole being sealed up and plastered in the same manner that other openings are treated.
barred door
Fig. 75.A barred Zuñi door.
This curious arrangement affords another illustration of the survival of ancient methods in modified forms. It is not employed, however, in closing the doors of the first terrace; these are fastened by barring from the inside, the exit being made by means of internal ladders to the terrace above, the upper doors only being fastened in the manner illustrated. InPl.LXXIXmay be seen good examples of the side hole.Fig. 75shows a barred door. The plastering or sealing of the small sidehole instead of the entire opening was brought about by the introduction of the wooden door, which in its present paneled form is of foreign introduction, but in this, as in so many other cases, some analogous feature which facilitated the adoption of the idea probably already existed. Tradition points to the early use of a small door, made of a single slab of wood, that closed the small rectangular wall niches, in which valuables, such as turquoise, shell, etc., were kept. This slab, it is said, was reduced and smoothed by rubbing with a piece of sandstone. A number of beams, rafters, and roofing planks, seen in the Chaco pueblos, were probably squared and finished in this way. The latter examples show a degree of familiarity with this treatment of wood that would enable the builders to construct such doors with ease. As yet, however, no examples of wooden doors have been seen in any of the pre-Columbian ruins.
The pueblo type of paneled door is much more frequently seen in Cibola than in Tusayan, and in the latter province it does not assume the variety of treatment seen in Zuñi, nor is the work so neatly executed. The views of the modern pueblos, given in ChaptersIIIandIV, will indicate the extent to which this feature occurs in the two groups. In the construction of a paneled door the vertical stile on one side is prolonged at the top and bottom into a rounded pivot, which works into cup-like sockets in the lintel and sill, as illustrated inFig. 76. The hinge is thus produced in the wood itself without the aid of any external appliances.
It is difficult to trace the origin of this device among the pueblos. It closely resembles the pivot hinges sometimes used in mediæval Europe in connection with massive gates for closing masonry passages; in such cases the prolonged pivots worked in cavities of stone sills and lintels. The Indians claim to have employed it in very early times, but no evidence on this point has been found. It is quite possible that the idea was borrowed from some of the earlier Mormon settlers who came into the country, as these people use a number of primitive devices which are undoubtedly survivals of methods of construction once common in the countries from which they came. Vestiges of the use of a pivotal hinge, constructed on a much more massive scale than any of the pueblo examples, were seen at an old fortress-like, stone storehouse of the Mormons, built near the site of Moen-kopi by the first Mormon settlers.
The paneled door now in use among the pueblos is rudely made, and consists of a frame inclosing a single panel. This panel, when of large size, is occasionally made of two or more pieces. These doors vary greatly in size. A few reach the height of 5 feet, but the usual heightis from 3½ to 4 feet. As doors are commonly elevated a foot or more above the ground or floor, the use of such openings does not entail the full degree of discomfort that the small size suggests. Doors of larger size, with sills raised but an inch or two above the floor or ground, have recently been introduced in some of the ground stories in Zuñi; but these are very recent, and the idea has been adopted only by the most progressive people.
Pl.XLIshows a small paneled door, not more than a foot square, used as a blind to close a back window of a dwelling. The smallest examples of paneled doors are those employed for closing the small, square openingsin the back walls of house rows, which still retain the defensive arrangement so marked in many of the ancient pueblos. In some instances doors occur in the second stories of unterraced walls, their sills being 5 or 6 feet above the ground. In such cases the doors are reached by ladders whose upper ends rest upon the sills. Elevated openings of this kind are closed in the usual manner with a rude, single-paneled door, which is often whitened with a coating of clayey gypsum.
Carefully worked paneled doors are much more common in Zuñi than in Tusayan, and within the latter province the villages of the first mesa make more extended use of this type of door, as they have come into more intimate contact with their eastern brethren than other villages of the group.Fig. 77illustrates a portion of a Hano house in which two wooden doors occur. These specimens indicate the rudeness of Tusayan workmanship. It will be seen that the workman who framed the upper one of these doors met with considerable difficulty in properly joining the two boards of the panel and in connecting these with the frame. The figure shows that at several points the door has been reenforced and strengthened by buckskin and rawhide thongs. The same device has been employed in the lower door, both in fastening together the two pieces of the panel and in attaching the latter to the framing. These doors also illustrate the customary manner of barring the door during the absence of the occupant of the house.
wooden doors
Fig. 77.Paneled wooden doors in Hano.
The doorway is usually framed at the time the house is built. The sill is generally elevated above the ground outside and the floor inside, and the door openings, with a few exceptions, are thus practically only large windows. In this respect they follow the arrangement characteristic of the ancient pueblos, in which all the larger openings are window-like doorways. These are sometimes seen on the court margin of house rows, and frequently occur between communicating rooms within the cluster. They are usually raised about a foot and a half above the floor, and in some cases are provided with one or two steps. In Zuñi, doorways between communicating rooms, though now framed in wood, preserve the same arrangement, as may be seen inPl.LXXXVI.
The side pieces of a paneled pueblo door are mortised, an achievement far beyond the aboriginal art of these people.Fig. 78illustrates the manner in which the framing is done. All the necessary grooving, and the preparation of the projecting tenons is laboriously executed with the most primitive tools, in many cases the whole frame, with all its joints, being cut out with a small knife.
framing of door-panel
framing of door-panel
Fig. 78.Framing of aZuñi door-panel.
Doors are usually fastened by a simple wooden latch, the bar of which turns upon a wooden pin. They are opened from without by lifting thelatch from its wooden catch, by means of a string passed through a small hole in the door, and hanging outside. Some few doors are, however, provided with a cumbersome wooden lock, operated by means of a square, notched stick that serves as a key. These locks are usually fastened to the inner side of the door by thongs of buckskin or rawhide, passed through small holes bored or drilled through the edge of the lock, and through the stile and panel of the door at corresponding points. The entire mechanism consists of wood and strings joined together in the rudest manner. Primitive as this device is, however, its conception is far in advance of the aboriginal culture of the pueblos, and both it and the string latch must have come from without. The lock was probably a contrivance of the early Mormons, as it is evidently roughly modeled after a metallic lock.
Many doors having no permanent means of closure are still in use. These are very common in Tusayan, and occur also in Cibola, particularly in the farming pueblos. The open front of the “tupubi” or balcony-like recess, seen so frequently at the ends of first-terrace roofs in Tusayan, is often constructed with a transom-like arrangement in connection with the girder supporting the edge of the roof, in the same manner in which doorways proper are treated.Pl.XXXIIillustrates a balcony in which one bounding side is formed by a flight of stone steps, producing a notched or terraced effect. The supporting girder in this instance is embedded in the wall and coated over with adobe, obscuring the construction.Fig. 79shows a rude transom over the supporting beam of a balcony roof in the principal house of Hano. The upper doorway shown in this house has been partly walled in, reducing its size somewhat. It is also provided with a small horizontal opening over the main lintel, which, like the doorway, has been partly filled with masonry. This upper transom often seems to have resulted from carrying such openings to the full height of the story. The transom probably originated from the spaces left between the ends of beams resting on the main girder that spanned the principal opening (seeFig. 81). Somewhat similar balconies are seen in Cibola, both in Zuñi and in the farming villages, but they do not assume so much importance as in Tusayan. An example is shown inPl.CI, in which the construction of this feature is clearly visible.
transoms
Fig. 79.Rude transoms over Tusayan openings.
In the remains of the ancient pueblos there is no evidence of the use of the half-open terrace rooms described above. If such rooms existed, especially if constructed in the open manner of the Tusayan examples, they must have been among the first to succumb to destruction. The comparative rarity of this feature in Zuñi does not necessarily indicate that it is not of native origin, as owing to the exceptional manner of clustering and to prolonged exposure to foreign influence, this pueblo exhibits a wider departure from the ancient type than do any of the Tusayan villages. It is likely that the ancient builders, trusting to the double protection of the inclosed court and the defensive first terrace,freely adopted this open and convenient arrangement in connection with the upper roofs.
doorway with transoms
doorway with transoms
Fig. 80.A large Tusayan doorwaywith small transom openings.
The transom-like opening commonly accompanying the large opening is also seen in many of the inclosed doorways of Tusayan, but in some of these cases its origin can not be traced to the roof constructions, as the openings do not approach the ceilings of the rooms. In early days such doorways were closed by means of large slabs of stone set on edge, and these were sometimes supplemented by a suspended blanket. In severe winter weather many of the openings were closed with masonry. At the present time many doorways not provided with paneled doorsare closed in such ways. When a doorway is thus treated its transom is left open for the admission of light and air. The Indians state that in early times this transom was provided for the exit of smoke when the main doorway was closed, and even now such provision is not wholly superfluous.Fig. 80illustrates a large doorway of Tusayan with a small transom. The opening was being reduced in size by means of adobe masonry at the time the drawing was made.Fig. 81shows a double transom over a lintel composed of two poles; a section of masonry separating the transom into two distinct openings rests upon the lintel of the doorway and supports a roof-beam; this is shown in the figure. Other examples of transoms may be seen in connection with many of the illustrations of Tusayan doorways.
The transom bars over exterior doorways of houses probably bear some relation to a feature seen in some of the best preserved ruins and still surviving to some extent in Tusayan practice. This consists of a straight pole, usually of the same dimensions as the poles of which the lintel is made, extending across the opening from 2 to 6 inches below the main lintel, and fixed into the masonry in a position to serve as a curtain pole. Originally this pole undoubtedly served as a means of suspension for the blanket or skin rug used in closing the opening, just as such means are now used in the huts of the Navajo, as well asoccasionally in the houses of Tusayan. The space above this cross stick answered the same purpose as the transoms of the present time.
A most striking feature of doorways is the occasional departure from the quadrangular form, seen in some ruined villages and also in some of the modern houses of Tusayan.Fig. 82illustrates a specimen of this type found in a small cliff ruin, in Canyon de Chelly. Ancient examples of this form of opening are distinguished by a symmetrical disposition of the step in the jamb, while the modern doors are seldom so arranged. A modern example from Mashongnavi is shown inFig. 83. This opening also illustrates the double or divided transom. The beam ends shown in the figure project beyond the face of the wall and support an overhanging coping or cornice. A door-like window, approximating the symmetrical form described, is seen immediately over the passage-way shown inPl.XXII. This form is evidently the result of the partial closing of a larger rectangular opening.
Fig. 84shows the usual type of terraced doorway in Tusayan, in which one jamb is stepped at a considerably greater height than the other. In Tusayan large openings occur in which only one jamb is stepped, producing an effect somewhat of that of the large balcony openings with flights of stone steps at one side, previously illustrated. An opening of this form is shown inFig. 85. Both of the stepped doorways,illustrated above, are provided with transom openings extending from one roof beam to another. In the absence of a movable door the openings were made of the smallest size consistent with convenient use. The stepped form was very likely suggested by the temporary partial blocking up of an opening with loose, flat stones in such a manner as to least impair its use. This is still quite commonly done, large openings being often seen in which the lower portion on one or both sides is narrowed by means of adobe bricks or stones loosely piled up. In this connection it may be noted that the secondary lintel pole, previously described as occurring in both ancient and modern doorways, serves the additional purpose of a hand-hold when supplies are brought into the house on the backs of the occupants. The stepping of the doorway, while diminishing its exposed area, does not interfere with its use in bringing in large bundles, etc. Series of steps, picked into the faces of the cliffs, and affording access to cliff dwellings, frequently have a supplementary series of narrow and deep cavities that furnish a secure hold for the hands. The requirements of the precipitous environment of these people have led to the carrying of loads of produce, fuel, etc., on the back by means of a suspending band passed across the forehead;this left the hands free to aid in the difficult task of climbing. These conditions seem to have brought about the use, in some cases, of handholds in the marginal frames of interior trapdoors as an aid in climbing the ladder.
notched doorway
Fig. 84.A Tusayan notched doorway.
doorway with notched jamb
doorway with notched jamb
doorway with notched jamb
Fig. 85.A large Tusayandoorway with one notched jamb.
One more characteristic type of the ancient pueblo doorway remains to be described. During the autumn of 1883, when the ruined pueblo of Kin-tiel was surveyed, a number of excavations were made in and about the pueblo. A small room on the east side, near the brink of the arroyo that traverses the ruin from east to west, was completely cleared out, exposing its fireplace, the stone paving of its floor, and other details of construction. Built into an inner partition of this room was found a large slab of stone, pierced with a circular hole of sufficient size for a man to squeeze through. This slab was set on edge and incorporated into the masonry of the partition, and evidently served as a means of communication with another room. The position of this doorway and its relation to the room in which it occurs may be seen from the illustration inPl.C, which shows the stone in situ. The doorway or “stone-close” is shown inFig. 86on a sufficient scale to indicate the degree of technical skill in the architectural treatment of stone possessed by the builders of this old pueblo. The writer visited Zuñi in October of the same season, and on describing this find to Mr. Frank H. Cushing, learned that the Zuñi Indians still preserved traditional knowledge of this device. Mr. Cushing kindly furnished at thetime the following extract from the tale of “The Deer-Slayer and the Wizards,” a Zuñi folk-tale of the early occupancy of the valley of Zuñi.
“‘How will they enter?’ said the young man to his wife. ‘Through the stone-close at the side,’ she answered. In the days of the ancients, the doorways were often made of a great slab of stone with a round hole cut through the middle, and a round stone slab to close it, which was called the stone-close, that the enemy might not enter in times of war.”
Mr. Cushing had found displaced fragments of such circular stone doorways at ruins some distance northwest from Zuñi, but had been under the impression that they were used as roof openings. All examples of this device known to the writer as having been found in place occurred in side walls of rooms. Mr. E. W. Nelson, while making collections of pottery from ruins near Springerville, Arizona, found and sent to the Smithsonian Institution, in the autumn of 1884, “a flat stone about 18 inches square with a round hole cut in the middle of it. This stone was taken from the wall of one of the old ruined stone houses near Springerville, in an Indian ruin. The stone was set in the wall between two inner rooms of the ruin, and evidently served as a means of communication or perhaps a ventilator. I send it on mainly as an example of their stone-working craft.” The position of this feature in the excavated room of Kin-tiel is indicated on the ground plan,Fig. 60, which also shows the position of other details seen in the general view of the room,Pl.C.
A small fragment of a “stone-close” doorway was found incorporated into the masonry of a flight of outside stone steps at Pescado, indicating its use in some neighboring ruin, thus bringing it well within the Cibola district. Another point at which similar remains have been brought to light is the pueblo of Halona, just across the river from the present Zuñi. Mr. F. Webb Hodge, recently connected with the Hemenway Southwestern Archeological Exposition, under the direction of Mr. F. H. Cushing, describes this form of opening as being of quite common occurrence in the rooms of this long-buried pueblo. Here the doorways are associated with the round slabs used for closing them. The latter were held in place by props within the room. No slabs of this form were seen at Kin-tiel, but quite possibly some of the large slabs of nearly rectangular form, found within this ruin, may have served the same purpose. It would seem more reasonable to use the rectangularslabs for this purpose when the openings were conveniently near the floors. No example of the stone-close has as yet been found in Tusayan.
The annular doorway described above affords the only instance known to the writer where access openings were closed with a rigid device of aboriginal invention; and from the character of its material this device was necessarily restricted to openings of small size. The larger rectangular doorways, when not partly closed by masonry, probably were covered only with blankets or skin rugs suspended from the lintel. In the discussion of sealed windows modern examples resembling the stone-close device will be noted, but these are usually employed in a more permanent manner.
The small size of the ordinary pueblo doorway was perhaps due as much to the fact that there was no convenient means of closing it as it was to defensive reasons. Many primitive habitations, even quite rude ones built with no intention of defense, are characterized by small doors and windows. The planning of dwellings and the distribution of openings in such a manner as to protect and render comfortable the inhabited rooms implies a greater advance in architectural skill than these builders had achieved.
The inconveniently small size of the doorways of the modern pueblos is only a survival of ancient conditions. The use of full-sized doors, admitting a man without stooping, is entirely practicable at the present day, but the conservative builders persist in adhering to the early type. The ancient position of the door, with its sill at a considerable height from the ground, is also retained. From the absence of any convenient means of rigidly closing the doors and windows, in early times external openings were restricted to the smallest practicable dimensions. The convenience of these openings was increased without altering their dimensions by elevating them to a certain height above the ground. In the ruin of Kin-tiel there is marked uniformity in the height of the openings above the ground, and such openings were likely to be quite uniform when used for similar purposes. The most common elevation of the sills of doorways was such that a man could readily step over at one stride. It will be seen that the same economy of space has effected the use of windows in this system of architecture.
In the pueblo system of building, doors and windows are not always clearly differentiated. Many of the openings, while used for access to the dwellings, also answer all the purposes of windows, and, both in their form and in their position in the walls, seem more fully to meet the requirements of openings for the admission of light and air than for access. We have seen in the illustrations in ChaptersIIIandIV, openings of considerable size so located in the face of the outer wall as to unfit them for use as doorways, and others whose size is wholly inadequate, but which are still provided with the typical though diminutivesingle-paneled door. Many of these small openings, occurring most frequently in the back walls of house rows, have the jambs, lintels, etc., characteristic of the typical modern door. However, as the drawings above referred to indicate, there are many openings concerning the use of which there can be no doubt, as they can only provide outlook, light, and air.